In 2004 the technical vocational education and training institutions (TVET institutions) of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama) and the Dominican Republic created a regional network with the objective to jointly standardize and improve technical vocational training programmes in line with the latest labour market developments.

In the framework of the Spanish funded project FOIL (Formación, orientación e inserción laboral), the ILO is collaborating with the regional network of TVET institutions. The overall objective of FOIL is to strengthen the institutional capacity of public labour institutions and to facilitate the labour market insertion of marginalized groups in Central America.

In 2010 the network members decided jointly to focus on the creation of learning standards and methodologies for the promotion of green occupations perceiving a need in the labour market for workers with knowledge and skills related to environmental protection and new technologies and techniques