Update (17th Jan, 2018): Cabinet meeting had decided to accept the grant
The World Bank has approved a $60 million credit (approximately Rs 6 billion) to support a second phase of the Enhanced Vocational Education and Training Project in Nepal. EVENT II is designed to help the country improve equitable access to market relevant training programs and to strengthen the delivery of Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT).
In Nepal TVET is an important intermediary between youth and the labor market through the provision of pre-employment skills. Between 450,000 and 500,000 Nepali youth come of working age every year, most of whom will enter either the domestic or the foreign labor market with limited education and skills. On the other hand, the annual intake capacity in short-term and long-term TVET programs in the country was between 100,000 and 120,000 in 2016. While TVET has grown in size over time with formal and informal providers across a variety of government and non-government entities, it continues to face the challenges of quality training for domestic and foreign labor markets, inclusion and cohesion.
“Skill development of the workforce through investment in human capital including technical and vocational education and training are critical for the successful implementation of the country’s emerging jobs agenda,” said Takuya Kamata, the World Bank’s Country Manager for Nepal.
EVENT II is designed to support the TVET sector in Nepal at different levels—the system, the institution, and the individual. Activities include upgrading the quality of TVET facilities, supporting key human resources that are critical for the quality of service delivery, improving access for disadvantaged groups, supporting missing links between training and placement to help youth find work, improving the availability of information linking skills supply and demand, and improving governance through performance-based funding of training providers. The project will also support migrants through training and skill testing and certification.
“While there is substantial underemployment and informal employment dominates, an increased focus on skills and employability will help Nepal benefit from its potential youth dividend,” said Sangeeta Goyal, Senior Economist and the Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project.
The World Bank has expressed the belief that the training would become a means of linking the labour market and the Nepali youths aspiring for abroad employment in the context of the entry of 450 thousand youths annually in the labour market in Nepal and most of them lacking high skills and education. Most of the youths entering the labour market go on foreign employment.
The loan assistance would be fruitful for Nepal in ending unemployment and informal employment as well as in promoting skill-based education, the World Bank stated in a press release today.
