8-20 September 2012: Erbil-Kurdistan, Iraq

Under the framework of the newly initiated 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 awareness workshop and a KAB Training of Facilitators (TOF) workshop were held.

On Saturday September 8, the TOF workshop was opened by the UNESCO representative Mr. Khaled Khoshnaw and the ILO-RO SME Specialist in the presence of 28 participants of which, 14 from MoLSA (13 facilitators and one supervisor), 7 from MoHE and Scientific Research (6 facilitators and one supervisor) and 7 from MoE (6 facilitators and one supervisor). The workshop was facilitated by two KAB Regional Key Facilitators, Mr. Wael Ghosn and Mr. Samih Jaber.

The project and KAB programme awareness workshop was held on Monday 10 September at the premises of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour in the presence of 30 people comprising technical institute/college and school headmasters, directors and general directors of vocational education and training in the three Ministries (MOSAL, MOE and MOHE). The workshop was chaired by UNESCO; Ms. Ilaria Vanzin gave the welcoming speech explaining the background of the project and the scope of the collaboration between UNESCO and ILO. The ILO-RO SME Specialist then gave a detailed presentation of the KAB programme and its implementation methodology.

4-5 September 2012: Amman, Jordan

Under the framework of the ILO/KAB project in Yemen and the decision of the MTEVT to nationalize the KAB programme in Yemen, a 2 day adaptation workshop was facilitated by the ILO-RO SME Specialist and an ILO KAB Regional Key Facilitator in the presence of a Yemeni delegation/programme review committee which included:

• Mr. Abdelqader Al Olabi, Deputy Minister for Curricula & Continuous Education
• Mr. Ali Hamoud Taher, Director of Curricula & Continuous Education
• Mr. Abdelhakim Hashem Ahmad, Supervisor
• Mr. Ayman Ghanem, KAB national facilitator
• Mr. Sami Othman Salam, KAB national facilitator

The objective of the workshop was to customize the generic Arabic KAB version to the socio-economic and cultural context of Yemen based on the comments of the committee. Additions of new topics related to Decent Work, Social Security and Green Enterprises were also made.

The 2 days adaptation workshop was successful, most of the changes requested by the Yemeni review committee were approved by the ILO and it was agreed to introduce the new added topics to the trainers in the up-coming National Key Facilitator workshop (NKF) scheduled to be held sometime in November in Sana’a. As a result of the NKF workshop, a number of potential Yemeni NKFs will be selected to conduct 4 TOFs under the ILO/SMEPS project before the end of the year. This comes as a result of the MTEVT request that needs an additional 100 KAB teachers to complete the nationalization process of the programme.

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.

ILO and the Welfare Association sign a partnership agreement to promote entrepreneurship education in the oPt.

The Welfare Association (WA) signed, on Thursday July 12^th, a partnership agreement with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in its headquarter in Ramallah, in the aim to support the nationalization  of the ILO entrepreneurship education package ‘’ Know About Business ‘’ in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The agreement was signed by the Director General of WA in Palestine, Dr. Tafida Al Jarbawi, and by the ILO country representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Mr. Mounir Kleibo. The event was attended by officials from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Labour.

Dr. Al Jarbawi pointed out the importance of youth employment and youth education both representing priority areas of intervention for the WA. A total of USD 17 million was allocated to implement youth employment projects and to support young entrepreneurs in the establishment of their small businesses and thus create job opportunities. The latter contributed to the creation of hundreds of job opportunities for new graduates coming from vocational training and academic backgrounds; in addition, tens of small enterprises were established and have helped entrepreneurs generate income to support their families in different regions.

Dr. Al Jarbawi confirmed the importance of the ILO  initiative to nationalize the "Know About Business" Programme  in the occupied Palestinian territory and the extent of its contribution to support vocational education, develop the entrepreneurial skills of graduates, and strengthen the link between the education system and the labour market.

Mr. Mounir Kleibo thanked the WA for its financial contribution to the KAB project and reiterated ILO’s strong commitment to promote decent and productive work in Palestine while focusing on women and youth.

A press release by the Al Ayyam newspaper can be accessed on the following link: http://www.al-ayyam.com/article.aspx?did=195334&date

At the request of the Development and Employment Fund in Jordan, a KAB Awareness Workshop was held on Monday 24 October at the DEF offices. The workshop was jointly facilitated by Mr. Samih Jaber, KAB Regional Key Facilitator, Ms. Rania Bikhazi and Ms. Alexandra Irani. The workshop was attended by all department directors to ensure their exposure and understanding of the KAB Programme prior to its implementation. Special interest was depicted from the directors and managers of the loan disbursement and training departments.

A side meeting was held with the Director of DEF, Mr. Omar Omari, to finalize the proposed KAB project document for implementation during 2012-2013. DEF is expected to sign an MOU with the ILO early 2012 to initiate the project.

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 second phase of KAB courses at the National Company for Employment and Training started on December 18^th 2011. A total of 370 students will be taught by 20 NCET teachers from various vocational training specialities who attended a KAB TOF and have already delivered a first round of courses. The training will take place till March 15^th 2011 where both BDC and ILO will be conducting monitoring visits to evaluate the teachers' performance for their certification as KAB National Facilitators.

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.

An evaluation of the KAB project Phase I in Palestine was done by Mr. Chris Weinmann accompanied by Ms. Rania Bikhazi, Enterprise Development Specialist.

The evaluation started in Amman where a meeting was held with the KAB Regional Key Facilitator, Mr. Samih Jaber, who was the lead expert working on the KAB project. Mr. Jaber gave a detailed presentation of the activities he conducted under the project namely the TOFs, refresher courses, and the NKF workshop. He also clarified the specificities of the teachers’ certification process in Palestine which included attending the NKF workshop, a written test on the KAB content and the delivery of a full TOF under ILO monitoring.

Over 3 days, Mr. Weinmann and Ms. Bikhazi held meetings with the MoL and the MoEHE. They met with the Minister of Labour who spoke highly of the KAB programme as a means to bridge the gap between vocational education and the labour market needs. Follow-up meetings were held with the National KAB Coordinator Mr. Abdullah Al Silawi and the 5 recently certified KAB National Key Facilitators (NKFs).

The NKFs highlighted the need to review the pre and post tests of the KAB programme, simplify it and train the teachers on how to analyze the results. They also focused on the need to provide KAB teachers with incentives in order to motivate them and keep up their enthusiasm.

A meeting was held with the Director General of Technical Education at the MoEHE who also expressed the Ministry’s full support of the programme which will be rolled out nationally starting January 2011. He also stressed on the need to involve the administration and principals of schools and colleges to ensure full understanding of the programme and the provision of the needed support to the teachers.

A long meeting was held with the National KAB Coordinator under the MoEHE and 5 out of the 8 potential NKFs. The latter raised a number of issues namely:

• · Who can assess the business plans submitted by students?
• · Analysis of the pre and post questionnaires
• · Who will assess the KAB impact once the MoEHE will nationalize?
• · Incentives for teachers and NKFs who will train other teachers.

A number of success stories were presented to the evaluators such as newly opened coffee shops, furniture shops and car mechanics especially in the Hebron area.

Mr. Weinmann also held additional meetings with UNDP, DFID to get to know the portfolio of private sector and SME development initiatives in Palestine along with a meeting with the previous KAB coordinator.