ADB-govt joint project may fail to meet target

The skill-development project funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Nepal government cannot its meet target. "We cannot meet the target due to technical difficulties," said Ramhari Lamichhane, Project Manager of Skills for Employment project (SEP) in a press meet here today.

Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) is implementing the US $25 million -- $20 million from ADB and $5 million from the government -- project since 2006 targeting skill training for 80,000 youths.

SEP aims to provide vocational training tor women and Dalit in 20 districts.

SEP cannot meet target due to lack of coordination among concerned ministries and ill-functioning private centres, Lamichhane said.

The skill development project falls under three ministries -- Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Labour and Transport Management and the Ministry of Education.

We cannot get cooperation from the ministries mainly in expansion of services, Lamichhane blamed.

As per the plan, SEP intends to expand its training in three phases -- five districts in the first and second phase each and 10 districts in the third phase.

"SEP can only provide trainings to 55,000 till the project end in 2011," said Lamichhane.

Till date, SEP has provided skill training to 8,500 women and Dalits who had not appeared in the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination due to financial constraints.

"Nearly 4,000 are getting training," he said adding the project has developed syllabi for 52 training sectors in the last three years.

The project has mandatory recruitment of 50 per cent women and 25 per cent Dalits in the training. It means that the failure of the project will directly hit the poor and marginalized groups. "It is a matter of serious concern," he said, "We are doing our best to provide training to the maximum number of people."

People trained under SEP have a good track record.

Around 76 per cent of trained manpower is employed in the domestic and also overseas market. Twenty-six per cent of SEP trainees have got jobs overseas, SEP statistics show.