2nd NPSC meeting of the G20TS Project gathers key decision-makers in the field of Skills Development in Armenia

Article | Yerevan, Armenia | 06 September 2018
Yerevan, Armenia, 06 September, 2019 - The 2nd Project Steering committee (PSC) Meeting of the G20TS Project in Armenia was held on Friday, September 06, 2019 in Yerevan.

The 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the G20TS Project was held under the chairpersonship of Mr. Udumyan, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. Welcoming the members, the Chair of the PSC very much appreciated the ILO initiatives being organized under the umbrella of the “Applying the G20 Training Strategy: A partnership of the ILO and the Russian Federation” (Phase 2) project (G20TS)at the country level. Mr. Udumyan has expressed confidence that the G20TS Project components are coherent with the ongoing reforms in TVET and Employment in Armenia. At the same time, he underlined the necessity to align Project interventions to the extent possible with the ongoing reform in Skills Development in the country, not only content-wise, but also within certain time bounds.

Mr. Gasskov, G20TS expert on Skills greeted NPSC members and reminded members of the Committee that the Project has developed a number of products (i.e.methodologies and implementation strategies), which are have or are being implemented in other beneficiary countries. Mr. Gasskov underlined that one of the most strategic Pilots is the Planning of Skills Development currently being implemented in Armenia and suggested the pilot to be completed by the end of the year.

The Lead Expert underlined that strategic plan of Skills Development should be seen as integral part of a new Education Strategy and that it would be very important to assure alignment with the results of the « Alignment of Strategic Objectives and Performance Indicators for Skills Development to the International HRD Policy Recommendations and Experience of G20 Countries » report, which encompasses best practices of OECD countries, EU, ILO Convention N142 on Human Recourse Development (HRD) and ILO HRD Recommendation N195, UNESCO Recommendation on TVET (2015), UN 2030 SDGs, as well as annual meetings’ resolutions adopted by Ministers of Education and Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs of G20 countries.

After the welcoming remarks, Ms. Simonyan, G20TS National Project Coordinator, made a presentation on the Project progress. In her address Ms. Simonyan discussed the Project’s thematic areas and its implementation strategy, which is in line with the ILO’s Centenary Declaration on having a human centered approach to development. Implementation progress and future plans underling the importance and timeliness of the proposed two pilots on Vocational guidance and Analyses of demand and supply for qualified labour force for planning of TVET enrolments were also discussed.

Ms. Simonyan informed participants about the Project’s upcoming knowledge-sharing events and invited NPSC members to the Pilot’s closure workshop wich will be held at a national level in Yerevan the upcoming November. During this event the 2019-2023 Skills Development Plan will be presented. The Workshop also represents an opportunity to exchange views with experts from other CIS countries- direct beneficiaries of the Project.

Ms. Simonyan updated NPSC members on the G20TS Project global meeting conducted in Kazan within the framework of WorldSkills-2019 (24August, 2019). The Project Coordinator attached great importance to the opportunity to share the G20TS Project achievements in Armenia and the national Skills Development priorities beyond 2020, which were agreed in consultation with ILO Constituents and Social Partners in the country with stakeholders from the Russian Federation.

After the presentation of the Project progress, a presentation on the methodology for the proposed Pilot on Demand-driven planning of TVET delivery was made by Dr. Gasskov. In his presentation he underlined the purpose of the Pilot Project, commented on the statistical information required for the Pilot implementation, the scope of the expected research work to gather of labour market informaiton, the analyses and interpretation of statistics, as well as main results expected out of the Pilot implementation.

Mr. Gasskov stressed that through the Pilot implementation, it will be possible to make justified decisions on TVET enrollments at the regional and national levels in a very cost-effective way, through slight enhancements in data collection as well as proper analyses and interpretation of the available or slightly modified data.

After the two presentations, the floor was opened for a opendiscussion, feedback and approval. The principal interest of the floor was related to the proposed Pilot on Demand-driven planning of TVET delivery. Members of the NPSC expressed their appreciation on the proposed methodology and stated that currently planning of the TVET enrolments is based on information provided by the educational institutions, which often is not accurate and in many cases is not reflecting current demand of the labour market.

Mr. Simonyan, Acting Director of the State Employment Agency, stated that the proposed 2 Pilot Projects on Vocational Guidance and Labour market analyses for TVET enrollments are correlated and that final results of the Pilots implementation will contribute to mainstreaming the already undertaken efforts aimed at proper planning of TVET delivery and the TVET reform in general.

By the end of the meeting NPSC members have approved the implementation plan for the two Pilot Projects: Demand-driven planning of TVET delivery and Vocational Guidance as well as expressed their readiness to support Project activities on the ground.