The Chair, Mr. Nouphan Outsa, General Director of the Department of Technical Vocational and Educational Training (DTVET) from the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and the Co-Chair, Mr. Christian Engler, Deputy Director of Cooperation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), welcomed the participants and opened the meeting.
The objective of the meeting was to report and discuss the project progress for the year 2022, inform the annual operational plan for the year 2023, approve the report 2022 and the plan 2023, and approve the project phase extension of four months. The participants provided valuable comments and suggestions to enhance the effectiveness of the project.
The event was attended by 28 representatives, including from MoES, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MoLSW), the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The VTESS project combines short vocational training with employment support services and benefits 3,000 disadvantaged youth who finished primary education only by enabling them to find their way into the labour market or back into education. The project works in the 5 provinces of Salavan, Khammuane, Oudomxay, Xiengkhuang and Xayaboury.
The VTESS project is implemented by the consortium of Swisscontact and the Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts, School of Social Work, Switzerland under the guidance of MoES jointly with MoLSW. The VTESS project phase 1 is funded by the Swiss Government through SDC with a budget of CHF 8.6 Mio, has been implemented since 1st August 2019 and will, including the extension, end by 30 November 2023. Mr. Christian Engler announced that the Swiss Government is committed to fund a 2nd project phase which shall build upon the good achievements and the learnings from the 1st phase.