Training Guidance Service and Job Guidance Service tools

Tool focus

The two sets of tools are focusing on identifying vulnerable youths’ skill potential that may lead to skills training, internship and employment. The tools facilitate a structured process that through the tools’ simplicity can be applied by a large number of staff.

Target group

Public and private (NGOs) engage vulnerable youth in skills development for improved employability which includes internships.
Young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and villages, who are in a skills development project.

Introduction

The Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA) is a project implemented by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the European Training Foundation (ETF). SIFA is co-funded by the Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) and the European Union (EU). SIFA aims to promote the occupational prospects of young Africans through the support of innovative skills development programmes and in close cooperation with the private sector as an integral and key stakeholder in the creation of jobs. One of the key activities of SIFA is the creation and dissemination of knowledge on topics relating to employment-oriented skills development through exchange and dialogue formats. These take place through the African Skills Portal for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship (ASPYEE) and through regional and continental event formats such as Africa Creates Jobs (ACJ). Learning offerings, knowledge products and tools shall support SIFA’s audience in facilitating skills development on the continent. SIFA’s audience includes political decision and policy makers, private sector associations and other entities, TVET practitioners and other stakeholders involved in skills development and youth employment. The final beneficiaries of the programme activities are African youth. The African Union’s (AU) Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Decade Plan of Action focuses strongly on enhancing the quality of apprenticeships and engaging with the private sector. SIFA supports the implementation of the action plan and, via its ASPYEE portal, disseminates knowledge on existing approaches towards implementing apprenticeships in Africa, including lessons learnt.

A comprehensive overview of the varying apprenticeship tools in the form of approaches, models, procedures, forms etc. that are used in the African countries and easily accessible is missing. Easily accessible apprenticeship supporting tools and guidelines shall enable governmental TVET authorities, skills development practitioners in the private sector, TVET colleges, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Development Partners (DP) to improve the design and implementation of apprenticeship programmes and initiatives.

It is against this background and guided by a research and mapping concept that SIFA has supported the identification of practical tools applied that have facilitated the advancement and implementation of apprenticeships in selected AU member states. This paper is part of a series of papers presenting and discussing apprenticeship-facilitating tools used within a diverse selection of apprenticeship programmes implemented in different AU member states. The papers' introductory TVET sections do not claim to be exhaustive. They serve solely to provide context for the sections presenting the apprenticeship programmes and tools. The tools do not necessarily represent the most advanced tools but rather robust examples that could be applied by apprenticeship projects at different stages of their advancement.

In this context, the below presented tools apprenticeship tools have been identified and presented.

Guinea Bissau's TVET system

The Basic Law on the Educational System, approved by the National People's Assembly on 21 May 2010, defines the general framework of the educational system in Guinea-Bissau.

The education system is the set of institutions and resources aimed at realising the right to education. It must be adapted to the social environment that surrounds it and aim at the full development of the human personality, democracy, and social progress. It must guarantee the moral and civic formation of the students, in full freedom of conscience, and ensure adequate work-oriented training, considering the vocation, interests and abilities of each one. The education system must also guarantee equal opportunities for women and men, promote science and culture and correct local asymmetries. (Educational System Basic Law, 2010. Extracts from articles 1, 2 and 3).
Chapter II of the Basic Law defines the structure of the education system, which includes:

Programmes and qualifications in the areas of non-formal education

The education system in Guinea-Bissau

Formal education programs and qualifications

Special modalities of school education

Focus on technical-professional training

Apart from the organic laws and decrees defining the various ministerial powers, in Guinea-Bissau, the TVET sector does not have a national policy or a legislative and regulatory framework. The sector is therefore characterised by a lack of benchmarks, qualification standards and quality assurance systems, including a national qualifications framework and certifications. This results in a number of challenges, e.g.:

•  ill-defined supervision of vocational training between the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education;
•  unclear distribution of mandates and responsibilities in the administration of vocational training;
•  low quality of training, low level of training provisions, lack of diversification of training provision,
•  deterioration of training centres, the concentration of centres in the capital city of Bissau,
•  problematic certification of degrees,
•  insufficient professional integration of graduates into the labour market,
•  the lack of a national qualifications system, and the possibilities for recognition of prior learning under the Recognition, Validation and Certification of Competencies (VRCC) programme.

The Recognition, Validation and Certification of Professional Competences (RVCC Professional) is a process that allows obtaining a professional certification based on the demonstration of lifelong learning and competences acquired through professional experience or in other contexts.

TVET training

Vocational training is offered in 29 schools (three public and 26 private), mainly concentrated in the urban centres of Bissau, Cacheu and Oio. In 2014 and 2015, the school trained around 5,000 learners in 41 short courses and 36 long courses. A short course lasts less than one school year. The duration of the long courses varies between one and three years. The profile of teachers and trainers is very diverse and is characterised by four statuses: Civil Servants (43%), Contractual Employees (46%), State Contractual Employees and Temporary Employees (10%). In 2014-2015, about 2,850 learners completed their training. However, reliable statistical data remains a challenge.

The February 2017 analytical report on TVET in relation to the labour market in Guinea-Bissau provides a good summary of TVET supply, market demand and supply-demand relationships. As in other African countries, the report pointed to a mismatch between training supply and labour market needs, as well as weak private sector participation (formal and informal). The primary sector accounts for about 80% of jobs, but only less than 10% of learners participate in training in this sector. The tertiary sector (services) accounts for about 20% of jobs but 80% of learners.

Vocational education and training involves various voluntary and private sector actors, largely supported by international cooperation, providing a training offer that is not really linked to the education system and business needs.

Labour market demand

The labour market in Guinea-Bissau, like that of other African countries, is largely dominated by the informal sector, which accounts for more than 9 out of 10 jobs in the country. With over 96% and 98% respectively in the informal sector, women and especially the rural population are hardly represented in the modern sector. Among young people aged 15-24, less than 3% (15% for those aged 35-64) work in the modern sector.
Informal/traditional apprenticeship

Informal training is provided in families, where skills are passed from one generation to the next and where local artisans are apprentices. These models are similar to those in most other African countries.
In Guinea-Bissau, the informal sector is the main employment sector. Almost nine out of ten (88.9%) of jobs are created in the informal sector, regardless of the sector of activity. The predominance of informal employment is more pronounced in the agricultural sector, at 99.5 %, than in the non-agricultural sector, at 85.9 %.

The Programme: NGO – ANADEC – Non-formal education

The NGO ANADEC - National Action for Community Development, is a non-governmental NGO created in Bissau in 2012. Its aim is to promote the sustainable socio-economic development of families, groups and individuals in vulnerable situations in Guinea-Bissau through training - including internships - and vocational guidance. Additional activities of ANADEC comprise pre-school education, literacy, awareness-raising among the population, promotion of associations and sports activities. The NGO also provides support for unemployed young people through training and integration into the labour market and develop partnerships between the various actors in the field of training and employment.
ANADEC has created a roadmap called SOC and TOC, each of which contains several tools to accompany and prepare economically inactive young people for their integration into training, internships and employment.

The Initiative: The Route to Professional Skills training

As can be seen from the above ‘Path of the professional training process’ the route includes two different tools namely SOC (Training Guidance Service) and SOT (Theoretical and Practical Training) SOC –Training Guidance Service.
SOC – Training Guidance Service

The SOC is a method based on the use of a guidance form and an interview template that aims to identify the educational aspirations and perspectives of NEETs young people (not in employment, education, training) from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and villages.
With the help of the form and the interview template, the youth NGO members go to disadvantaged neighbourhoods to promote training by going door to door, family to family, to identify the young person's interest and the family's support that could lead to "vocational training, work experience and integration into the labour market". After the identification phase and a theoretical and practical training, the young person is guided to a course that corresponds to his/her profile, the labour market in his/her local community and his/her qualifications, or through courses offered by ANADEC or referred to professional training centres. This is offered under the supervision of ANADEC until the young person is employed.

SOT – Job Guidance Service

Following the training, the SOT step is offering the trainees guidance on how to get a job or an internship by:

• Preparing trainees for the job search;
• Raising awareness among graduates of the conditions and opportunities available in the labour market;
• Giving advice on how to write a CV and an internship/ job application letter;
• Giving advice on techniques for finding an internship or job; and
• Sensitising young people about the world of work.

The guidance offered to prepare the trainees for seeking a job in an internship is divided up into six main areas:

The Tools: Training Guidance Service and Job Guidance Service tools

Several tools in the form of guides and forms were prepared for the implementation of the training programme. For the SOC Training Guidance Service phase the following tools are used:

• Interview Guide for Potential Participants
• Beneficiary Path Follow-Up Form
• Action Plan Between the NGO ANADEC and The Beneficiary

For the SOT - Job Guidance Service phase the below tools are used:

• Training follow-up guide
• Companies Research Form

Below you will find the SOC – Training Guidance Service Tool as an example of the actual tools used. You will find additional SOC and SOT tools used in the version available on the download facility.

SOC - Training Guidance Service Tools

• The approach in which the tools are integrated covers the steps from identification of the young people to qualification and support for employment/self-employment. This means that the tools are part of an integrated package tailored to young people in a difficult situation.
• The very practical approach - individual meetings with young people and their families - allows for greater consistency and permanence in training and career pathways.
• Better preparation of young people for internships in the company and for employment or self-employment. This increases trainees' self-confidence, which in turn improves their employability.

• In the context of the internship, young people sometimes expect remuneration, which is not always available. It is therefore important to provide young people with realistic expectations.
• The approach requires resources (human, financial, infrastructure, etc.) to engage at community level, as well as well-informed staff who know how to engage with young people and their parents at community level.