Short-term trainings

Short-term training

Appropriate educational opportunities were developed that were accessible also to the most vulnerable rural groups, and these included a short-term training programme targeting poor and disadvantaged people with market-oriented skills and abilities in order to facilitate their access to employment.

The advantage of the short-term training model is that participants can find employment or independent income-generating activity quickly, while MSMEs can increase their productivity and revenue. The training lasts three months and is implemented by local artisanal businesses. PROMOST encourages every selected business to develop its training programme only after meeting with the target groups. This will ensure that the target group’s qualification needs are understood and can be implemented.

The programme organises trainings of vocational trainers to improve their technical and pedagogical skills and ensure they are able to offer pertinent and high-quality trainings.

After a three-month course, graduates need to gain a foothold on the labour market. Trainers continue to support them, be it in establishing and managing their own business, employing them in their own businesses, or recommending them to other businesses for employment.

Modern apprenticeship training

Modern apprenticeship training encourages learning at the workplace, and enables trainees to acquire skills within businesses using the available production facilities.

The project supports one-year trainings through the development of curricula by expert methodologists and selected tradespeople. This has ensured that the contents reflect the requirements of the local market. Furthermore, the trainings can be harmonised throughout the Western Province and standardised so that all trainers in a given course field are using the same curricula. Trainers are intimately involved in selecting trainees according to established criteria. Every tradesperson is tasked with overseeing at least one but no more than two apprentices simultaneously over an entire year. Under Swisscontact’s supervision, trainers conclude written agreements with their prospective apprentices.

The project trains trainers in technical and pedagogical methodologies for every profession and makes sure to establish a balanced gender ratio among participants to ensure the training is conducted well. Given that the programme has been implemented in all three countries, the project is organising exchanges between experts and study tours for peer learning.