HANOI (ILO News) – The 1st National Project Steering Committee (NPSC) of the “Applying the G20 Training Strategy: A partnership of the ILO and the Russian Federation“ (Phase 2) project was hosted by MOLISA´s Directorate of Vocational and Educational Training (DVET) in Hanoi, Viet Nam.

The meeting was opened by Nguyen Hong Minh, Director General of DVET, who emphasised that Skills are one of the decisive factors of economic inclusive growth and stressed that linking education with the evolving needs of the Vietnamese labour market is essential to advancing the Government´s economic and social development efforts.

“The ILO is pleased and honoured to contribute to Viet Nam’s national endeavours towards achieving decent work for all women and men,“ said Director of the ILO Viet Nam, Chang-Hee Lee. He also reiterated ILO´s commitment to work with government’s, workers’ and employers’ representatives to support the Vietnamese government’s strategy in reforming and improving Vocational and Education Training (VET).

During the meeting DVET and the ILO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their collaboration. Within the framework of this collaboration DVET committed to play the role of Chair to coordinate the Project´s NPSC and to lead the Project´s relevant technical working groups.

Following the MoU signing ceremony, Cezar Dragutan, Project´s Chief Technical Adviser introduced the main objectives and components of the Project. He highlighted the national ownership of the NPSC and invited partners to engage in a national dialogue to guide and advise on the implementation of the Project in the country.

Subsequent to ILO´s presentation, DVET represented by Pham Vu Quoc Binh, Director´s of Vietnam´s Vocational Training Accreditation Agency, introduced Viet Nam´s “Vocational Training System and Development Plan for 2016-20” and emphasised that the new DVET-ILO collaboration under the Project has the potential to facilitate the implementation of the Plan.

The Project, which represents a continued commitment of Russian Federation and the ILO to support the application of the G20 Training Strategy in countries-beneficiaries: Armenia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Viet Nam, and in 5 regions of Russian Federation, addresses a number of key challenges facing the TVET systems in those countries at the policy and institutional levels.

Some of the discussed expected Project outcomes for Viet Nam are the establishment of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for development of training programmes, capacity development of sectoral stakeholders in developing occupational standards, qualifications and skills assessment instruments, as well as capacity building to apply the upgraded ILO´s Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) methodology.

The NPSC meeting was followed by a three-day STED workshop in Hai Phong city. The workshop was organized by DVET, with technical support from the ILO.