National Qualification Framework in Tajikistan: Learning by Sharing

The European Training Foundation is supporting a reform of vocational education and training in Tajikistan that offers an interesting case study, stressing the importance of knowledge sharing for long-term capacity development.

Manuela Prina is a team leader at the European Training Foundation (ETF), an agency of the European Union whose mission is to help transition and developing countries to harness the potential of their human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems.

Speaking on the sidelines of a recent seminar on Technical Cooperation Reform and Capacity Development, Ms Prina explained how the ETF is supporting the development of National Qualification Frameworks (NQF) in the Tajik tourism sector by playing the fundamental role of facilitator and allowing internal processes of development to unfold.

Tajikistan, a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia, is still recovering from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. In recent years, the changing socio economic needs, the growth prospective, the need to build solid skills and knowledge, but also the lack of jobs, poverty and inequalities still faced by a high percentage of the population have combined to bring the debate on vocational and education training to the centre of policy discussions.

Creating a balance between the services offered by educational institutions and the needs of the labour market is vital.

"National Qualification Frameworks address how qualifications can be more clearly described, understood and compared," Ms Prina explained. "They are a tool to kick start processes, bringing stakeholders together, building a common understanding and agreed solutions."

According to Ms Prina, support to capacity development processes that focus on stimulating multi-actor learning and the creation of systems that can help stakeholders to reform themselves have plenty of potential to become sustainable. And importantly, stakeholders shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes.

"Such processes can never be linear and predictable," Ms Prina said. "When we started, we didn't pretend to get it right from the start. We grew with the initiative. We learnt a lot from mistakes together with the partners."

ETF’s approach therefore brings stakeholders together on a regular basis to reflect on past practices and actions and to identify ways to improve practice. Through such processes, the approach to capacity development is continuously refined and adapted

"Mistakes are really important for Capacity Development," she said. "Our approach recognises that adults learn most effectively through peer to peer exchanges, problem solving and through innovation rather than from attending lectures and in the ETF, we build our initiative around the way people get their knowledge towards change."

But initiating change and building capacity is a long-term process. According to Ms Prina, when developing National Qualification Frameworks, the "first cycle of system reforms takes at least ten years and building up capacities and involvement of stakeholders from the working world [can take] even longer.”

Click here to download the presentation on the experience of ETF in Tajikistan  given by Manuela Prina at the July 2011 European Commission's workshop on Technical Cooperation and Capacity Development.