1. A critical Analysis of TVET and its
contribution to job creation in The
Gambia
Solomon Atibuni
Banjul
April 2015

2. Outlines
 Introduction
 Background and motivation
 Objectives (TOR)
 Analytical framework
 Methodology
 Key Findings
 Conclusions
 Recommendations

3. 1. Introduction
 This study was commissioned by VSO The Gambia in
partnership with NTA to achieve her Strategic Plan (2012-
2015) of “Putting Youth at the Center of Development”.
 VSO is a leading independent international development
organization that works through volunteers to fight poverty
in developing countries and VSO’s mission is a world
without poverty.
 VSO Strategic Plan (2012-2015) was coined to contribute
towards Gambia’s National Development Plan (NDP) for
2012-2015 that was ushered through Programme for
Accelerated Growth & Employment (PAGE) 2012-2015.

4. Cont.
 In line with mainly the third PAGE main objective that
focuses on improving human capital, VSO recruited
volunteers to be placed with her partners to implement
activities in different sectors of youth engagement, secure
livelihood and education.
 My attachment to National Training Authority was among
other objectives to formulate a policy research document to
achieve the following outcomes:
― Enhanced policy frameworks that support TVET
developments.
― Enhanced TVET service delivery in line with labour market

5. Cont.
― Adequate capacity in TVET regulatory institutions to
undertake evidence based planning and statistics/data
management.
― Make youths acquire positive attitudes towards willingness
to take up TVET as a career path.
To benchmark impacts of TVET related activities and future
projects, a nationwide survey was undertaken during my
placement at NTA a semi-autonomous institution mandated
by the act of parliament (2002) to regulate national
vocational qualifications.

6. Background and Context
 Skills are vital for poverty reduction, economic recovery &
sustainable development.
 As a consequence, policy attention to technical and
vocational education and training (TVET) is increasing
worldwide.
 TVET comprises of formal, non-formal and informal
learning or education system that prepares participants for
specific skills e.g. technician, trade, repairer and craft.
 Employment is the act of generating income from a
relationship between two parties (employer, employee or
customer (client)

7. Cont.
 Based on the evidence that TVET leads to the development of
skills that creates employment in the formal and informal
sector, private and public sector, all international actors and
nations have taken the stride to incorporate skills development
in a holistic scope.
 Developing countries whose economy has been severely
battered by the “domino-effect” of the weakening global
recovery in 2012 and 2013 has heightened youth job crises in
the formal employment sector (ILO, 2013).
 According to World Bank, 2012), people living extreme
poverty (consuming less than 1.25 USD a day) have halved to

8. Cont.
 17% of the people living in extreme poverty in LDCs.
 The global youth unemployment rate is projected at 12.8%
in 2018, which is on an increasing trend since 2013 was at
12.6% (ILO, 2013).
 In 2011 unemployment was rated at 12.3% and contrary, the
year 2009 had witnessed a drop in unemployment by 0.4%.
 In summary, the current youth unemployment is estimated at
73.4 million, an increase by 3.5 million from 2007.
 The year 2013 has witnessed the decreased global youth
employment-population ratio to 42.3% from 44.8% in 2007
(ILO, 2013)

9. Situational Analysis of TVET and
Employment in Africa
 Unemployment, youth employment challenges, and poverty
are a serious problem across the African continent with more
concern in Sub-Saharan region.
 These challenges are centered on legislative shortcomings,
poor quality of TVET data, lack of physical and financial
support, human resource and employment mismatch.
 Sub-Saharan Africa has the fastest population growth
projected between now and 2050 and the highest youth
population in the world with almost 50% unemployed.
(South Africa, Nigeria)

10. Cont’
 The reasons for the neglect of TVET include; systemic
isolation, low reputation, lack of political will for proper
funding, and inadequate measuring instruments.
 In its Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education
(2006 – 2015), the AU recognizes the importance of TVET
as a means of empowering individuals to take control of
their lives and recommends integration of vocational training
into the general education system.
 But SSA countries have several issues relating to integrating
TVET into the mainstream education systems.

11. Cont’
 Inadequate integration as well as isolation of TVET is
reducing the cluster of learning experiences available to
students and contributing to the low reputation of the
discipline.
 In SSA two fundamental mismatches and a proxy for skills
between demand and supply of skills based on a comparison
of the educational attainments of the employed and the
unemployed and mismatch between the skills that youths
have and those required by employers.

12. Cont’
 Teachers are pivotal to the facilitation of learning in TVET
programmes but less commitments by governments and
development agencies on TVET teacher education as well as
continuing professional development programmes.
 TVET teachers do not go for any continuing professional
development programmes between initial recruitment and
retirement.
 133 million young people (more than 50 per cent of the
youth population) in Africa are illiterate with little or no
skills and are therefore largely excluded from productive
economic and social life

13. Situational Analysis of TVET in The
Gambia.
• Gambia remarkably has emphasized the need to promote
skills acquisition since 1977.
• This strategic interest hence witnessed the inception of
NTA in 2002 and consequently the adaptation of the
Gambia Skills Qualification Framework (GSQF) as
policy document in 2006.
• Amidst these interventions, youth unemployment, and
underemployment especially for (13-30 yrs) is perennial
at an estimate of 38% (GLFS, 2012), 40% (EFANET,
2014) and 57.9% of the same age are considered illiterate
hence

14. Cont’
 National Training Authority (NTA) is mandated by the Act
of Parliament (2002) (National Assembly) to regulate
national vocational qualifications, coordinate the quality of
delivery of Technical and Vocational Education and
Training (TVET) in the country.
 Vision 2020 emphasizes Government efforts to increase
skills centres for students who do not wish to or are unable
to continue into the academic stream
 Pillar 3 of PAGE (2012-2015) Secondary education highly
seen a basis for employment but TVET given less promotion
and priority for skills development (PAGE Midterm review
report,2014)-supervion still low.

15. Cont’
 UNDP Funded Country Programme Action Plan- 2012-2016
(CPAP) supports skills training for the youths in different
skills areas but numbers are still low compared to the
demand and there is no evidence of follow up of trainees.
Start up capital/kit for trainees remains a challenge.
 Labour Market Information System (LMIS) an essential
component of effective TVET is taking a slow pace in all
government interventions.

16. Cont’
 Skills training centres are registered with NTA but
unevenly distributed in the country (NTA,2014).
 Some skills centers continue to operate without registration.
 Majority TVET service providers are privately owned and
training fees are higher than majority would be students can
easily afford.
 Some parents and a section of the youth remain disinterested
in Pursuing TVET as a career.

17. Objectives
 To identify and review the TVET services available both in
terms of quality and quantity through the country indicating
the opportunities, constraints and challenges facing the
service providers.
 To identify and review the TVET labour market
requirements throughout the country, including both
qualitative and quantitative needs as well as the various
modes required to manage such identified needs.
 To review the TVET policy environment at both the central
and decentralized levels and within the public and private
sectors including the regulatory, historical, economic, legal,
and social dimensions.

18. Cont.
 To analyze the attitudes of the general public on TVET
including the youths, parents and policy makers.
 To analyze TVET facilities and their accessibility to
vulnerable groups like disabled people and women.
 To document success stories of TVET beneficiaries, lessons
learned and how these can replicate to motivate others to
join TVET as a career path.
 To review the tracking methods/tools on TVET
development.
 To provide recommendations on how to address the issue
arising from research findings

19. Analytical Framework
 Analytical Framework.pdf

20. Methodology
 The study was carried in four major steps namely; inception
workshop, sample selection and determination, data
collection, analysis and report writing
 The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative
approaches and the unit of analysis were the households,
TVET service providers, employers, policy makers,
community leaders, TVET graduates and trainees, and
document analysis..
 First stage: Inception workshop, was organized and attended
by some stakeholders (MoHERST, MoTIE, GBoS, MoYS,
VSO and NTA).

21. Second stage: sample selection
and determination
 The study employed both probability and non-probability
methods since it was qualitative and quantitative in nature.
 For the quantitative method, Yamane (1969) formula of
sample size determination was used to determine household
sample size. (217,400 H/Hs) in Gambia (Gbos, 2013).
 Confidence level estimated at 99% and sampling error of
2.5%, sample size was 1599 H/Hs.
 In order to gather the views of youth and parents, two
persons were at least interviewed in each household (youth
and adult). Hence a total of 3198 persons.

22. Cont.
 LGAs were considered as stratum hence the 8 LGAS were
classified as stratum.
 Proportionate stratification sample size determination was
adopted to determine a representative sample size.
(nh=Nh/N)n

23. Stratified LGAS and sample size
Stratum No. of
Districts
No. of Households
Proportion
Household
sample size
Numbers of
respondents to be
interviewed
Banjul 03 6641 50 100
Kanifing 01 60104 442 884
Brikama 09 81988 603 1206
Mansakonko 06 9668 71 142
Kerewan 07 22600 166 332
Kuntaur 05 8862 65 130
Janjanbureh 05 11735 86 172
Basse 07 15802 116 232
Overall total 43 217400 1599 3198
Table 1: Stratified unit of analysis according to LGAs

24. Cont.
Thereafter, multi-stage sampling methods.
 within the stratum simple random sampling technique was
used to determine districts for H/H intervention where 50%
number of districts were considered.
 Interval scale was derived from the number of households in
the districts of intervention to determine household selected.
 This was determined by the supervisors.
 Districts that missed from simple random sampling were
considered for FGD.

25. Cont.
 Non probability for qualitative: purposive, convenient
and snowball methods were adopted. (KII, FGD and In-
depth interviews)
 Targets were (TVET stakeholders, TVET service
providers, Employers, Policy Makers, Opinion leaders,
and TVET graduates)
 15 KII were held during the fieldwork
 6 FGDs were held during the field work
 Checklist, observation schedule, life stories/narratives
and photographs were taken.

26. Cont.
 All the above interventions were executed after recruiting
and training 27 enumerators on data collection ethics, quality
control during data collection and data collection methods.
 Pretest for the tools was done in Essau, (Lower Nuimi
District, Kerewan LGA) after occasions of random
sampling.
 Quantitative data was analyzed by SPSS while qualitative
data was transcribed and captured as quotes.

27. Key findings
 This section presents findings from the survey. This
presentation includes the household responses presented in
quantifying trend and KII, FGD responses presented in in a
qualifying trend.
 As stipulated in the methodology, a total of 3198 household
respondents were targeted to represent 1599 households
whereas determination of KII and FGD depended entirely on
availability and convenience.
 In-depth interviews depended on the needs assessment
especially during FGDs.
 Photographs depended on consent and mood of respondent.

28. Response rate & Bio data
 Household results indicated 7.8% of non-response rate and
92.2% of response rate. This high response rate is attributed
to vigorous follow-up and spirited effort employed by the
respondents. The response rate of over 90% is considered
effective and significant to base on the findings of the study
(Holbrook, 2005) .
 71.4% of the respondent hailed from the urban settlements
and only 28.6% from the rural areas (urban settlement and
rural urban migration).

29. Cont.
 Brikama had majority respondent participation represented
by 38.5%, followed by Kanifing (27,1%), Kerewan (11.1%),
Basse (7.7%), Mansakonko (5.4%), Janjanbureh (3.9%),
Kuntaur and Banjul at 3.7% and 2.6% respectively.
 This response distribution is in line with the population
density of the LGAs, much as Banjul is the capital, in terms
of household distribution, it sparsely populated.

30. Fig. 1

31. demographics
 Male 59% and female 41%.
 Nationality Gambians 98.4%, non-Gambians 1.6%.
 Ethnicity; Mandinka 46.2%, Fula 12.8%, Wolof 12.8%,
Serer 5.2%, Sarahule 4.4%, Jola 9% and others 3.5%.
 Age group, 18.9% -(26-35yr), 16.3%- (56+yr), 16.1%-
(16.1%), 13.9% (46-55). Hence youths of 26-35 and adults
of 56+ were more represented.
 Marital status, 38.8% married (monogamous), 36.8% never
married, 18.7% married (polygamous), 2.9%
divorced/separated and 2.7% widowed. (see fig, 2)

32. Fig 2& 3

33. Cont.
 Figure 3 indicated 56.06% of married (monogamous) and
29.6%) married (polygamous were household heads unlike
62.13% unmarried respondents who were not heading
household.
 In general, 55.53% respondents were not household heads
and only 44.47% were heads in the household. The implies
that the views gathered from the study responses are
balanced (see fig 4).
 This representation is significant to the results.

35. Objective 1: TVET services
(opportunities)
 In household responses, 60.5% indicated insufficient lack of
available skill centers, 27 % admitted existence of skill
center and 12.5% had no idea.
 Out of the 27% who acknowledged availability, were asked
to estimate the distance between the nearest skill center from
their household. 60.6% indicated between 0-5kms, followed
13.6% are between 6-10kms, and only 2.5% indicated
11+km.
 Kanifing and Brikama LGA were most favoured with
registered and accredited skills centers and other LGAs were
seriously deprived.

36. Cont’
 There are 69 registered
skills centers in Gambia.
 Unevenly distributed
 Most Skill centers
concentrated in KMC and
Brikama, Janjanbureh 1
Basse insufficiently served
while Masankoko &
Kerewan have non.
,

37. In support of the same assertion one key informant
had this to say;
 “Here in North Bank Region where we have an
outreach office, the major challenge to our
campaign to desist the youths from sneaking to
Europe by is failing to introduce and
advocating for learning skills like wielding,
carpentry, and entrepreneurship so as to equip
them with employable talent is seriously dented
by rural-urban migration” Key informant.

38. Cont’
 Awareness 19.6% reported carpentry and joinery, 18.5 %
welding and fabrication, 15.5%, tailoring and dress making ,
building and construction 4.3%, auto mechanics 2.8%.
 Constraints:
 TVET service providers identified institutional financial
constraints 13,3%, lack modern training equipment's 12.3%,
low enrolment to TVET programs 11.1%, urban centered
6.6%, unstable power supply 4.9%, high cost of training
5.2%, youth negative attitude towards TVET 2%.

39. Objective 2: Labour market
requirements
 TVET graduates mostly absorbed in the labour
market through internship and industrial attachment.
 Employment sector require multi-skilled graduates
auto mechanic who is computer literate.
 Services provider not sensitive to job requirements.
(money minded).
 Employment to formal sector is mostly after 12
months.

40. Transition from training to work

41. Cont’
 TVET labour market requirements are compatible with new
and changing dynamics in trade in which they are absorbed
to provide service.
 Labour market requires entrepreneurship skills to be
relevant.

42. Objective 3: Attitudes towards
TVET.

43. Cont’
 71.9% not aware or never heard of TVET, 28.1% are ware,
 41.8% respondents prefer main stream academic path, 19%
preferred business, only 14.8% preferred technical and
10.5% preferred vocational, 3.8% apprenticeship.

44. Cont’

45. Objective TVET facilities,
accessibility to vulnerable groups
 They are limited TVET facilities exclusively for vulnerable
groups.
 Existing TVET facilities do not have required facilities to
cater for the PWDs (ramps, toilets, resource centers, even
instructors.
 They are less people with disabilities employed in TVET
facilities.
 Lack of policy on disability in the country.

46. Objective 7: Tracking methods
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Valid
Yes 193 6.5 22.6
No 649 22.0 76.0
No idea 12 .4 1.4
Total 854 29.0 100.0
Missing System 2094 71.0
Total 2948 100.0

47. Cont’
 76% of the population are not aware of systems to track
TVET development.
 22% a ware, 1.4%, no idea,
 Out of the 22%. 67% cited media (radio and television),74%
identified peer group.

48. Conclusion
 TVET is more centered and popular among policy makers
compared to the target beneficiaries. It is a sustainable
strategy to address the challenges of youth unemployment in
the Gambia that requires more effort by the government.

49. Policy recommendations
 NTA as the mandated regulatory authority of TVET should
focus on massive sensitization programmes so as to enhance
the status and attractiveness of TVET.
 Establishment detailed and timely Labour Market
Information Systems (LMIS) that is accessible to employers,
TVET graduates, and TVET service providers.
 There should be obligatory improvement and modernization
of service provider’s outlook.
 Entrepreneurship course should be integrated into TVET
curriculum.
 Improve on M&E framework

50. Cont’
 NTA should continuously engage stakeholders to establish
innovative ways of promoting and improving TVET.
 Exchange programme between industries and service
providers.
 Government should increase funding for TVET sector
 Involvement of employers in curriculum development.
 Involve employers as assessors and verifiers
 Need to develop information and technological infrastructure
to match TVET needs.
 NTA allocate funds from National Training Levy
contributed by industries as a skills development fund.

51. Cont’
 NTA should allocate fund to apprenticeship trainees during
their course so that they don’t drop out.
 NTA should design an exit strategy to TVET participants
through a soft loan.
 Engage University of Gambia in curriculum design so as ton
absorb GSQF level 4 graduates.

52. The End
Thank you