Education & Employment

For more than 30 years, FAKT has been engaged in the areas of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), youth employment promotion and entrepreneurship/ micro and small enterprise development, provides services to governmental and non-governmental organisations and contributes to dialogue facilitation and concept development. In our understanding, the three fields are closely connected: TVET systems and skills development programmes, to be effective, need to address labour market demand to the same extent as contributing to gender-equality and socio-economic inclusion of marginalised groups. During the next decade, TVET will play an even more crucial role in generating skilled labour that is needed for a green and just transformation of economies world-wide. We support youth employment measures that address systemic challenges with multi-stakeholder approaches while building on young peoples’ interests and capacities. Promoting youth entrepreneurship in sectors such as agriculture and other green sectors is closely connected to FAKT’s services in the areas of rural development, agriculture and sustainable management of natural resources.

FAKT’s long term expertise in TVET, youth employment and entrepreneurship is complemented by cross-sectoral expertise in areas such as impact assessment, results-based monitoring, organisational development and training of policy makers, TVET managers and trainers.

FAKT specializes in the following fields of Education & Employment:

• Green Skills and Jobs for Just Transition
• Technical and Vocational Education and Training/ Skills Development
• Youth Employment Promotion and Entrepreneurship

The transition to a Green Economy will create new job opportunities in many countries and it will change the skill requirements of many jobs in the years to come. At the same time, jobs in carbon-intensive sectors are likely to be lost. As energy costs may increase, this might intensify inequalities and undermine societies’ support for the transition.

The greening of TVET systems and skills development is thus becoming a priority, not only to prepare a future workforce that enables the greening of economies, but also to promote new job and income-opportunities for young people and the re-skilling of the existing workforce. Potentials for green jobs do not only exist in the sector of renewable energy, but also in green construction and infrastructure development, e-mobility and the circular economy. The informal sector is often overlooked in the policy debate on green skills and jobs, yet it boosts an enormous potential for improving resource efficiency, waste recycling and reduction of practices that are environmentally harmful. Young people with innovative ideas establish new business ideas that contribute to make the world a greener and just place.

Our services:

• Conducting studies on green skills and just transition, including sectoral studies and skill-gap analysis in sectors relevant for green skills
• Project development in the context of greening TVET and green jobs
• Advice on greening of TVET systems
• Supporting processes for greening of TVET qualifications and TVET institutions
• Promoting green entrepreneurship

The relevance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in developing and transforming economies has been increasing substantially in the last decade. TVET is considered crucial in preparing the workforce for economic development and a green and digital transformation in many countries as well as for addressing youth unemployment and inequalities.

FAKT Consult has over 30 years of experiences in TVET and skills development. Clients include GIZ, ILO, KfW, Misereor, Bread for the World and other non-governmental organisations. Our focus is on providing expertise to the reform of TVET systems, for skills development in the informal sector including apprenticeship, and for designing skills development programmes and measures aiming at socio-economic integration of marginalised population groups. Our pool of experts possesses in-depth sectoral experiences as well as profound expertise in project planning, monitoring and evaluation.

Our services include:

• Consultancy for project development in the TVET sector and skills development
• Evaluation of projects in the TVET sector
• Development of M+E systems for projects in the TVET and employment sector
• TVET sector studies and capacity assessments
• Employment and labour market assessments with the aim to better align demand and supply of skills
• Support to capacity development of TVET institutions and the cooperation with the private sector
• Development of TVET qualifications and curricula
• Training of trainers and TVET managers

Our approaches for youth employment promotion address the complex causes why young people fail to find gainful employment and to have a perspective for a decent livelihood: one is the lack of career guidance and vocational orientation in many education systems. With our services, models and content for career guidance is developed which is responsive to the social and cultural background of young people and the context they are living in. We promote “opportunity scouting” as a participatory method whereby young people are in the lead to scout for work end income-generation opportunities under the guidance of well-trained facilitators. We facilitate multi-stakeholder approaches for collaborative actions instead of isolated interventions. In contexts with a systemic lack of wage employment opportunities, we support local actors in developing entrepreneurship approaches that do not follow blue-prints but build on the specific potentials and conditions of a sector and a region, be it in agriculture, agro-processing or jobs and business opportunities in eco-tourism. Our approaches aim to develop digital skills of young entrepreneurs as well as giving young entrepreneurs a voice in community affairs and local politics.

Our services:

• Employment and labour market assessments with systematic analysis of employment and entrepreneurship potentials and challenges
• Design of youth employment promotion programmes, with emphasis on multi-stakeholder approaches
• Facilitation of multi-stakeholder approaches in youth employment promotion
• Advice on youth employment policies and strategies
• Monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of employment programmes and projects
• Building capacities for entrepreneurship development
• Promotion of female entrepreneurship