Good training opportunities are key to the economic and social development of a country. Populations can only begin to develop their own initiative and take control of their own lives if they are provided with solid training and education. Since 1959 Swisscontact has been committed to providing vocational education and advanced training. Programs are devised and implemented specially for unemployed youngsters, apprentices, teachers and professionals in towns and cities and now, increasingly, in rural areas. This promoting of education also involves providing men and women with equal opportunities in the world of work. Indeed, a good 30 percent of those involved in the programs are women.

Swisscontact supports practical vocational training by:

• Educating apprentices and their instructors

• Providing training and advanced training for teachers at vocational schools

• Staging modular short courses

• Offering advanced technical training

• Running courses in applied ecology