By Godwin Bonge Muhwezi
Leaders from 16 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutes from Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to monitor and evaluate the performance of the EASTRIP Project.
The meeting took an in-depth performance review of the project to identify strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and lessons learned from project implementation.
Speaking at the opening session, the IUCEA Executive Secretary, Prof. Gaspard Banyankimbona noted that while there has been good progress made in the implementation of the project, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. “I would like to urge participants to do a candid evaluation of the project implementation and discuss critically some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the project,” Prof. Banyankimbona said.
He urged the meeting to come up with practical solutions of ensuring that EASTRIP meets its objective of increasing access and improving the quality of TVET programmes in selected Regional Flagship TVET Institutes and to support regional integration in East Africa.
The meeting involved plenary sessions where participants gave project updates on project implementation status. The presentations included updates from Regional Flagship TVET Institutes (RFTIs), National Project Coordination Units (NCPUs) and the Regional Project Facilitation Unit (RFU).
There was an opportunity for the audience to interact with the presenters for insights and suggestions on the overall project progress performance.
There were also presentations on the inception report on harmonization of regional TVET qualifications framework, inception report for 2nd round of independent verification, and a preparation on regional skills competition by World Skills International.
The private sector representatives from Ethiopia and Kenya also made presentations on the importance of developing demand driven TVET courses through industry partnerships. There were breakaway sessions to address country specific challenges and practical solutions to the challenges were developed and presented as outcomes of the group discussions.
RSC Meeting
The Regional Steering Committee (RSC) was held as one-day meeting on 21st of July 2021. The RSC is the highest policy organ of the EASTRIP Project responsible for monitoring progress in project implementation and giving policy direction and guidance for successful implementation of the project.
The TAM and RSC were followed by the site visit to General Wingate Polytechnic College and Ethiopian Technical University.
The Writer is a Project Communication Officer for EASTRIP at IUCEA.