More than a decade after the revolution, Tunisia continues to be plagued by systemic unemployment, which affects young men and women, especially graduates. One of the critical factors undermining those seeking employment is their low level of technical and professional qualifications they otherwise require to find gainful employment.
The Tunisian vocational education system today must cater to the needs of the economy as well as the challenges of skills development and improving overall employability. To meet these challenges, the system will need to undergo the necessary changes, bringing on board all stakeholders involved in vocational education, professional associations, and the private sector during all phases of the education process.
Takween is part of the Tunisian vision aiming to improve governance and quality of the vocational education system. Its ultimate goal is to strengthen business competitiveness and employability of the job-seeking population.
Takween is the continuation of the Formation et Intégration Professionnelle en Tunisie programme (PFIPT, 2013-2021), which introduced important innovations in the Tunisian vocational education system. The basis thus was created for substantially improving employability and fostering labour market integration for students and trainees, laying the groundwork for institutionalising the system, and creating sustainable linkages with the private sector and finance.
In a first phase, the programme will expand the availability of continuing vocational education across all economic sectors in Tunisia, instituting a leap in quality of teaching methods and updating the curricula to reflect the needs of the labour market. It also aims to enhance the capacity and involvement of public and private stakeholders in the vocational education ambit.
The programme features four interdisciplinary areas of intervention:
Takween features four main intervention thrusts and one support fund:
1. Upscaling vocational education and training with jointly certified public-private partnerships
General expansion of training curricula across the country, focusing on employment demand in the respective sectors. This is based on institutionalising and financing the system sustainably, stakeholder capacity building, and supporting the governance of partnerships.
2. Consolidating the agricultural vocational education reference business approach
Transforming agricultural vocational training centres into market-oriented reference businesses. Introducing hands-on, practical curricula based on new teaching methods. Enhanced private sector involvement, consolidated guidance of the reference businesses and the concept is established for the long term.
3. Practical short trainings
Short trainings with immediate impact on incomes and employability. These courses target disadvantaged population groups in regions with low economic potential. Initiatives focus on leveraging synergies with other Swiss development cooperation projects.
4. Capacity building to foster vocational education and training
These interdisciplinary initiatives support all the project components and involve direct support to foster communication and build the capacity of our key partners.
Takween provides support funding to aid the country’s guidance structure (Réseau des Entreprises d'Entraînement de Tunisie, or ReeT) and finance the entire system of training companies temporarily and decreasingly over time. The objective is for ReeT to achieve autonomy and self-financing by 2026.
Depending on the intervention mechanism:
Each year a national conference is held for vocational education and training.