UNESCO launches Greening and Gender transformative approaches in TVET

By Andrea Arop Malek

The government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)  on Wednesday launched the Greening and Gender transformative approaches in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in South Sudan.

The project funded by the government of Sweden will see TVET instructor/teacher policy and greening TVET institutions guidelines developed and implemented, and the TVET Teacher/Instructor’s Training manual or guidelines developed.

It will also equip national stakeholders with revised/developed TVET gender-transformative and green modules and teaching/learning materials.

Through the project, UNESCO-UNEVOC will review the status quo of TVET and opportunities for enhancing gender-transformative and green and climate-oriented orientation of TVET; Facilitate the adaptation of existing guidance frameworks for greening TVET and gender transformation, and their integration in TVET pedagogical and institutional practices; Pilot resources for the purpose of sensitization and design of training in South Sudan; Manage high-level and practical-level support to the developed resources including the contextualized versions of Greening TVET guidelines and Gender-Transformative TVET guidelines and teaching and learning resources.

 Friedrich Huebler, the Head of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, said that the institutional guides for green transformation in TVET, and the institutional guide for gender transformation in TVET will strengthen the sector in the country.

He said that the two programs will not only strengthen TVET, but will also make the sector more inclusive for all gender.

Huebler disclosed that they are working finalize the two programs by the end of October this year, adding the two-day sensitization workshop held at crown hotel is an important step to gather more feedback from local stakeholders.

“The preceding panel discussion and in the other contributions, we heard about the many challenges faced by South Sudan. There are challenges regarding, for example, the institutional environment, policy framework, and coordination between the different actors in TVET, resources, and training infrastructure, but also issues like cultural norms,” Huebler said.

However, Huebler noted that despite the many challenges there is opportunity for South Sudan to learn from the experience of other countries.