“This tool will allow us to continue tracking their professional progress wherever they are.”
The text messaging tool, developed with the support of the Norwegian Government, is part of ILO’s innovative approach to skills development.
The ILO Skills Tracker is a messaging and data collection tool that allows beneficiaries of the apprenticeship to give direct feedback on their training and post-training experiences. This provides information for TVET agencies to improve the labour market outcomes for graduates and helps to measure employment outcomes more effectively.
The expansive potential of the Skills Tracker was pointed out by the trainers at the National College of Tourism where the tool was tested for the first time.
“I think this would be a great tool to conduct more in-depth monitoring and assessment of the apprentices at the college and in the hotels where they do their apprenticeship during our monitoring visits,” explained Mr. Ongoso Mwita, Apprenticeship training coordinator.
Trainers like Mr. Ongoso expect that the private nature of the questioner will likely allow the students to answer the in-depth monitoring visit questions more candidly than during the group interviews.
Mr. Ongoso continues: “At the end of the day, we want these young people to be mobile and seek out opportunities everywhere, this tool will allow us to continue tracking their professional progress wherever they are.”
For Sefu Mhenga, one of the forty apprentices from Tanzania who tested the ILO Skills Tracker, the tool was interactive, user-friendly and dynamic. “I like that I don’t have to fill in a form. It’s very simple, like chatting to a friend on WhatsApp. I also have the option to choose the Kiswahili option if I want.”
Sefu is one of the examples of why it is important to have developed a tool like the ILO Skills Tracker to register the development and progress of the apprentices. He is now working at a five-star hotel at the central business district of Dar es Salaam after graduating from the ILO Quality Apprenticeship Programme in Hospitality in 2018. The ILO Skills Tracker allows beneficiaries like Sefu to give direct feedback on their training and post-training experiences.
The Skills Tracker initiative is part of the SKILL-UP Programme, a joint effort by the ILO and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Programme aims to help ILO constituents enhance their skills systems and enable the Member States to take advantage of new opportunities offered by emerging global drivers of change pertaining to increased digitalization, technology, climate, and demographics, among others.
The expansive potential of the Skills Tracker was pointed out by the trainers at the National College of Tourism where the tool was tested for the first time.
“I think this would be a great tool to conduct more in-depth monitoring and assessment of the apprentices at the college and in the hotels where they do their apprenticeship during our monitoring visits,” explained Mr. Ongoso Mwita, Apprenticeship training coordinator.
Trainers like Mr. Ongoso expect that the private nature of the questioner will likely allow the students to answer the in-depth monitoring visit questions more candidly than during the group interviews.
Mr. Ongoso continues: “At the end of the day, we want these young people to be mobile and seek out opportunities everywhere, this tool will allow us to continue tracking their professional progress wherever they are.”
For Sefu Mhenga, one of the forty apprentices from Tanzania who tested the ILO Skills Tracker, the tool was interactive, user-friendly and dynamic. “I like that I don’t have to fill in a form. It’s very simple, like chatting to a friend on WhatsApp. I also have the option to choose the Kiswahili option if I want.”
Sefu is one of the examples of why it is important to have developed a tool like the ILO Skills Tracker to register the development and progress of the apprentices. He is now working at a five-star hotel at the central business district of Dar es Salaam after graduating from the ILO Quality Apprenticeship Programme in Hospitality in 2018. The ILO Skills Tracker allows beneficiaries like Sefu to give direct feedback on their training and post-training experiences.
The Skills Tracker initiative is part of the SKILL-UP Programme, a joint effort by the ILO and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Programme aims to help ILO constituents enhance their skills systems and enable the Member States to take advantage of new opportunities offered by emerging global drivers of change pertaining to increased digitalization, technology, climate, and demographics, among others.
I like that I don’t have to fill in a form. It’s very simple, like chatting to a friend on WhatsApp."
Sefu Mhenga, apprentice ILO Apprenticeship Programme