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 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.

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.

21 January-2 February 2012: Riyadh – Saudi Arabia

Under the ILO/RIYADAH project on the introduction of entrepreneurship education in vocational training, and after long negotiations with RIYADAH, a KAB Training of Facilitators Workshop for women was conducted by the ILO-RO SME Specialist and a KAB Regional Key Facilitator. The workshop was held from 21 January to 2 February 2012 at the Al-Anoud Novotel in Riyadh and was attended by 21 Saudi women from the TVTC (1 coordinator, 1 assistant coordinator, 4 training supervisors and 15 teachers). Participants, who are all teachers of either Accounting or Business Management under the TVTC, came from 13 regions in the Kingdom namely: Riyadh, Al Ahssa’a, Al Khurj, Najran, Al Jof, Ha’el, Breida, Al Baha, Arar, Jeddah, Al Ta’ef, Khamis Mshet and Tabuk.

Under the framework of the Entrepreneurial Learning project, 2 KAB Training of Facilitators Workshops were jointly held by the ETF, UNESCO and ILO to train teachers coming from vocational education and general education on the delivery of KAB in classrooms. Both workshops were held at the Padova Hotel in Lebanon and the opening ceremony of both workshops was attended by Mr. Soubhi Abou Chahine, Advisor to the Minister of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon; Ms. Rania Bikhazi, Enterprise Development Specialist, ILO Regional Office for Arab states; Mr. Abdelaziz Jouani, Specialist in Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Skills-Country Manager, ETF; Mr. Oussama Ghneim,CERD,Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Lebanon; and Mr. Sulieman Sulieman, Programme Specialist, Technical and Vocational Education, UNESCO.

The first workshop workshop that targeted general education teachers, was facilitated by Mr. Samih Jaber, KAB Regional Key Facilitator. The workshop was held from August 27 till September 1st, 2012 and was a mixture of the first 4 KAB modules and material from the economics curriculum taught in classes. As it is the first time KAB material is piloted in general education in the Arab region, this experience will be highly informative and beneficial and will be a stepping stone for the integration of KAB in general education. The workshop was attended by 22 teachers (both men and women) and 5 supervisors from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education who will later be monitoring the delivery of KAB in classrooms during the 2012-2013 academic year.

The second workshop that targeted vocational education teachers, was facilitated by Mr. Wael Ghosn and Mr. Ahmed Abdulbary, KAB Regional Key Facilitators from Lebanon and Yemen respectively. The workshop was held from August 27 till September 7, 2012 and was attended by 25 teachers (men and women) and 3 supervisors who will be monitoring the delivery of KAB in classrooms during the 2012-2013 academic year.

During the training workshops teachers were exposed to KAB's participatory teaching techniques and learned to implement them by delivering micro teaching sessions. Teachers also got to play all KAB Games and were handed a KAB Games Guide that  was compiled for the Arab region to ensure game techniques and lessons learned are standardized across the region. Teachers were also given a brief introduction on the decent work and green topics that will be added in the 2013 KAB Arabic package.

After finally having attended a KAB Trainig of Facilitators' Workshop I can say it is an amazing experience which creates a unique KAB Family over a 1-2 week period. KAB Key Facilitators and teachers alike learn from each other and develop their business and training skills in a friendly and fun atmosphere.

Since pictures speak louder than words, you can check out the interactive and fun atmosphere the teachers from Lebanon lived over 1-2 weeks in the attached photos.

The International Training Centre or the ILO in Turin will held an international training of trainers forum from 12th to 23rd of November 2012.

It comprises a 1) three days generic training of trainers and 2) seven days specialist training of trainers concerning ILO training packages on aspects of entrepreneur and enterprise development - including KAB, My COOP, Value-Chain Development, Gender Strategies for Value Chain Development, Women’s Entrepreneurship Development - Capacity Development Programme.

As part of the business development center's (BDC) continuous efforts to spread awareness on entrepreneurship and build the NCET teachers' training skills, a Business Game session was held on Saturday November 26^th 2011. The Game was facilitated by 4 KAB Teachers from the NCET with the participation of 20 candidates from the Maharat program.

Maharat is a USAID funded program which  provides youth with training and employment opportunities based on the belief that access to productive work is the best way for youth to realize their aspirations, improve their living conditions, and actively participate in society. The Maharat program enhances economic development by achieving the following objectives:

• Improve the business and personal skills of recent university and college graduates
• Create new jobs for recent university and college graduates
• Unleash youth’s potentials, capabilities, innovation and creativity through promoting entrepreneurial skills among them

The Business Development Center, which is currently ILO's national counterpart in Jordan for the delivery of KAB at the National Company for Employment and Training, hosted around 40 activities and workshops on entrepreneurship which were attended by 577 participants as part of the annual celebration for  "The Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011" from November 14th  -21st  2011. BDC aimed to contribute to fostering an entrepreneurship culture in Jordan.

The activities included awareness sessions for youth targeting Jordanian senior undergraduates from different universities and fresh graduates in different governorates.

37 activities were conducted in universities from 16 to 21 November and included interactive discussions and exercises facilitated by trainers specialized in entrepreneurship. Jordanian entrepreneurs shared the secrets behind their success and explained how they overcame all challenges faced in establishing and managing a business.

BDC launched the 36th  Entrepreneurship Training Workshop on November 19th , 2011 with the participation of 18 business men and women.

Additionally, BDC conducted a "Youth Entrepreneurship Training" workshop in Aqaba. 35  fresh graduates coming from different universities and who were willing to open their own businesses participated in the training which lasted for 10 hours and focused on entrepreneurship attitudes and skills. The workshop was facilitated by a UNCTAD certified trainer,  Mr. Fadi Sharaiha. The same workshop was also held in Amman from November 25 to 30 and was attended by 19 entrepreneurs.

A KAB Follow-up Workshop was held at the BDC offices in Amman from 8 to 13 October 2011. 24 facilitator attended from NCET the workshop that was delivered by Ms. Dania Achi and Mr. Ahmed Abdulbari, KAB Regional Key Facilitators.

The workshop was held after the end of the first KAB sessions in which 189 students participated at the National Company for Employment and Training. KAB teachers shared delivery experiences and discussed challenges faced during implementation. Ms. Achi and Mr. Abdulbary reviewed the delivery techniques of the KAB teachers and came up with  recommendations to expand KAB's outreach at the NCET.

A KAB Training of Facilitators' workshop (ToF) was held at the Riyadh College of Telecommunication and Information in the presence of 28 males participants ((24 teachers, 1 KAB national coordinator from RIYADAH and 3 supervisors).

The workshop was launched by the newly appointed CEO of RIYADAH, Dr. Sherif Elabdelwahab, who stressed on the need to promote self-employment as career option among Saudi youth (men and women) and be able, through RIYADAH, to reach those who are part of the educational system and those who graduated from the system and remain without jobs. A short opening speech was made by the Enterprise Development Specialist highlighting the importance of entrepreneurship education for youth and the role of the ILO/RO-Beirut in the region in that field.

The TOF was held from 19 November till 01 December 2011 and was facilitated by Mr. Samih Jaber, ILO KAB Regional Key Facilitator, and Mr. Wael Ghosn, KAB Regional Key Facilitator.