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Author/s: | AbouBakr Adbeen Badawi |
Co-Author/s: | UNESCO-UNEVOC, UNESCO Offices Beirut and Cairo |
Publisher/s: | UNESCO |
Published: | 2007 in Bonn, Germany |
ULC: | UNEVOC Library Catalogue ID 3951 |
With a growing role of the private sector in creating employment opportunities for youth and job
seekers in the MENA countries and a simultaneous shrinkage of the role of what used to be a public
sectors enterprises, the notion of private-public partnership (PPP) gained ground and became of a
prime importance. The last few decades witnessed a major shift in the economic policies In the MENA
countries - from a central planning and economic enterprises public ownership approach, to an openmarket
policy and a stream of privatization. For this reason, the TVET providers in the region, mainly
public sector institutions, slowly started to involve employers and their organizations in TVET.
However, in most cases the public sector providers were focusing on enhancing commitments of the
private sector, in particular direct funding and training opportunities. The bureaucrats were not yet
ready to accept the positive and effective role of the private sector in developing TVET policies,
planning, monitoring and evaluation.
Throughout the years, the national experts, as well as many international technical cooperation
providers, called for a number of initiatives that were to enhance the role of the private sector
(cooperative training, formulation of TVET councils including representatives of the private sector,
labour market information systems, and developing a demand-driven TVET system and curriculum).
Following the series of initiatives, the scene became better prepared for a full partnership between the
TVET providers and the private sector that started employing their graduates. Recently the notion of
PPP was a cross-cutting issue of an important and comprehensive report, prepared by UNESCO for
the G8-BMENA Economic Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh (May 2006)1. The PPP is also going to be on the
agenda of the forthcoming meeting of the G8-BMENAs TVET working group, as well as on the
agenda of other events.
Considering the importance and the relevance of the PPP for the TVET systems in the Arab region,
the UNESCO-UNEVOC Centre in Bonn took the lead in organizing a field visit for a number of
professionals coming from UNEVOC centres in six Arab countries - two of which are among the good
practices in PPP in the region. The aim was to present practical examples of PPP to the participants
and to allow an in-depth discussion on how such a practice could be implemented in their own
countries. Meanwhile, the visited institutions benefited from the expertise of the participants and the
generated discussion. Experiencing things in real on the ground and witnessing the impact was
definitely crucial. For that reason exactly it was decided to have a field visit focusing on meeting the
private sector partners, instead of organizing a seminar, a workshop or an experts meeting.