Technical training to support Rwanda’s growth

With opportunities available for young people, there was a clear case for a nationally-coordinated TVET system (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) offering standardised qualifications and labour market relevant training. Yet, how do you sell a career path through TVET to the next generation, when a university education is seen as the ultimate accolade?

Challenge

Rwanda made impressive progress in the first decade of the new century, with economic growth averaging 7.5% over the last ten years. There were jobs for those who had the right skills, but the country missed the personnel, curricula and policies to run a public TVET system that could fast track ambitious students into better-paid work. There were privately-run technical colleges, but these often lacked structure and, in the absence of a national qualifications framework, set their own standards.

For girls, in particular, there was a lack of awareness and appetite for learning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), despite the opportunities for those who chose that path. Technical colleges offered few opportunities for practical training and job placements and lacked advanced equipment which rendered them second class in the eyes of many Rwandans, even though job opportunities in technical sectors are plentiful. Comparing educational opportunities, many aim at more prestigious Masters and PhD degrees, however without the promise of employment. TVET teachers, too, were viewed as inferior to university lecturers.

Approach

In 2009, the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) was established to lead technical education, across both the public and private sector. With funding from The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, managed through NUFFIC, we worked from 2010 to 2016 with the WDA and Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centres to reform the entire Rwandan TVET system at the post-secondary level by establishing a national qualifications framework, developing a national TVET policy and strategy, and introducing competency based training, to ensure graduates receive the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by industries for effective performance in the workplace.

Our team ran three pilots at the advanced diploma level - in construction, hospitality and tourism, and agriculture. We established a sustainable training-of-trainers system in TVET, benefiting over 7,000 students. This involved developing curricula and then helping to roll it out across the country, including promoting the benefits of working in the three sectors to secondary school children.

We wanted to show girls that there are opportunities in the job market. For example, they really could aspire for better-paid jobs in agriculture mechanisation, rather than crop production, which is the more traditional pathway. They could get ‘male’ jobs such as engineers, carpenters, masons, rather than the lower-paid ‘female’ jobs such as waitresses, beauticians or seamstresses. To address the declining enrolment of girls in TVET and STEM, we organised a highly successful campaign – which took the form of a nationwide road trip – and reached thousands of girls and boys in secondary schools, and their guardians.

To bring TVET teachers in line with their university counterparts – both in terms of legal rights and prestige – we helped WDA develop formal qualifications for TVET trainers linked to the new Rwanda National Qualifications Framework (RNQF), providing a way to compare qualifications of University and TVET teachers. We also assisted with legal advice on the special statute of TVET trainers to bring their salaries in line with those of University teachers. By developing and testing courses at higher diploma level, we made it possible for students at the highest level to gain an “Associate Degree’. This was important to back up evidence that those who chose a practical education over a more theoretical university, would enjoy healthier career prospects, especially in booming industries such as construction, hospitality and agriculture.

Outcome

Our team contributed substantially to the further development and strengthening of the TVET sector in Rwanda by:

• Developing and implementing the Rwandan TVET Qualification Framework. This framework provided a clear hierarchy of classifications of levels of formal learning programmes and their associated qualifications and certificates.
• Developing the national TVET policy and strategy, setting clear policy priorities and a roadmap for addressing these.
• Introducing the concept of Competency Based Training and Assessment – defining knowledge, skills and attitudes required by industries for effective performance in the workplace.
• Developing the TVET Trainers qualification framework, which emphasised that, as well as a solid technical background, TVET trainers need to have education and industrial exposure.

I am a TVET girl

The nationwide road trip to promote STEM among girls was one of the highlights of the project. Our team travelled with artists, singers, pop bands, politicians and other female role models, such as the country’s only female pilot. Women who had started their own business or made progress in technical education were invited to tell their story. Girls from technical colleges led workshops on bricklaying, mixing paint and metalwork to demonstrate what they had learnt.

Impact of TVET Girl roadshow

• 3,000 posts on social media
• 8,000 visitors
• Over 2,000 people signed up to learn more

While we were unable to gather the results in terms of enrolment for STEM subjects, the events attracted a lot of attention, with the TVET minister pledging his commitment to support the cause of girls entering technical education.

The aim for 2020 was a 50/50 split between TVET enrolment for girls and boys. By 2016, the target was in reach with a rise to 42 girls to 58 boys.