Concept note
ETF regional conference on New Challenges for Skills Development in the Arab States of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region - Amman, Jordan, 25-27 September 2012
Organised in conjunction with the Fifth Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue on Public Management
1. Background
1.1 The Arab States in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region[1]
In the Arab States, 2011 will be remembered for the “Arab Spring” characterised by a wave of civil unrest sweeping across the region. This has been felt most intensely in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia where the popular uprisings have already led to regime changes and transition to democratisation processes.
The Arab Spring uprisings were rooted in social malaise, lack of employment particularly among young people, weak economic prospects especially in some less favoured regions and resentment about corruption and lack of democracy. The revolts underlined the importance of good governance and the need for a new vision for the role of skills development policies[2] in responding to the economic, social and individual needs of citizens, especially for young people.
Youth employment challenges are daunting: the so-called “youth bulge” caused by rapid demographic transition means that between 27% and 31% of the population are aged between 15 and 30[3], and this ratio will persist at least for the coming two decades. This signifies that the number of young people in the region will approach 100 million in 2020. Arab States experience the highest average rates of youth unemployment in the world with peaks above 25%[4] despite very high rates of inactivity. Very low female activity rates[5] even among the young population is another specific feature of the region, with increasing aspirations and demands of educated women in particular leading to a substantial waste of human capital in the economies of the countries.
To complete the picture of youth (un- and under-)employment in the region, it is estimated that at least 30 million[6] young people (mostly unskilled and/or low-skilled) work in informal, poor quality jobs at subsistence wages and without the technical, entrepreneurial or life skills which could give some prospects for improvement. They are highly vulnerable to social exclusion. This “youth employment gap” entails a waste of education investment, a de-valorisation of (scarce) national human resources and an increased risk of social instability.
Labour market exclusion of young people is reinforced by another specificity of these countries, namely a weak correlation between educational attainment and labour market performance. Indeed, unemployment rates increase with the educational level[7], in particular for women and for female university graduates.
This low return to education derives largely from three fairly common features of the education and training systems in the region[8]. Firstly, institutional settings in the countries are fragmented with responsibility for education and training policy divided across different ministries and which include little structured involvement of external stakeholders in their governance systems. In parallel, due to limited public capacity and uneven resource availability, delivery of education and training frequently draws on a multiplicity of private stakeholders, NGOs and donors with unclear coordination and quality control. Secondly, the architecture of education and training sub-systems is also fragmented leading to disconnection between education and training, or between education and training and labour, or both. This makes it difficult to provide coherent, “lifelong learning” opportunities for the needs of citizens and business, and results in low levels of educational attainment[9] for the citizens of the region compared with EU or OECD countries. Thirdly, the content of skills development provided to both young and adult learners in the region is in general of limited quality and relevance to the socio-economic needs of individuals and enterprises.
In conclusion, on the positive side, the Arab States in the region generally have ‘official’ national visions and strategies which give prominence to skills development. However, in practice the fragmented institutional setting, limited capacity for public policy management and disconnection between the subsystems restrict access in particular to good quality, relevant education and training, making it difficult for policy leaders to implement the national strategy.
1.2 ETF in the Mediterranean region
ETF has been working in support of skills development in the Arab States since 1999. ETF’s activities mainly comprise policy analysis, capacity building and the facilitation of networking and policy learning. The ETF also provides input to the prioritisation and design of relevant EU support programmes. In 2010, the ETF launched the Torino Process: a participatory process leading to an evidence-based analysis of vocational education and training (VET) policies and their links to economic and social development in partner countries. The 2010 Torino Process Report confirmed that “governance and public policy performance at all levels[10] of the system is often considered a major impediment to the improvement of VET policies and systems as a whole (relevance, quality, responsiveness, teacher and trainer capacity, equity of access across urban and rural areas etc.). It is seen as a pre-eminent issue in the region with regard to optimum policy implementation (EEC 2008)”. Governing education and training systems requires the development of instruments associated with coordinated policy making and decision making across the institutional fabric in the countries. Policy makers need reliable data, capable and coordinated public administrations which are supported by active participation from social partners and civil society in order to design, monitor and evaluate training policies effectively - especially in such a dynamic context.
Drawing on the outcomes of the Torino Process and the priorities in the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, ETF has developed a number of support activities for the region. In addition to specific activities for each country according to its context, the key common feature of ETF’s support to the skills development in the region focus on:
· Improving governance through social partnership development
· Enhancing lifelong learning approaches, quality and relevance through development of qualifications frameworks;
· Encouraging competitiveness and links between skills and employment through policy analysis and benchmarking on entrepreneurial learning; and enterprise skills.
· Promoting territorial cohesion at sub-national level through skills development
In 2012, the ETF is carrying out a second round of the Torino Process in cooperation with policy makers and their stakeholders from the Arab States. The 2012 process sets out to capture and analyse the changing expectations for vocational education and training policies in the light of the Arab Spring. It will also capture how policy makers and stakeholder groups are adapting their policies and systems to the new challenges and priorities in the region. This fresh analysis will provide robust evidence on the changing needs for skills development, as well as the emerging opportunities for the EU and international community to support these changes.
2. Objectives of the ETF Regional Conference
The conference will provide an opportunity for policy leaders and key stakeholders from the fields of education, training and employment from the Arab States and EU to jointly discuss and analyse the consequences of the Arab Spring on skills development policies and systems.
The conference will focus above all on four key policy challenges:
§ How the policy vision and strategies for skills development should adapt to the new needs of the Arab States;
§ In the current context, what policies and measures can be ensure the effective contribution of skills development to economic and social development, and in particular address the high levels of unemployment;
§ How to renew the governance of education and training policies and systems at national and local levels to ensure effective public policy management.
§ How to ensure the long term perspectives for policy making and public policy performance in the region, in particular through opportunities for development for the young generation of policy leaders.
Skills development is an important field of public policy for Arab States in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region. A transversal issue linking the four challenges is how to improve the performance of public policies, in particular in the complex field of skills development policies. In order to approach this issue, the ETF regional conference will take place in conjunction with the meeting of the Med 5 regional platform organised by the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA). Through the Med 5 regional platform, EGPA has commissioned topical research to provide updated evidence on the management of public policy in the field of skills development, and will bring together its network of academics, researchers and centres of excellence in the field of public policy. This cooperation will give policy makers and stakeholders from the field of skills development the opportunity to of an evidence-based debate with participation of established institutions and experts from the field of public policy management both from the region and EU. Particular focus will be given to enabling young researchers and academics from the region, who represent the next generation of policy leaders, to share their views on the future perspectives on policies for skills development.
3. Expected outcomes from the ETF regional conference
The outcomes from the ETF regional conference, in cooperation with the Med 5 platform are expected to be the following:
§ A shared understanding among policy leaders and stakeholders in the region, EU and international community on the context and key challenges facing Arab partners in the field of skills development following the Arab Spring
§ Policy dialogue and peer review of current policy visions and strategies needed to meet the new challenges for public policy in skills development, with particular focus on concrete measures to support youth employment
§ Peer learning on approaches and opportunities to reinforce public policy performance, including the governance of systems in skills development, leading to recommendations and opportunities for improvement
§ Initiatives to support the development of young policy leaders through capacity building opportunities such as involvement in policy making processes, experiential learning in policy making institutions, training, etc..
4. Format of the ETF regional conference
The objectives will be reached through providing structured opportunities for policy dialogue and peer learning among the stakeholder groups which are responsible for making and shaping skills policies and public policy performance in the region. The key phases of the event are as follows:
Phase 1 the ETF regional conference will start with an exclusive session for high level policy leaders from the region to share experiences on policy developments with peers from the EU and international community, in particular on the new challenges for skills development as a major field of public policy management.
Phase 2 will broaden the policy dialogue to provide policy leaders with the opportunity to enrich their policy vision and approaches through interaction with contributions from policy shapers from the fields of public policy management and skills development research, academia as well as representatives of social partners and civil society. This phase will also include contributions from the next generation of policy leaders – and in particular young academics and researchers who are expected to play an active role in the future skills policies in the region.
The format of the event will ensure mutual learning with the Med 5 regional platform through close coordination. This will enable rich dialogue and exchange between policy makers, experts and researchers from public policy and skills development.
The conference languages are Arabic, English and French.
5. Expected Participation
Participants at the regional conference together with the Med 5 regional platform are expected to number 150-200 and represent the following the fields:
§ Ministers of education and/or employment from the Arab States in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean
§ Representatives from the EU institutions, in particular, EU Presidency, Parliament European Commission, Committee of the Regions and European Economic and Social Committee.
§ Social partners and representatives of civil society, NGOs
§ Representatives, experts and practitioners from public administrations and private bodies engaged in implementing education and employment policies and systems
§ Young policy leaders engaged in research and PhD studies in public policies related to human capital development
§ Representatives of leading international organisations active in the field of skills development and public policy management in the region (ALECSO, ARADO, IDB, ILO, ISESCO, OECD, UNESCO, World Bank)
[1] For the purposes of this note, the Arab States are those engaged in the European Neighbourhood Policy: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria and Tunisia.
[2] Skills development policies refer in this note to the combined efforts of education, training and employment policies to develop the skills needed by citizens to achieve the economic and social strategy of the country
[3] Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division - Population estimates (Medium variant method).
[4] Source: National statistical Offices, LFS databases or publications.
[5] Source: ILO-KILM and National statistical Offices, LFS databases or publications.
[6] Source: Union for the Mediterranean Regional Employability Review, 2011
[7] Source: National Statistical Offices.
[8] Source ETF Torino Process, Regional Report on Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, 2011
[9] Source: UIS-UNESCO.
[10] This includes national and local levels; the sectoral dimension; different sub-systems of education and training – notably general; vocational, higher and adult education and training