Takween - a skills development programme in Tunisia 

The Takween programme builds on the achievements of PFIPT while introducing new approaches. It fully adopts the four training programmes already developed, which have shown convincing results in terms of improving the employability of young graduates, uptake by stakeholders and the potential for scaling up and/or multiplication.

While the Takween programme continues to focus on post-graduate training, it seeks to integrate activities with each other and with other existing measures to provide a range of vocational training modalities tailored to the different needs of the economic sectors.

Intervention areas

Takween features four main intervention thrusts and one support fund:

1. Upscaling vocational education and training with jointly certified public-private partnerships

General expansion of training curricula across the country, focusing on employment demand in the respective sectors. This is based on institutionalising and financing the system sustainably, stakeholder capacity building, and supporting the governance of partnerships.

2. Consolidating the agricultural vocational education reference business approach

Transforming agricultural vocational training centres into market-oriented reference businesses. Introducing hands-on, practical curricula based on new teaching methods. Enhanced private sector involvement, consolidated guidance of the reference businesses and the concept is established for the long term.

3. Practical short trainings

Short trainings with immediate impact on incomes and employability. These courses target disadvantaged population groups in regions with low economic potential. Initiatives focus on leveraging synergies with other Swiss development cooperation projects.

4. Capacity building to foster vocational education and training  

These interdisciplinary initiatives support all the project components and involve direct support to foster communication and build the capacity of our key partners.

Takween provides support funding to aid the country’s guidance structure (Réseau des Entreprises d'Entraînement de Tunisie, or ReeT) and finance the entire system of training companies temporarily and decreasingly over time. The objective is for ReeT to achieve autonomy and self-financing by 2026.