ILO CINTERFOR Director highlights impact evaluation of TVET

3 April 2012

PORT OF SPAIN (ILO News) - “Education, vocational training and lifelong learning are central pillars of employability, employment of workers and sustainable enterprise development, “  said Martha Pacheco, Director, ILO  Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational Training (CINTERFOR) at a  Round Table hosted by the National Training Agency of Trinidad and Tobago on 23 March 2012.  “It is fundamental therefore to determine the impact of training and the return on investment to ensure that the objectives of the training institution or enterprise are being met, “ added Ms. Pacheco.

Ms. Pacheco was the main presenter at the Round Table aimed at providing an overview of the mission and work of CINTERFOR, as well as of its role in promoting south-south cooperation among the national training agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development, Ministry of Education,  the National Training Agency of Trinidad and Tobago, and various technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions,  including that of Barbados TVET Council, were able to learn of  best practices in TVET such as the National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI),  Brazil, the first TVET agency to be established in the region in 1942, as well as the National Learning Service of Colombia (SENA).

Ms. Pacheco  highlighted CINTERFOR’s latest guidelines  on:”Skills Development Impact Evaluation”   launched in October 2011.  The guide offers a set of key concepts, practical issues and lessons learnt that can be used to incorporate impact evaluation into the training activities undertaken by national institutions and organizations.

Other CINTERFOR tools and programmes were also  presented, including the database of curriculum materials and the System for the Measurement and Improvement of Productivity (SYMAPRO)  Programme  which was introduced in the  Barbados in November 2012 and which was recently introduced in Jamaica in March 2012.

Also present at the Round Table and responding to various requests and questions from the audience were  Ms. Elphege Joseph, Chief Executive Officer,  National Training Agency of Trinidad and Tobago;  Mr.  Henderson Eastmond, Executive Director, Barbados TVET Council;  Dr. Giovanni di Cola, Officer-in-Charge, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean;  and Dr. Hassan Ndahi, Senior Specialist, Skills and Employability, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean.

During her short visit to Trinidad and Tobago,  Ms. Pacheco paid a courtesy visit to the Hon. Fazal Karim, Minister of  Science, Technology and Tertiary Education.  She was accompanied by Ms. Joseph,  Dr. di Cola,  Dr. Ndahi, and Mr. Eastmond.  Minister Karim commended the ILO Office and CINTERFOR for its technical support in the setting of the National Training Agency and for the development of technical and vocational education and training in the Caribbean.

CINTERFOR was established in Uruguay in 1963 and provides technical support to national training agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean through knowledge development and the use of information and communication technology. The Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA), works closely with CINTERFOR.