Policymaking officials from The Gambia returned home yesterday having visited Taiwan for a weeklong series of meetings and fact-finding studies of Taiwanese technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems. The visit was made in connection to the ongoing TVET Project and concluded when Taiwanese and Gambian representatives signed meeting minutes agreeing the next steps in the implementation of the project.

The Gambian delegation comprised director of the country’s National Training Authority, Mr. Ousman Nyang G.M., director of the Gambia Training and Technical Institute, Mr. Abdoulie Loum M.A., and project coordinator Mr. Amadou M. Touray. Their visit was arranged and sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in The Gambia and hosted within Taiwan by the TaiwanICDF.

From May 9 to 11, the delegation called at the government Central Training Center in Taichung and the local training center in Nantou, and Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung, where they studied Taiwan’s own experience of developing TVET systems and saw how hands-on, skills-based training had been integrated into wider forms of industrial development.

From May 12, the TaiwanICDF organized a series of meetings between consultants from the Central Training Center, the members of the Gambian delegation, and H.E. Alhagie Ebrima N.H. Jarjou and First Secretary Mr. Lamin Bai Bojang from the Embassy of the Republic of The Gambia. Meeting minutes were signed on May 16 following two days of intensive negotiation on the progress of the TVET Project.

In addition to increasing the number of schools and establishing the University of The Gambia in recent years, Gambian education authorities have focused particularly on the development of TVET as a practical means of enhancing the all-round quality of education in the country. Education policies in the country are built on the principles of access, relevance and quality.

The TaiwanICDF first extended lending to the Gambia to initiate the TVET Project in December 2008 and has since provided assistance to establish all-new vocational training centers and improve facilities at existing centers. The organization has also helped local partners to design courses and curricula, and provided associated human resources training.

Drawing on The Gambia’s highest-level national development policy, Vision 2020, the next phase of the project will now see the TaiwanICDF assist Gambian authorities to establish a National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Ndemban. Once completed, the center will be used to raise the technical skills of the local workforce and thereby raise production efficiency in multiple industrial sectors throughout The Gambia.

The next steps in the project will take place in early June, when the TaiwanICDF will dispatch a mission to The Gambia to perform further field surveys, plan for four group-based workshops at regional vocational training centers and provide further consultation as part of comprehensive planning for the new National Centre.

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• Update: 2018/03/01
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