81310295-Capacity Building Support to Strengthen the Dual-Cooperative Training (DCT) in Lao PDR

Brief description of the procurement for publication by the EU

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has commissioned the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to implement the "Vocational Education in Lao PDR" (VELA) III project in Lao PDR.

The project"s objective is to improve the structural framework conditions for the implementation of dual-cooperative training (DCT) in Laos. The project builds on the results and proven approaches of the predecessor project VELA II, which are to be consolidated and expanded in terms of content and regions. It follows a two-level approach with networking elements. At the macro level, the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) and the (Vocational Education Development Institute) VEDI are supported as important overarching core actors in complementing and improving the regulation of DCT, especially with regard to quality assurance and the changing world of work. In addition, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) stakeholders are advised on making existing regulations more flexible in order to counteract the declining enrolment figures and to address special framework conditions in rural areas. Institutions of the business sector are also supported at the macro level in order to further consolidate piloted approaches to attracting DCT partner companies. At the micro level, support for vocational schools for the introduction and anchoring of DCT offers is being expanded. On the one hand, network approaches are used to implement the support services tested in the previous module at other schools. On the other hand, learning experiences from DCT approaches that have already been tried and tested are made available to other schools (horizontal networking). The support services that are made available to a wider group of users in this way also include approaches to vocational counselling or career guidance.

VELA III is structured into 3 Outputs: 1) The technical capacities of relevant actors from the vocational education and training and business sectors for the implementation of dual-cooperative vocational education and training have been strengthened. 2) Access to dual-cooperative vocational education and training and the labour market for vocational school students, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, has im-proved. 3) Vocational schools in Laos are better able to implement gender-responsive dual-cooperative vocational education and training in cooperation with the private sector. Against this background, VELA III seeks to commission external expertise to implement selected parts of the project. The assignment consists of three work packages (WP) that the contractor shall be responsible for:

Work package 1, Implementation and Review of the Career Guidance System: Work package 1 as part of Output 2 focusses on prospective and current students of DCT courses as well as of selected "traditional" TVET courses and supports the colleges in two critical transition points: 1) Transition between secondary school and DCT Flagship College, and 2) transition between DCT Flagship College and (self-)employment. Career counselling units were setup in the 4 DCT Flagship Colleges and career counsellors were capacitated to offer career counselling services. The contractor shall facilitate the implementation and enhancement of career guidance system at all these supported TVET institutions, develop new services, and provide capacity building for relevant partners" staff such as career counsellors, teachers, and middle managers. Additionally, the contractor shall review and update the mentioned Career Guidance Concept based on implementation experiences to promote broader adoption.

Work package 2, Training Offers on Soft Skills and Entrepreneurship: Work package 2 is part of Output 2. To facilitate the DCT graduates transition to the labour market, the contractor shall improve the application of the existing training module on business start-ups (including modules on the principles of circular business models). In addition, development of new short training offers focusing on employment-relevant soft skills and entrepreneurship shall be supported. Subject-specific and interdisciplinary offers may be introduced to teach demanded and employment-relevant soft skills to vocational school students (e.g., service orientation, teamwork).

Work package 3, Strengthening Technical and Pedagogical Capacity of the DCT Staff of Supported TVET Institutions and Companies: Work package 3 is part of Output 3. In the previous project (VELA II), support was provided to Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI) to develop and implement capacity-building measures for the DCT staff of the four DCT flagship colleges. The contractor shall support VEDI in the continuous implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these existing programs, especially for the DCT staff of new TVET institutions and companies partnering to implement DCT programs. For most training measures, VEDI was supported to establish a pool of national master trainers which could be used to further deliver the trainings. Moreover, the contractor shall support VEDI to develop and pilot new capacity-building programs for the DCT staff of supported TVET institutions and companies. For the implementation of these work packages, the tenderer is required to provide 2 key experts, one international expert pool as well as one national expert pool.