Under the framework of the ILO-DEF-VTC Project, in Jordan, KAB Selection Interviews were held with the coordinators, trainers and supervisors selected by the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) and the Vocational Training Corporation (VTC).

The purpose of the interviews was to assess the coordinators’, trainers’ and supervisors’ readiness and ability to participate in the KAB pilot which will entail but is not limited to participating in the Training of Facilitators’ Workshop (TOF), subsequent KAB follow-up workshops and delivering/supervising the KAB course in selected vocational training classes. Selected trainers are expected to meet ILO KAB criteria which requires them to be dynamic, ready to learn and implement participatory training techniques and receive and give constructive feedback.

31 interviews were held with coordinators, supervisors and trainers to enquire about the following main points:

1. Their attitude towards entrepreneurship education and the KAB programme
2. Their motivation level
3. Their business and teaching skills
4. Whether they previously opened a business

In general, all interviewed participants showed a high level of interest in the KAB programme and its piloting at the selected vocational training centres due to what they heard of the programme during the KAB Awareness Workshop and their previous exposure to various trainings on soft skills and participatory training techniques. The KAB Coordinators and Supervisors specifically expressed high enthusiasm and readiness to dedicate their full time for the successful implementation of the KAB project.

After conducting the interviews and following the interviewer's recommendations, 4 trainers were replaced due to either a lack of interest in the KAB programme or severe time/financial constraints they will be facing that will prevent them from providing the programme the adequate time for a successful implementation.

The KAB Training of Facilitators' Workshop is expected to be held in the first quarter of 2013.

Under the framework of the ILO-SMEPS/KAB project in Yemen, the KAB NKF certification process was initiated by the Enterprise Development Specialist on January 12th 2013 in Yemen as part of the nationalization phase of the programme.

Five potential KAB NKFs delivered two KAB TOFs simultaneously  at the Bustan Hotel from 12-24 January 2013 for their certification under the technical monitoring of the Enterprise Development Specialist and 2 KAB Regional Key Facilitators. A total of 48 teachers and one official from SMEPS took part in the two KAB TOF workshops.

The nationalization of the programme requires training an additional 100 teachers to be able to cover the remaining vocational centres and complete the commitment made by SMEPS to the MTEVT. The certification of the five NKFs would lead to the institutionalization of the KAB programme in Yemen and will ensure its sustainability at the end of the current ILO project.

The preparations of both workshops were very well done and it is noteworthy to mention that the 4 trainers (in addition to Ms. Khlood Shaker who is very competent but works at SMEPS as the KAB Coordinator) worked extensively ahead of the training and until late hours at night. They were all present at 7:30am to prepare and adjust the training rooms and stayed until 20:00 for their individual coaching sessions taking comments and observations very positively and showing their readiness and willingness to improve.

After evaulating the performance assessments, 4 KAB facilitators were certified as KAB National Key Facilitators and can all proceed with the delivery of up-coming KAB TOFs in Yemen.

ILO and SMEPS are very pleased with this outcome and proud of the project's achievements so far that are leading to the sustainability of the KAB programme in Yemen.

Under the ILO/BDC project “Know About Business in the National Company for Employment and Training” and as part of the short-term KAB impact assessment, 7 focus group sessions were held from 4-7 March 2013 at the Business Development Center (BDC) in Amman, Jordan. The focus groups were held with the following participants:

1. Former students at the NCET who did not attend KAB classes

2. Former KAB students at the NCET who got employed

3. Former KAB students at the NCET who opened their own business

4. Former KAB students at the NCET who are unemployed

5. Employers of former KAB students at the NCET

6. Parents of former KAB students at the NCET

7. KAB Trainers at the NCET

The focus groups were facilitated by Alexandra Irani, ILO consultant, and co-facilitated by Ms. Farah Al-Azab as part of her capacity building process as a KAB Coordinator on an upcoming ILO/BDC project. The focus group participants were selected and contacted by the National Company for Employment and Training based on a selection criteria that was made available to them ahead of the focus group dates. Most focus groups included 8-12 participants; ranged between 1 to 2 hours and were video-taped for record keeping. The participants were informed of the confidentiality of the recordings and their consent was sought before proceeding with the recording.

Findings from all focus groups showed the following main points:

• KAB had a significant positive impact on students on a personal level and a business level. It helped increase their self-confidence and taught them how to think strategically, plan all activities they want to undertake and organize their time.
• Even KAB students who faced difficulties in finding a job or are still currently unemployed mentioned the positive impact KAB had on them.
• KAB students, trainers and parents all recommended providing financial linkages to students who complete their business plans and are ready to establish or grow their business.

Thanks to the continuous efforts of Mr. Mohammad Bin Yassin and Mr. Mohamad el Saoub, supervisors at the NCET; Mr. Alaa Abou Hajeh, KAB National Facilitator; Ms. Farah Al Azab, Ms. Hadeel Issa and Mr. Ghaleb Hijazi from BDC, the 7 focus groups were successfully held and the required information from the selected participants was obtained.

12-20 November 2012: Sana’a, Yemen

KAB NKF Workshop 12-17 November 2012

Under the framework of the ILO/KAB project in Yemen and the decision of the MTEVT to nationalize the KAB programme in Yemen, a KAB National Key Facilitators’ Workshop was held in Sana’a from 12 to 17 November 2012. The KAB NKF was facilitator by two KAB Regional Key Facilitators (RKFs). Throughout the workshop, the RKFs thoroughly observed the performance of KAB teachers to assess their competencies as potential NKFs. As part of their certification, the participants were given a written KAB exam covering the KAB Games and a written KAB exam covering the content and training techniques of the KAB programme.

Following the potential NKFs performance during the workshop and in the KAB exam:

• 6 participants were recommended as potential KAB NKFs (5 from the Ministry of TVET and 1 from SMEPS). These potential KAB NKFs can also perform the duties of the KAB supervisors.
• 13 KAB teachers from the Ministry of TVET were deemed able to perform KAB supervisory duties in addition to teaching KAB to students.
• 7 KAB teachers were not recommended to perform KAB supervisory duties. These teachers will continue teaching KAB to students.

KAB Follow-Up Workshop on new KAB topics 18-20 November 2012

A three days training workshop on the new KAB topics namely Green Enterprises, Social Security, Decent Work, Gender and People with Disabilities was held from 18 to 20 November 2012. The workshop was opened by H.E Abdel Hafez Thabet Neeman Minister of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) who stressed on the need for entrepreneurship education in Yemen and inaugurated the national roll-out of the KAB programme and the new KAB 2013 version of the package which has been customized to fit the Yemeni socio-economic background. H.E also met with the ILO Enterprise Development Specialist to discuss the nationalization plan for the KAB programme. He also suggested ways to support enterprise development in Yemen such as the establishment of a bank that specifically caters for the needs of SMEs. The event was extensively covered by the media which documented the keynote speeches and the workshop proceedings[1].

During the workshop, small groups of participants (2-3 participants in each group) delivered the new topics added to the KAB programme; additionally, group discussions were held and further explanations of the topics were provided by the RKFs. The facilitators presented examples of how the topics of Gender and People with Disabilities are fully integrated in the KAB topics. The participants also discussed all the suggested changes to the Yemeni KAB version to finalize the package. The latest KAB 2013 Arabic version will be provided to SMEPS and to the Ministry of TVET to be used in the upcoming KAB TOF workshops. One session was allocated to discuss the suggested scenarios for the implementation of KAB in technical education and vocational training institutions.

[1] Articles in Arabic covering the event can be accessed through the following links:

http://www.sabanews.net/ar/news287375.htm

http://www.sabanews.net/ar/news287532.htm

http://almasdaronline.com/article/37983

http://www.newsyemen.net/subject.asp?sub_no=News/2012/1211/8338.asp&sub_ano=1&sub_gno=6

http://marebpress.net/news_details.php?sid=48962&lng=arabic

http://alahale.net/article/6975

http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/arabic/subjects/102/2012/11/12/24331.htm

KAB Follow-Up Workshop

9-11 December 2012: Erbil-Kurdistan, Iraq

Under the framework of the recently launched ILO/UNESCO project entitled “Expansion of the KAB programme in Kurdistan targeting students enrolled in vocational education institutions and unemployed youth graduates of TVET”, a KAB follow-up workshop was held in Erbil by two KAB Regional Key Facilitators (RKFs).

The workshop was attended by 12 participants (4 teachers and 1 supervisor from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and 6 teachers and one supervisor form the Ministry of Education). During the workshop, participants shared their KAB teaching experiences and KAB supervisors reported the challenges they faced in implementing class visits outside Erbil due to administrative issues.

Training sessions were delivered by participants covering the new topics added to the KAB package, namely greening enterprises, Decent Work, Gender and people with disabilities. The suggested changes and sequence of topics proposed in the KAB 2013 version, (still in its draft form), were also presented to get the feedback and endorsement of the teachers before proceeding with translation and printing of the Kurdish KAB 2013 version. Finally, it was suggested to invite the old KAB facilitators trained under an earlier ILO project from both Ministries to participate in the second follow- workshop that will be held in February 2013 to increase the pool of teachers and equip the Ministries with a sufficient number of teachers to deliver the programme to the largest number of classes.

The expansion of KAB in schools and intermediate institutes during FY09/10 & 10/11was successfully completed and has equipped 16-19 year olds with entrepreneurship skills. This was achieved through: the monitoring of the programme implementation in selected schools; following up with Ministry coordinators; regular visits to the educational institutions and the provision of support to teachers. The programme successfully achieved the last expansion phase to cover 14 governorates all over Syria. 100% of schools and institutes have been covered in: Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Lattakia and Deir El Zour, while the remaining 9 governorates started to implement the programme in some schools and institutes. KAB is now being implemented at the university level in various faculties of 5 universities.

In order to successfully complete the expansion phase the following was achieved:

2009-2010:

13 ToTs were conducted for the Ministry of Education to train 374 teachers

3 ToTs were conducted for the Ministry of Higher Education to train 75 teachers

2010-2011:

6 ToTs were conducted for the Ministry of Education to train 185 teachers

3 ToTs were conducted for the Ministry of Higher Education to train 69 teachers

Achievements:

The programme is being implemented all over Syria and is ready to be handed over to the Ministry of Education. This objective was achieved based on the good preparation of the pilot phase and the expansion phase during 4 years. The good relationship with the ministry and its engagement in all programme issues from the onset was essential.

Expansion to Universities:

Due to the success of the programme in the last semester, the Ministry of Higher Education and SHABAB have expressed their willingness to expand the programme to cover all faculties across Syria. SHABAB is currently training the teachers who will be delivering KAB in universities, evaluating the implementation and conducting regular monitoring visits. The same KAB package is being used but university lecturers and professors are given the freedom to modify the package and integrate new information.

Lessons learned:

• Engaging the Ministry throughout the project life builds a sense of ownership.
• Maintaining a good relationship with stakeholders.
• In order to maintain the quality of the programme, incentives should be given to the teachers.
• Nominations of KAB teachers should be based on specific criteria set to ensure quality in delivery.
• Ensuring the availability of training facilities that suit the interactive teaching methods of the programme.
• Ensuring the availability of visual aids and stationary.
• Number of students in each training hall should not exceed 25-30
• Strict procedures should be taken to monitor the students' attendance in institutes and industrial schools (close collaboration with schools’ management).
• With respect to universities, a fixed timetable for the KAB course should be set before the beginning of the academic year. Students can arrange their time according to this schedule.

Outlook:

SHABAB will continue the nationalization process of the KAB programme by building the capacity of the KAB Unit at the Ministry of Education.

SHABAB will also continue the implementation of the programme with the Ministry of Higher Education and will be responsible for the quality of implementation.

Below are 3 tables illustrating the number of KAB beneficiaries and institutions that implemented the KAB Programme from 2006 to date and the number of TOTs conducted.

Under the framework of the ILO/UNESCO project entitled “Expansion of the KAB programme in Kurdistan targeting students enrolled in vocational education institutions and unemployed youth graduates of TVET”, a second KAB follow-up workshop was held in Erbil from 1-4 February 2013.    

The workshop was implemented in two parts. The first part started on Friday February 1, 2013 in the afternoon in the presence of 9 KAB facilitators previously trained under an ILO project in 2008-2011. Over two sessions, the ILO facilitators presented and discussed with the participants the changes and additions made on the KAB programme in its new 2013 version, namely the concepts of green enterprises.

The second part of the workshop started on Saturday February 2, 2013 with 22 participants divided as follows:

• 10 “new” KAB facilitators and 2 KAB supervisors trained under the current ILO/UNESCO project (5 from MoHE and Scientific Research and 7 from the MoE).
• 10 “old” KAB facilitators trained under a previous ILO project during the period from 2008 to 2011 (5 from MoHE and Scientific Research and 5 from the MoE)

The opening session was attended by the ILO Enterprise Development Specialist, Mr. Ryo Justin Ragland, the Programme Coordinator at UNESCO/Amman and Mr. Khalid Khoshnaw, UNESCO National Programme Officer in Erbil. TheEnterprise DevelopmentSpecialist seized the opportunity to distribute the long due KAB ‘National Facilitator’ certificates to the “old” KAB teachers who completed the certification requirements as National Facilitators under a previous ILO project but were never provided with certificates.

The main activities of the workshop included the following:

• KAB teachers and supervisors presented their KAB teaching experiences. They highlighted successes, difficulties, challenges faced and how they dealt with them. A discussion was initiated after each presentation to exchange lessons learned and good practices. The presentations served as a good platform for KAB experience sharing and knowledge dissemination among the participants.
• Participants selected a number of KAB topics to be explained/reviewed in the refresher namely:
  • Decent work
  • Balance sheet
  • Cash flow plan
  • Business Game/Module 1

All above mentioned topics, including the Business Game, were presented by the participants on a voluntary basis with additions made by the KAB facilitators whenever needed.

The last session of the workshop was dedicated to collecting participants’ ideas and suggestions about the integration of the KAB programme in their teaching curricula based on its pilot implementation. Participants were divided in 2 groups one from the MoE and one from the MoHE and Scientific Research. Some of the recommendations made include:

• Developing a KAB nationalization strategy/work plan based on the chosen alternative which will include training of the required number of new KAB teachers and training/certification of a number of national key facilitators (NKFs) to ensure the sustainability of the programme in Kurdistan.
• Training an additional 30 KAB teachers (10 teachers for Erbil, 10 teachers for Dohuk and 10 teachers for Sulaymaniya) to ensure a good teaching capacity in Kurdistan.
• Liaising with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) to facilitate the financing of business plans developed by students of the MoE and MoEHE who successfully complete the KAB programme.

TEACHING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

How a curriculum addition opens young people’s minds to new ways of working

and earning a livelihood

THE GOOD PRACTICE: Promoting an entrepreneurial culture with a gender perspective within both secondary school and technical vocational training and education curricula to equip young women and men for self-employment and the transition from school to work

Entrepreneurship education for young people in Lao PDR

THE INITIAL CHALLENGE: Moving from a centrally planned economy to the free market, the business culture in Lao People’s Democratic Republic is relatively new and gradually taking shape. Entrepreneurship is not fully appreciated because there are very few role models. This is especially the case for women, because the notion that men are better thinkers and business decision-makers than women is still very strong in Lao PDR.

Entrepreneurship is considered important for any country that is on a new path to economic growth and development. Introducing entrepreneurship into secondary schools and vocational education and training can prepare a new generation of girls and boys for self-employment at a time when formal wage employment is not available to many young jobseekers.

THE RESPONSE: In partnership with the Lao-India Entrepreneurship Development Center (LIEDC), the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion and Development Office (SMEPDO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) introduced its Know About Business (KAB) entrepreneurship curriculum in the Lao educational system.

The KAB curriculum is designed to develop positive attitudes towards enterprise and self-employment among youth. It also stimulates young women and men to become enterprising persons in their communities as well as in their personal careers; and it provides knowledge and ideas on how to take up the challenges in starting and operating a successful enterprise. This is intended to make the transition from school to work easier for young people. It is an important life skill for students at all education levels, whether they become employees or start their own enterprise in the transition from school to work or at some later stage in their adult life.

The package was initially developed by the ILO in 1996 and has been introduced to 50 countries. The curriculum addresses terminology from the world of business; how to set up and operate a business (setting priorities, managing people, keeping records and getting a business license); and how to take calculated risks, be a decision maker and find innovative solutions to problems that occur in life and in business.

The 120-hour KAB curriculum was a timely and relevant response to the Government’s 2004 Decree on the Promotion and Development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, which states that “The MOE shall coordinate with SMEPDO in the development of entrepreneurial training curricula and incorporating them into the educational system.”

The programme also accommodated the Government’s policy emphasis on the development of the Lao education system for 2006–2020, which includes reference to the introduction of business training in the curriculum for upper secondary schools.

THE PROCESS: The ILO and the LIEDC organised a workshop in mid 2005 for education policy-makers, educational institute administrators and officers from non-government organizations and development agencies to introduce the concept, approach and methodology of the KAB curriculum which had been translated into Lao. The response was positive, but acceptance into an already overloaded curriculum would require a long process, including an assessment by the Research Institute for Educational Sciences of the MOE.

The partners then arranged similar workshops and meetings with officials from the Ministry of Education and policy-makers to plan the piloting of the curriculum in four provinces (Vientiane, Savannakhet, Khammouane and Champasak).  A two-week workshop later in 2005 in Vientiane prepared 26 teachers from 11 schools to test the KAB entrepreneurship curriculum during the next school year. The pilot included four vocational training and education schools, four upper secondary schools, one non-formal skill development school and one vocational education development centre. A refresher course with the teachers took place four months later, which consolidated learning and impact to give the teachers a more conceptual understanding, address their problems and respond to issues related to inclusion of the course in the education system.

The first government evaluation of this piloted experience proved favourable. After making some revisions based on that evaluation, the ILO, through its project on Women’s Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (ILO-WEDGE), and the LIEDC took the KAB curriculum for a second test run in private upper secondary schools in eight provinces in late 2007. At the same time, the Research Institute for Educational Sciences of the MOE did another assessment of the KAB curriculum and found it suitable for the upper secondary schools. This plus the success of the pilots led to the Department of Higher and Technical Education in 2008 being eager to integrate the KAB curriculum into vocational education and training institutions. The teachers’ training institute also accepted it in its training curriculum.

During the first refresher course, teachers noted that although they liked the curriculum, one year was too short a time period to master the teaching and adequately cover the 120-hours of instruction. They managed to complete the course by giving extra time during holidays or after school hours. Students, they said, liked the participatory learning style and the content. They did ask for more case studies of real Lao business situations and business people’s experiences. The teachers were encouraged to promote business activity ideas among students that were as innovative as possible.

To support ongoing learning, the LIEDC trainers visited all the schools participating in the pilot project to observe the curriculum in practice and to help teachers with any difficulties they might experience. Because many teachers reported they felt ill-equipped to teach entrepreneurship, the LIEDC organised  enterprise visits for them to speak directly with owners and managers about their daily experiences in managing and operating an enterprise.

Following requests from MOE, the ILO agreed to support another round of teachers’ training in six provinces. In preparation for this, the ILO–WEDGE project in Bangkok carried out a gender review of the curriculum to include a stronger gender perspective in the training. At the same time, LIEDC and ILO–WEDGE arranged information meetings for representatives of public and private upper secondary schools in the targeted provinces and identified schools that were interested to participate.

Following those meetings, the partners conducted a two-week training of trainers (TOT) workshop in July 2009 for 25 teachers (9 of them women) from 15 new schools in five provinces.  Four teachers from the Teachers College / National University also joined the TOT so that they in turn can teach future teachers regarding the KAB curriculum. The TOT was facilitated by two ILO-accredited KAB International Key Facilitators and co-facilitated by two national trainers from LIEDC and the WEDGE National Project Coordinator.

The LIEDC project will regularly monitor, coach, and provide technical support to the teachers and the trainers who have trained them (so-called “master trainers”) throughout the academic year 2009/10. A refresher training workshop will be organised halfway through the roll-out for the school teachers to discuss their experiences and challenges in teaching the new entrepreneurship subject, and to review the modules that will be introduced during the next academic year.

An evaluation is planned for the end of the 2009/10 academic year. The findings of the refresher workshop and the evaluation will be presented to the MOE as required for its decision on whether or not to mainstream KAB into the upper secondary school curriculum. The existing curriculum for upper secondary schools is currently under review. A revised curriculum will be introduced in 2010 and if the current pilot test is positively assessed then KAB will be integrated as a subject into the curriculum of upper secondary schools.

OUTCOMES:

¨ The international KAB curriculum is translated into the Lao language and adapted so that it is suitable to the local context and can be used to deliver the 120-hour KAB course.

¨ The KAB entrepreneurship curriculum has been integrated into the school curriculum in 12 secondary and vocational training schools (public and private) since 2006. The typical age group of students is 15–18.

¨ As of 2009, more than 23,000 students have participated in the KAB course.

ONGOING CHALLENGES:

¨ Public resources for teachers’ training and for the printing of high quality teaching materials and aids are scarce, thus good-quality delivery of this course (and others) cannot be guaranteed without some sort of external assistance in the short term.

¨ In the KAB entrepreneurship course, group work, innovative games and exercises are at the heart of the participatory training methodology along with a process of inquiry. This is how students are encouraged to be responsible for their own learning. In Lao PDR, classes often consist of 60 students or more, and applying the participatory KAB teaching methodology can be a challenge for teachers who as a result may resort to an out-dated lecture-style teaching.

¨ Teachers may not always have enough background in gender-equality promotion to be able to encourage both girls and boys to develop an enterprising mind-set.

¨ While introducing KAB entrepreneurship education in the schools is an important step, the challenge is to integrate entrepreneurship education into higher education and teacher education curricula. Universities and teachers colleges must integrate KAB in their curricula to ensure that high quality entrepreneurship training is provided at all levels of the education and training system.

LESSONS LEARNED:

¨ Teachers and students enjoy the KAB entrepreneurship subject and have fun teaching and learning about a new subject. Teachers find inspiration in participatory methodologies, which they can use in other subjects, and when the students have fun the learning outcomes are improved

¨ Teachers may reproduce certain stereotypes that reinforce the false idea that men are better at business because they are natural risk-takers and decision-makers. These stereotypes need to be dealt with both in the curriculum itself but also in the learning process of the KAB course. The risk-taking game played during the KAB course actually often shows that the female students are more realistic and more calculated risk-takers than the male students

¨ Entrepreneurship education must integrate gender issues to awaken within young people an excitement for entrepreneurship and respect for gender equality. Boys and young men may never have had any exposure to gender issues and using entrepreneurship games and exercises illustrates that what one sex can do, their class mates of the other sex can do just as well.