Tajikistan : Strengthening Private Sector Participation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Education / Education sector development - Non-formal education - Technical and vocational education and training

A project preparatory technical assistance (PPTA) is considered necessary in preparing the detailed design of Strengthening Private Sector Participation in TVET in Tajikistan (the project). The PPTA is financed by Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR). The project scope and outputs cover a wide variety of tasks. To help design the project and conduct a TVET sector analysis, a consulting firm is proposed to be hired under the PPTA using quality-and cost-based selection. The firm and individual consultants' activities, outputs, and deliverables are given below. The detailed terms of reference are in Supplementary Appendix D.

Major Outputs and Activities

The TA consulting firm will prepare the following outputs: (i) an inception report outlining the overall implementation plan at the end of the first month of consultant mobilization, with a detailed proposed methodology to assist in preparing the design of the project, sector analysis, financial and economic analyses, a social and poverty survey and data collection requirements and schedule; (ii) a midterm report with a detailed assessment of the project design at the interim stage along with key policy reforms and specific project-related issues within the fourth month of consultant mobilization; the midterm report will include due diligence reports, draft gender action plan (GAP), draft social action plan, draft procurement plan and capacity assessment, and draft financial management assessment; (iii) a draft final report with a detailed assessment of the technical, financial, economic, environmental, social, and institutional aspects within the fifth month of consultant mobilization; and (iv) a final report within the sixth month of consultant mobilization. The reports will be provided in both English and Tajik/Russian. The TA consulting firm will hold extensive consultations to discuss the project design, performance, monitoring and evaluation system, ADB's safeguards policy, and disbursement and procurement policies and guidelines. The PPTA will also help showcase and utilize good practices from Japanese experience and expertise in TVET sector and consider these for adaptive replication in project design. The outputs of individual consultants will also be blended into the TA consulting firm's inception, midterm and final reports.

The PPTA helps design the project to empower the country's unemployed and underemployed youths and adults to take advantage of employment and income opportunities in the domestic and international labor markets through provision of quality training. A key feature of the project is the institutionalization of mechanisms for engaging the private sector in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) at the policy and operational levels.

Tajikistan's network of TVET providers comprises public institutions including: (i) 63 primary vocational education schools (now called lyceums) which are now managed by the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment (MOLME), (ii) 49 secondary vocational education schools (now called technical colleges) under the Ministry of Education (MOE); and (iii) 30 adult learning centers with 40 branches in the districts under the MOLME. The National Adult Training Center (NATC) in Dushanbe serves as the model and as a central resource center.

The lyceums offer 1-2 year courses with an enrollment of 23,857 in 2012. Technical colleges offer 2 to 4 year courses with 40,095 enrolled during the same school year. Both the lyceums and technical colleges also offer short courses (3, 6, 9, and 12 months) and trained 47,000 youths and adults in 2012. The adult learning centers offer only short courses and trained 53,000 in 2012. Women comprise about 30% of the total enrollment. About 30-40% of the students in long courses and majority of trainees in short courses pay for the cost of training which provides the TVET institutions a significant source of revenues to augment their limited budget and increases the sustainability of the system.

The TVET system however faces major constraints including outdated curriculum and learning materials, obsolete and inadequate equipment base, dilapidated school buildings and unmaintained and damaged dormitories, teachers and masters advanced in years with little staff development and succession planning, little or no linkage with industries, absence of modern approaches to school management, and continuing underinvestment in TVET in general. While a large number of graduates are produced each year, they lack modern skills and qualifications relevant to the labor market demands. In the Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum, 2010-11), the 'poor work ethic in the national labor force' and the 'inadequately educated workforce' ranked 5th and 6th, respectively, among the most problematic factors in doing business in Tajikistan, reducing the country's competitiveness and acting as binding constraints to economic growth.

The Government of Tajikistan (the government) has taken certain initiatives to address the dire situation of the TVET sector. In 2012 the government approved the State Program to Reform the TVET System, 2013-2020 outlining the different strategies and programs that need to be undertaken in a coherent and coordinated manner to reform and modernize the TVET sector. Its implementation requires political will and continued support from development partners. The project aims to fully support of the government's TVET reform program. With its emphasis on private sector development and reducing the cost of doing business, it is also consistent with ADB Country Partnership Strategy, 2010-2014. The project and the project preparatory technical assistance, aimed to help design the project, are both included in the Country Operation and Business Plan (COBP), 20132014 and the draft Country Operation and Business Plan, 20142016.

The review mission was fielded from 11-16 August 2014. It discussed with the EA and IAs the working arrangements and the timeline of the key TA outputs, and confirmed availability of government's contribution such as counterpart staff, services and facilities. The mission met with relevant government agencies, private sector stakeholders, NGOs, and development partners, visited technical lyceums and colleges, the Central Adult Learning Center (ALC) and its branch in Khujand, and participated in the PPTA's Inception Workshop. The mission and the government agreed on the processing schedule and reflected key understandings in the Aide Memoire.

The inception mission was fielded from 19 to 26 February 2014. The mission met all relevant stakeholders.

The midterm review mission was held on 27-31 October 2014 and (i) organized and participated in the mid-term workshop; (ii) confirmed with the government the initial design and implementation arrangements for the Strengthening Private Sector Participation in TVET System project (the project); (iii) worked with the TA consulting team to finalize TA deliverables and agreed on timelines for final TA outputs, including a review of school mapping and labor market surveys; (iv) discussed with the stakeholders and agreed on initial list of key economic sectors and priority occupations proposed to be supported under the project; and (v) visited technical college in Bothkar district in Khatlon region. The mission met with all key stakeholders.

The fact-finding mission was condcuted on 19-30 January 2015 to (i) review and finalize the design and monitoring framework (DMF) of the Strengthening Private Sector Participation in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Project (the project); (ii) confirm the project's technical, environmental, social, financial, and economic feasibility; (iii) finalize project administration manual (PAM); (iv) finalize capacity assessments of the executing and implementing agencies; (v) review the gender action plan, and other safeguard issues relevant to ADB's Safeguard Policy Statement; and (vi) review the project risk assessment and proposed mitigation measures, and discuss and agree on the project assurances required from the government. The mission held intensive discussions with key stakeholders.

Update as of 25 Sep 2014:

Both international and national PPP and Skills contracting specialists are expected to complete the contracts by end of September 2014. The international consulting firm commenced services in July 2014. It is expected that the international and national CBT specialists will be on board by mid of October 2014. Two more inidividual consultants will join the team (international and national TVET sector) but these will be financed by a RETA project. Inception workshop was concluded in August 2014. PPTA review mission will be fielded in end of Oct 2014; the mid term workshop is planned for 30 October 2014. Two activities under the TA, the labor market and school mappings surveys, are expected to start by end Sep/first week Oct 2014.

Update as of 24 Mar 2014 - The International PPP and Skills contracting specialist commenced services in February 2014. The national PPP and Skills contracting specialist is expected to commence services by mid April 2014. Technical proposals from the shortlisted firms have been received on 24 March 2014 and are being reviewed; it is expected that the firt-ranked firm start work by 12 May 2014.

Previous Update

The International and national PPP and Skills contracting specialist positions have been advertised on adb website. Shortlisting for the international post is on-going; the consultant is expected to commence services by mid-Feb. Six firms have been shortlisted and the list was sent to the government for concurrence. RFPs are expected to be issued to the firms by first week of Feb 2014.