Kelem Ethiopia and its partners are implementing a project in three Districts of Afar Region, designed to strengthen pastoralists’ livelihoods, resilience and adaption to villagization. As part of the Action, they have conducted a Labour market survey to identify
employment and income earning opportunities as well as training needs in the community. The study also assessed the capacity of TVET institutions and the skills training they offer, and the demands of potential employers in the area.

The study revealed that TVETs’ graduates lack the soft skills crucial for employability. It also showed that there is a huge mismatch between the demands of employers and the labour skills available, and low opportunity for small business. According to the assessment report, technical skills, start-up capital and market linkages are very important for businesses to be competitive in the market and to be successful.
Training providers in the target areas were assessed in terms of their capacities regarding manpower, types of training offered, connections/partnership with potential local employers and the training tools/ materials and machinery available. Three potential
TVET institutions (1 polytechnic college and 2 agricultural TVET colleges) in the target areas were identified.

Based on the labour market assessment findings, the TVET trainers developed a short term skills training curriculum and a validation workshop was organized. All stakeholders including the regional TVET directorate who participated in the workshop approved the curriculum as per the national standard.