In 2019/2020, the legal basis for dual technical and vocational education and training (TVET) was laid in Uzbekistan. Implementing these fundamentals in a top-down approach in the administrative, educational, and economic systems is a challenge. 23 ambassadors from different professional groups were selected, familiarized with dual TVET and entrusted with the task of disseminating information about it in their respective environments (throwing a stone into a lake that causes waves).
© GIZ / Cornelia Steinigen
Uzbekistan is faced with the challenge that the professional skills of graduates of vocational schools do not meet the quality demanded by the economy. Since 2021, the GIZ project ‘Support of the Reform and Modernization Process in the Vocational Education and Training System of Uzbekistan (TexVET)’ has been addressing this issue and aims to ensure that training in selected key industries (textiles and leather) meets the needs of the economy.
In May 2023, the TVET Academy carried out a human capacity analysis (HCD assessment) on site together with the project. This resulted in 4 HCD packages (workshop series, marketing campaign, ambassador network, trainings), the implementation of which the TVET Academy accompanied from 09/2023 to 02/2025. The establishment of an ambassador network for the promotion of dual TVET was also an innovation for the TVET Academy.
To find suitable ambassadors, a catalogue of criteria was drawn up within the project and people were specifically approached to apply as ambassadors. In addition to reviewing the submitted documents, interviews were conducted and finally a group of 23 people (9 of them women) was selected. This group was specifically supported by workshops, network meetings, a study trip to Germany (07/2024) or Egypt (10/2024) per ambassador and by financing its own small projects (up to EUR 1,000), which were intended to contribute either to strengthening the network or promoting dual TVET. To consolidate the role of the ambassadors and communicate them to the outside world, a factsheet was created, and a mission statement was written.
The approach of forming a local group of change agents in the form of dual TVET ambassadors is time-consuming and labor-intensive but has so far proven to be successful and will be adopted in the follow-up project from 2026. Together with the project, the TVET Academy has thus developed an innovative approach in the context of dual TVET and is now working on consolidating it.
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