A TREE grows in Cabo Delgado: How skills training builds rural economic empowerment
The rural people of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, located in the north, are among the poorest and most vulnerable in the country. Despite relatively strong economic growth in Mozambique through the first decade of this century, in this region poverty and illiteracy remain widespread and present huge challenges for training and skills.
“Most of them do not have any kind of qualification or training,” says Ana Cristina Paulo, the ILO’s Chief Technical Officer of the project in Mozambique. Moreover, the level of illiterate young and adult population aged 15-60 years and above remains among sub-Saharan Africa’s highest. “They often do not speak Portuguese (the National language), just the local dialects, and they live in very remote areas with no access to power or even potable water.”
Given the broad consensus that training in skills is one of the most direct paths to promote decent work and encourage inclusive growth in high and low income economies alike, in 2015 the ILO, with the support of KOICA, began implementing the 'Skills for employment and productivity in low income countries' programme in selected districts of Cabo Delgado.
The project adapts elements of the G20 Training Strategy developed by the ILO, in partnership with other international, regional and national organizations and employers’ and workers’ representatives, to support the transition between education, training and work.
A central part of the effort is the TREE programme being implemented by the ILO, in collaboration with the government of Mozambique. Short for Training for Rural Economic Empowerment, TREE has grown from deprived communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan to provide a model for liaising with the community it aims to help in structuring training design and implementation. It is especially effective in environments with poor opportunities for education and formal technical training.
The first step in the TREE programme is to go into the community and look to understand the local economy and the level of skills already present: “We made a diagnosis of the economic opportunities that could easily create jobs,” says (Ms.) Paulo. “We have decided to deliver training now in 20 areas such as carpentry, fisheries, photovoltaic energy, crafts … a wide range,” including some 1,100 youth who are currently completing the first stage of training in the TREE methodology.
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