ADB to provide $20m grant for skills training

The Asian Development Bank ( ADB ) is providing a US$ 20 million grant to the government of Nepal to give market-oriented skills training to thousands of aspiring young men and women who are unemployed or underemployed. The grant, recently approved by the ADB ’s board of directors, will help the government implement key aspects of its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy 2012 by improving the quality, relevance and efficiency of the country’s technical and vocational education and training institutes. “Nepal critically needs higher and employment-centric economic growth, and the lack of skilled labour is a key constraint,” said Kenichi Yokoyama, country director of ADB ’s Nepal resident mission. “The project will focus on improving training for young people in the construction, manufacturing and services sectors where there are large skill gaps.” With the grant, the Skills Development Project will provide basic level training and employment services to 45,000 people, at least 40 percent of whom will be women and 30 percent from excluded groups. Private sector training and employment service providers will be engaged through performance-based contracting. The project will improve the quality and relevance of TVET by transforming 10 public TVET providers into more efficient, market-driven model institutes.