Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is a key element of any policy initiative that aims to improve socio-economic conditions, create jobs and alleviate poverty. It intends to overcome the many challenges that the sector faces, such as ensuring quality, access, equity and relevance of current TVET practices. Ensuring that all TVET graduates are adequately prepared for the job mar
ket in line with labour market demands requires moving from a supply-driven to a demand-oriented TVET system. It also requires an active role of the business community in designing, developing, managing and evaluating TVET activities. Pakistan’s population is growing at a rapid pace. At the moment, the workforce is growing faster than the economy leading to unemployment, in particular of young people. The TVET sector’s capacity to deliver needed training services is insufficient to provide this growing workforce with professional skills. There are only approximately 315,000 places available in the formal TVET sector for some 950,000 new labour market entrants each year. Less than six per cent of young people have acquired technical skills through the TVET system, and only 2.5 per cent of them have received on-the-job training. This means that the competence level of the Pakistani workforce is too low to contribute adequately to enterprise productivity and competitiveness. It also means that Pakistan is not fully tapping into its potential youth dividend. Recognizing the critical role of skills development in achieving sustained economic and social progress, the government is committed to reform its TVET system as outlined in the National Skills Strategy (NSS) 2009-2013. Implementation of the NSS is a joint effort of public and private actors and stakeholders at national, provincial/regional and local levels. It is coordinated by the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) at the federal, and Technical and Vocational Training Authorities (TEVTAs) at the provincial levels. Several development partners such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization, United Nations Development Fund, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, World Bank, British Council, United Kingdom Department for International Development and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are supporting the reform process through different interventions. In April 2011, the five-year TVET Reform Support Programme was launched to assist the Government of Pakistan in the NSS implementation. The programme is jointly funded by the European Union, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) implements the programme in partnership with NAVTTC and in close cooperation with TEVTAs and other TVET stakeholders including the private sector. GIZ can draw on its vast experience in TVET development world-wide including Pakistan.
