CONCEPT PAPER ON TVET IN SOUTH SUDAN

April 12
THE CHALLENGE OF TVET CAPACITY IN SOUTH SUDAN

2013
TVET CAPACITY IN THE THREE COUNTIES OF SOUTH SUDAN

The goal of this project is to address the challenges three counties of Bor (in Jongolei State), and Kapoeta South and Kapoeta East (both in Eastern equatorial State) in South Sudan are faced in building TVET capacity so as to assist children, the youth and women to secure positive livelihood alternatives for themselves and their families. The first phase of thisproject is estimate to cost USD 300,000.

Contents
THE CHALLENGE OF TVET CAPACITY IN SOUTH SUDAN..............................................2

THE CHALLENGE OF TVET CAPACITY IN SOUTH SUDAN

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background Information
Sudan has experienced one of the longest civil wars in Africa, which was brought to an end in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the SPLA/M. This long period of war has resulted in the massive destruction of its infrastructure, institutions, and alterations of its social systems and human resources. South Sudan is now faced with many, complex challenges of reconstructing its economy and society within the context of an uncertain future. As the majority of the Sudanese population is under 25 years, youth plays a central role in building the economy; at the same time they undermine opportunities for the peaceful reconstruction and development if they are not positively engaged. According to the South Sudan Development Plan (2011-2013), South Sudans total population is estimated at approximately 8.2 million with a population growth rate of 2.1 percent per year. Eighty-three of the population lives in rural areas. Eighty percent of poor households depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Education and health indicators are among the lowest in the world, reflecting the impact of protracted conflict and limited provision of social services. The adult literacy rate in Southern Sudan is very low.

1.2 The Problem Statement

The consequences of over 22 years of civil war have meant that South Sudan begins its journey as an independent nation with many problems confronting it. The biggest of these problems is how to sustain peace and stability, without which no development is possible. Linked to this is what to do about the large population of youth, many of whom are marginalized and traumatized by years of conflict. This demographic profile
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presents a dilemma, a challenge and an opportunity. The young population represents the opportunity of a demographic divided in terms of an unlimited labor pool that the country will tap for years to come and a reducing social dependency as more people become economically engaged. But, on the other hand, large numbers of frustrated youth, many of them with no education and limited skills, represent a potential for instability, especially in a highly militarized country like South Sudan which suffers from many cases of internal conflict as has been witnessed over the past 3 years. Many of them are too old to be reintegrated into the existing learning system, which is overstretched any way. Many of the youth when asked, say their top priority is to secure jobs although most lack skills and core competencies required for being productive in the modern labor market.

1.3 Justification of the Project

What is needed are transitional programs that will offer youth the chance to quickly gain the skills that will enable them to secure entry level jobs. These must be carried out in tandem with youth enterprise and job creation programs that support young people to start small businesses, especially in rural economies where potential is high but job opportunities in the formal sector are few. Technical and Vocational Skills Training (TVET) infrastructure which would give the youth a chance to acquire skills was largely destroyed during the war. In the task of rebuilding the technical and vocational training institutions in South Sudan in 2006, Plan International carried out a study to explore the progress that has been made on TVET since the 2005 CPA, to identify critical gaps in the ability of different levels of government to lead the growth and development of technical, vocational and entrepreneurship capacity and skills provision, and to examine the role of local training institutions and provide recommendations on how TVET could be successful and sustainable implemented by agencies and NGOs. As a result of these initiatives, some of the TVET institutions like Juba, Lainya, Torit, Malakal, Makolcuei (Bor) etc. were rehabilitated and equipped to start training again. However, apart from Juba Technical Secondary School and Malakal Vocational Training Institute, many of the others are not functioning. The major problems identified are poor management of these institutes and inadequate commitment from the Government and other stakeholders. This project is intended to expand Plans TVET work in South Sudan. This has become an important element in conflict mitigation and post disaster stabilization. Many of the actors in conflict related disaster are youth and quite often they engage in antisocial activities due to lack of positive livelihood options. Specifically the project is intended to expand on PLANs
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initiatives and experience by focusing and paying more attention to three counties which are among those prone to high incidences of youth driven conflict and urban crime. The core purpose will be to carry out capacity building programs to three vocational institutions/centers (one in each county) concerned with youth programs to ensure that they are able to offer vocational programs and offer technical support for sustainability once the institutions are up and running. This will then cascade to youth and young women in terms of opportunities to gain employability skills and the chance to secure a better future through positive livelihoods as well as further education.

1.4 Objective of the Project

1.4.1 Overall Objective

The goal of this project is to address the challenges three counties of Bor (in Jongolei State), and Kapoeta South and Kapoeta East (both in Eastern equatorial State) in South Sudan are faced in building TVET capacity so as to assist children, the youth and women to secure positive livelihood alternatives for themselves and their families.

1.4.2

Specific Objectives

The specific key objectives of this project are to: a) Conduct a market scan to identify demand for long and short-term courses, and the availability of local materials on which to base the course curriculum development in the three counties of Bor, Kapoeta South and Kapoeta east. b) Conduct a survey of the existing three TVET institutes and find out their capacity requirements to enable them offer relevant skills especially those that will use the BEST Model. c) Expand BEST training curriculum to include basic training in entrepreneurship and provide a small enterprise development fund for graduating youth. d) Develop a Unified Curriculum, Standards and Certification. e) Conduct sensitization and awareness workshops on the importance and benefits of vocational training to target women and marginalized youth and children who are at risk of being recruited into militia groups or urban crime gangs. f) Create a business mentor system to support youth in securing livelihood opportunities through employment or self-employment. g) Organize skills upgrading courses for the existing teachers, and recruit other qualified and experienced teachers in the courses that are not provided for. h) Build capacity of managers of the vocational centers and give them exposure to relevant best practice elsewhere. i) Refurbish the existing TVET infrastructure and equip the institutions sufficiently j) Develop and operationalize a 5 year TVET Development Plan for each institute. k) Provide technical backup support for the three institutes for at least one year.
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l) Provide skills training, equipment and support build the capacity of government staff and CBO partners to carry out youth and women focused programs and to manage the Youth Friendly/BEST centers once funding has ceased.

1.5 Theoretical Framework

Theoretical frameworks to be discussed will include the role of TVET and enterprise in post-war contexts and the development of Sustainable Local Enterprise Networks (SLEN). TVET can be transferred through formal and informal training or apprenticeships. The purpose of TVET is an essential job creation targeting specific regions where there is a gap between market needs and available skilled labor. The task of economic rebuilding will require skilled manpower as an urgent priority. Currently South Sudan lacks trained and competent personnel and many jobs are held by people from neighboring countries. The majority of economically active Sudanese youth dropped out of school or spent most of their time either fighting in the SPLA, as IDPs, in exile or missed out on the chance to acquire a formal education or skills training. These include large numbers of females who have participated in the war, either in combat or supporting roles. TVET is not only a catalyst to provide jobs, but has the positive impact of invigorating the local economy and providing a guarantee for peace and stability.

2.0 Methodology and Approach

For effective implementation of this project, a tripartite partnership between Plan International (South Sudan/Australia), Box Hill Institute Australia and Eureka Educational & Training Consultants is proposed; Plan International will be the overall project management partner. However, the specific roles for each partner will be worked out once the project has been agreed upon. 1. Carry out a market scan to inform the curriculum developers on what to input. 2. Organize for a teacher training center (preferable at Juba Technical) to train instructors on various trades at an artisan level for one year. The curriculum should consist of English literacy, numeracy, life skills including counseling and attitude change, engineering science and technology at 30% theory and 70% practical 3. Organize for skills upgrading courses for existing teachers (preferable at Juba Technical). 4. A unified curriculum for technical and vocational education based on market priorities and development needs will be developed. 5. Due to the poor management of the existing institutes, it will be necessary to provide a technical support to assist in the management for a period of at least one year.

6. For financial sustainability the institutes will be encouraged to start income generating projects so as to reduce the dependence on the Government and donor funding. The technical support will assist in identifying the appropriate projects for each institute. 7. Campaigns will be organized to sensitize and create public awareness of the benefits of TVET skills. They will identify and promote both female and male role models who, by learning specific knowledge and skills, have positively impacted their lives and the lives of those around them.

2.1

Target Beneficiaries

The three counties of Bor (in Jongolei State), and Kapoeta South and Kapoeta East (both in Eastern equatorial State) in South Sudan are expected to benefit from this project.

3.0 Expected Result

This project is aiming to Draw out the challenges facing the TVET institutes in the three counties of Bor, Kapoeta south and Kapoeta East Refurbish the institutes to benchmarked standards Identify and apply the basic concepts of improving the quality of TVET delivery using the Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) Model, Improve the training in the three institutes, and increase the numbers of trainees. Provision of capacity building instruments

4.0 Gender mainstreaming across the project

All TVET facilities will be open to both male and female youth and women. It is expected that within a period of five years more than 3,000 Youths and 1,000 young women will have been trained in various skills in the three TVET Institutes. The project will provide gender sensitive teacher training targeting especially female teachers to redress the current gender imbalance and ensure that there are qualified female role models. Gender sensitive curriculum, policies and standards will be developed to ensure that curriculum is equally relevant to girls and boys. Training in mixed gender schools will include a range of courses from Blacksmithing to nutrition to ensure that girls and boys can acquire relevant livelihood skills, while at the same time providing opportunities for girls to gain access in male dominated fields, if they so choose.

5.0 Sustainability

The GoSS, and in particular the two States of Jongolei and Eastern Equatoria, have to commit themselves to support TVET provision in the respective counties by taking over the running of the facilities once complete, paying teachers and taking over the further expansion and improvement of this work. Plan will work with state level governments to offer the support needed to meet their commitments to this project. An exit strategy will be developed in the last year of the project, detailing the roles of different actors in ensuring the benefits gained from the project are sustained with reduced development partners support. Some of the specific steps this project will take to ensure sustainability will include, but not be limited to the following: i) Steering committees for all projects should be established to continue overseeing the implementation; BOG and PTA for each institute will be appointed to manage the institutes, and act as a mechanism to bridge between the relevant institute and the parent State Ministry. Advocate for the creation of an independent transition authority to oversee the cascading of policies concerning TVET from the national down to state and eventually county governments The project will will provide technical support to each institute to assist in the management of the project activities for at least one year. Some of the partner organizations will be encouraged to extend their commitment to the institutes by continuing to support new initiatives or otherwise expanding the components they will be responsible as part of this project. CBOs that might partner in this project will be provided capacity building support to increase their organizational abilities; to design and implement similar projects on their own; to mobilize resources and to form the range of partnerships and relations that will ensure they are sustainable.

ii)

iii) iv)

v)

6.0 Time Frame

This project is expected to be completed within three years: from 2013 to 2016.

7.0 Financial Arrangement

The first phase of this project is estimated to cost USD 300,000; Funds are expected to be provided by Plan International (South Sudan/Australia), Box Hill Institute of Australia and .. of Britain as follows: a) Plan South Sudan US$ 100,000 b) Plan Australia US$ 100,000 c) . (Britain) US$ 100,000
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Total

US$ 300,000

7.1

Budget

The budget will cover the following items: S/No. Item Cost in USD 1. Market scan fo the three institutes 3,000 2. Refurbish the existing TVET infrastructure and equip the institute with basic Tools and Equipment 220,000 3. Skills upgrading courses for teachers 10,000 4. Recruitment of new teachers 3,000 5. Curricula Development 5,000 6. Training workshops/seminars 5,000 7. Technical support and Consultancy services 54,000 Total 300,000

8.0 Conclusion
The project is expected take off in July 2013 if funds are provided.