Mozambique: World Bank $104m for Mozambique’s Skills Development Programmes

The World Bank board of directors approved a $104 million in support of skills development programmes for youths in Mozambique.

The grant came from the bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and will invest in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Higher Education (HE) subsystems.

In response to Mozambique’s priorities and economic sectors, the project seeks to improve quality and access of educational curriculums and skills development training.

The project is targeting to help increase access to quality education and training at the institutions in priority areas relevant to future economic development, focusing on engineering, science, technology, mathematics and climate change.

“Empowering its youth by developing higher-level skills through quality post-secondary education, while working on policies to incentivise the creation of jobs linked to modern productive systems, are among the most important challenges facing the country if it’s to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend,” noted Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank country director for Mozambique, Madagascar, Comores, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

“Better educated youths will contribute to reduce income inequality, facilitate social mobility and help jump-start the much-needed fertility transition,” Pswarayi-Riddihough added.

The project will also support teacher training programmes through the use of new teaching methods while addressing the current shortages of specialised technical skills

This shortage will be addressed through solidifing high-quality skills development programs in industrial maintenance, ICT, construction and agriculture among other priority sectors, at selected TVET institutions.

The project will further support continued collaboration with Mozambican industries and help operationalise the National Training Fund for Professional Education. This will seek to influence private sector financing for skills development in response to market needs, helping to maximise financing for development.

This follows another grant in the region after world bank Board of Directors approved $300 million in International Development Association (IDA) credits and grants to support reforms that will help promote electricity trade in West Africa.

Sighting that currently, only 50 per cent of the population in West Africa have access to electricity, and those who do, pay among the highest prices in the world which is more than double those of consumers in East Africa