Project
Skills Development for Employability in Rural Areas of Uzbekistan
UNESCO launched the project funded by the European Union on “Skills Development for Employability in Rural Areas of Uzbekistan” in September 2020.
The overall objective of this project is to enhance living standards in rural areas through better employability for women and men, and the specific objective is to prepare women and men with relevant skills for the needs of a sustainable, diversified and modernized agriculture. The activities of the project will contribute to the following results:
• to modernize and strengthen governance of skills development in line with the labour market demands;
• Gender responsive qualifications and methodologies of skills development are modernized to serve the needs of the labor market,
• to modernize agriculture and irrigation colleges in rural areas with competent management and teaching staff using modern technologies and teaching and learning methods.
This project is aligned with the priority areas of Uzbekistan’s National Education Development Strategy (2022-2026), from the perspective of skills development, as well as the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
Goal 4: "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all"; and the progressive achievement of the following targets:
4.3: By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university;
4.4: By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship;
4.5: By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
Goal 8: "Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all"; and the progressive achievement of the following targets:
8.5: By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value;
8.6: By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training (NEET).
This project is expected to enhance living standards in rural areas through better employability by equipping women and men with relevant skills for the sustainable and diversified .
The impact of this project is in line with the Uzbekistan’s National Education Development Strategy (2022-2026), , the Strategy for the Development of Agriculture for 2020-2030, as well as the commitments of the Government of Uzbekistan towards SDGs.
Activities under Component 1 focus on the National Qualification System in TVET, as of December 2024, the Project successfully completed, reviewed and enriched the TVET Strategy for 2030, the National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) has been fully developed as a comprehensive tool to enhance and maintain the quality of education and training across Uzbekistan’s TVET system. Furthermore, the Quality Assurance manual was developed for each NQAF (training providers, awarding bodies, Sector Skills Council).
Activities under Component 2 focus on the improvement of the skills development system of agriculture and irrigation by targeting design, delivery and outcomes of all TVET agriculture colleges and irrigation colleges in Uzbekistan. As of December 2024, National Occupational Standards were developed, six Competency-Based Curricula in Agriculture (Automative Irrigation Technician, Livestock, Green House, Crop Production, Irrigation Technician, Farm Manager) are developed and implemented in 4 Technikum.
Component 3, focuses on the modernization of agriculture and irrigation colleges in the four priority rural regions (Karakalpakstan, Khorazm, Bukhara, Surkhondaryo) in Uzbekistan selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources in consultation with Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations (former Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education) and UNESCO. There are four pilot institutions (colleges, technical schools), all pilot colleagues are equipped with modern equipment, and their facilities has been rehabilitated.
• Gijdivan Technical School of Agricultural Technologies (Bukhara);
• Kizirik Technical School of Agrotechnologies (Surkhandarya);
• Koshkopir College of Water Resources and Land reclamation (Khorazm);
• Karaozak technical school of agroeconomies (Karakalpakstan).
In addition, there are 4 Centres of the Vocational Excellence were selected by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (Tashkent, Samarkand, Namangan, Karakalpakstan), these Centres of Vocatioanl Excellence will be optimized to support the competency based training, digital education and modern learning environment that cater to the needs of both students and teachers.
