Provision of technical assistance to support the programming process between the European Union and the Kingdom of Eswatini for the period of 2021-2027

The economy of the Kingdom of Eswatini has been in relative stagnation or decline over the past two decades, characterised by a dependency on services and high levels of public sector payroll expenditures. The strategic response by the Government of Eswatini is set out in the Strategic Roadmap with a policy agenda focused on job and income generation in the export orientated agriculture, manufacturing, agro-processing, tourism, mining, energy, and ICT sectors. Under the strategic pillar of social safety, the Ministry of Education has a mandate to review education funding frameworks, to reduce fiscal expenditure and explore alternative funding arrangements, while also increasing the quality and effectiveness of provision. However, the human capital and institutional capacities needed to fully enable the overall strategy remain weak. The TVET system, in particular, is characterized by mismatches between skills supply and demand, a fragmented regulatory environment, especially the absence of standardisation within the qualifications framework, poor infrastructure, low levels of investment and lack of perceived relevance to both prospective students and employers. The current intervention will provide a 'stock taking' review of the formal TVET system and set out a series of proposals, recommendations and action plans aimed at empowerment of vulnerable young people, especially women and girls, to improve access to skills training and strengthen the quality and attractiveness of TVET provision. The global objective of this project is to contribute towards human capital development and social inclusion in Eswatini by strengthening vocational education and training (TVET) in line with labour market demands and skill needs, with a particular focus on the economic empowerment and inclusion of youth, women and other disadvantaged groups. In particular, the project aims at developing a comprehensive Annual Action Plan (AAP) and related documentation for the future cooperation between the EU and the Kingdom of Eswatini for the period 2021-2024. The team will develop the final documents for two sub-sectors (market-driven TVET and empowerment of disadvantaged youth and women in vulnerable situations): Strategic Steering Committee (SSC) Fiche, Annual Action Plan (AAP), Action Document (AD), Technical and Administrative Provisions (TAPS), Logical framework and indicators.