Mutual recognition of skills

Virtual technical discussion on the mutual recognition of skills on Building Electrical Wiring: A collaboration between Thailand and Cambodia

ILO, through the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme, and in collaboration with Cambodia's Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training and Thailand's Ministry of Labour, organized an online technical discussion on the mutual recognition of skills for Building Electrial Wiring Level 1. This effort attends to moving towrds the mutual recognition of skills in ASEAN.

The Mutual Recognition of Skills in ASEAN is an innovative and pioneering initiative that was set out in 2014 and works to assist the ASEAN Member States, in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, to prepare themselves for a region with a free flow of skilled labour. As the bulk of the migration within ASEAN are workers with middle to low-skill, the Mutual Recognition of Skills in ASEAN targets this category of workers.

The Government of Korea continues to provide substantive support on skills development under the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme. On December 2020, the ILO, through the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme, organized a virtual technical discussion on furthering the benchmarking exercises and comparability of the national competency standard and/or skill standard, assessment and certification mechanisms of Thailand and Cambodia in the Building Electrical Wiring skill area.

Against the backdrop of uncertainty and the ever-changing circumstances presented daily by the pandemic, the ‘people and dialogue focused’ process of achieving a mutual recognized skills system between countries continues through the use of virtual channels in engaging and communicating with the key stakeholders. Thailand was represented the Department of Skills Development under the Ministry of Labour and Cambodia was represented by the Department of Skills and Curriculum under the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training and a number of national polytechnic institutions and the private sector.

The discussions centred on the gap analysis derived from the comparability of Thailand’s national skill standards and Cambodia’s national competency standard on Building Electrical Wiring, both standards at the first level. The main finding is that the units of competencies of this occupation in Cambodia is comparable with that of Thailand, although differences remain such as on assessment procedures, methods and quality assurance mechanisms. Therefore, a follow-up virtual discussion is scheduled for the first half of 2021 in order to establish areas requiring further capacity building. The aim is to propel this initiative forward to eventually reach an agreement of recognition on the competency assessment and certification systems in the chosen occupations between the Thailand and Cambodia.

The above is among one of several activities under the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme aimed to pave the path for the Mutual Recognition of Skills in ASEAN to promote decent work of migrant workers by increasing their chances to employment in the area trained and certified which corresponds to complementing wage and working conditions.