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Special Reports
51
E
choing the UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)
agenda, the TaiwanICDF includes
i n t e r na t i ona l educa t i on and
training as one of its priority areas,
implementing the International
Higher Education Scholarship
Program and the International Human
Resources Development Workshop
Program in order to meet the needs
of developing countries for human
resource development.
With regard to the International
Higher Education Scholarship
Program, the TaiwanICDF continued
to work with 21 universities in Taiwan
in 2015 to offer 34 undergraduate,
graduate and doctoral programs
covering five major fields: agriculture,
science and engineering, public
health and medicine, business
management, and others. To date, a
total of 1,536 foreign students have
benefited from this project and a total
of 525 students from 38 countries are
currently studying in Taiwan.
In line with the objective of the
SDGs to “substantially increase the
number of youth and adults who have
relevant skills, including technical
and vocational skills, for employment,
decent jobs and entrepreneurship” by
2030, the TaiwanICDF also initiated
non-degree technical and vocational
training scholarship programs for
our partner countries in the Pacific
Islands, in addition to scholarship
degree programs for international
students. This includes the expanded
Vocational Training Project for Youth
in the Pacific in 2015, which offered
technical and vocational training for
four months in Taiwan to youths from
the six Pacific Island countries of
Nauru, Tuvalu, Palau, the Marshall
Islands, Kiribati, and the Solomon
Islands.
The project was designed to meet
the needs of the labor markets of
the Pacific Island countries. Training
courses covered practical skills in
the areas of electrical and electronic
engineering, automotive mechanics
and woodwork, effectively responding
to the SDG objective to expand
globally the number of scholarships
available to developing countries by
2020.
Regarding the International Human
Resource Development Workshop
Program, we continued to organize
seminars and workshops in 2015
in the sectors of agriculture, public
health and medicine, ICT, SMEs, and
environmental protection, with a total
of 372 participants from 60 allied and
friendly countries having received
training in Taiwan. The program
for 2015 was special because
participants included not only officials
of public agencies and departments,
but also leaders of private enterprises
and non-profit organizations (NPOs)
from developing countries. This
design was made in response to
SDG 17, which aims to “strengthen
the means of implementation and
revitalize the global partnership
for sustainable development,”
thus enhancing ownership and
sustainability, and attaining the goal of
strengthening coordination between
the public and private sectors and
the global partnership.
Looking back on 2015, the
TaiwanICDF has re-oriented its work
in human resource development.
From the conventional “capacity
building for elites” model that
targeted government officials,
professionals and researchers of
our partner nations, we have now
transitioned to using the “professional
capacity building” approach to further
include candidates such as directors
of private enterprises or NPOs, as
well as entry-level professionals and
technicians. This new approach puts
into practice “Education for All,” the
global commitment proposed by the
UN.
Photo shows automotive repair training, one of the activities of the Vocational Training Project for
Youth in the Pacific held at the Taichung-Changhua-Nantou Regional Branch, Taichung Industrial
Park.
Change 4
From capacity building to Education for All