The Financing of Vocational Training in Africa - Roles and Specificities of Vocational Training Funds

The study commissioned by the French Development Agency (AFD) to the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) targets three specific objectives:

Objective 1: Draw up a bibliographical note summarising the major studies conducted over the last ten years on the topic of the financing of vocational training;

Objective 2: Propose a typology/ reading grid of vocational training funds;

Objective 3: According to the typology/reading grid, make recommendations as to the different possible types of support.

The first part of the study comprises a literature review of the principal works published on the financing of vocational training, and more particularly on the subject of training funds. This results in an initial modelling approach for the current and future role of these funds as institutional actors of national vocational training policies.

The second part of the study reports on a survey carried out on training funds in West and Central Africa. It defines a typological specification for these funds and identifies the basic components of motivated and effective support for more relevant intervention on their part in the field of vocational training.

The third part of the study proposes diagnostic and decisionmaking tools that can guide technical and financial partners in their reflections and policies to improve the performance as well as the operational and institutional positioning of the different types of training funds.

The general conclusion includes a list of recommendations and intervention scenarios to be implemented in order to make technical and financial support as effective and relevant as possible.