Education, training & decent employment

Enabel is dedicated to fostering resilient and inclusive education, training, and employment ecosystems and to promoting sustainable socio-economic growth that leaves no one behind.

Improving access, quality and management of general education

Together with our partners, we invest in improving primary and secondary education by focusing on teacher training, curriculum reform, and innovative teaching methods to foster student-centered learning. We advocate for the use of digital technologies to enhance both teacher and student capabilities, ensuring digital literacy and increasing digital skills.

Enabel also works to improve access to education, particularly for girls and vulnerable youth, by addressing barriers and fostering safe, inclusive learning environments. We are building and rehabilitating schools, prioritizing climate-smart and child-friendly designs. Additionally, we support transparent, inclusive, and accountable school management structures.

young girls from Niger playing basketball

Skilling for decent jobs

We prioritize skills development to fight (youth) unemployment by bridging the gap between labour market demands and the education and training offer. Mainstreaming digital and green skills ensures youth readiness for the modern economy. This approach prepares a skilled workforce, better equipped to find a decent job or to become an entrepreneur.

It benefits individual well-being and economic development, involving the private sector. Additionally, we concentrate on developing inclusive tools and methods to support vulnerable groups’ access to the labour market.

Our tools

Quality education through teacher training

Enabel is actively involved in the EU Global Gateway flagship initiative, the Regional Teachers’ Initiative in and for Africa (RTIA). The goal is to enhance learning outcomes and socio-emotional development of children in Sub-Saharan Africa by cultivating a skilled, motivated, and inclusive teacher workforce in basic education. Belgium has allocated additional funding to this initiative
through the Teach2Empower project. Teach2Empower aims to equip children and youth in Africa to become critical, responsible, and active citizens in green, digital, and gender-equal societies by enhancing teachers’ capacity for transformative education.

Opportunity-driven Vocational Education and Training (OP-VET)

Opportunity-driven Skills and Vocational Education and Training seeks to shift the paradigm of Vocational Education and Training (VET) by aligning it with actual employment prospects arising from investments, trade, and market dynamics. Unlike reforming entire VET systems, OP-VET tailors solutions to address specific challenges. It aims to stimulate local job creation, foster inclusive economic growth, and promote decent job opportunities. European Union investments in African countries can notably advance these goals, boosting local value addition.

Strengthening the education and training system

We strive for sustainable improvements in the education and training system by strengthening the capacities of educational institutions and empowering them to design effective policies. We work closely with partner ministries and local stakeholders to support policy formulation and enhance monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Our initiatives include implementing results-based planning and budgeting practices and optimizing financial management within the eucation and training sector.

Decent work assessment

To measure and improve the impact of our efforts on employment quality, we’ve partnered with HIVA- KULEUVEN to create a Decent Work Assessment (DWA) tool. This instrument provides valuable insights into the progress of decent work standards among Enabel’s beneficiaries. The DWA systematically evaluates working conditions at the individual worker level in specific companies or sectors. It’s designed for structured assessments, considering project time and budget constraints.

Our experience

In the DR Congo

Under the governmental cooperation programme, Belgium supports basic education across 3 provinces,
targeting more than 350,000 students and 2,600 teachers and education staff.

In Rwanda

More than 2,200 workers in construction and mining have passed the test for the recognition of prior
learning. This certification puts them in a better position to negotiate better wages. The workers are supported in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) at company level to offer employment contracts and fair wages. More than 20 CBAs are being negotiated with mining companies. 33 labour inspectors have been trained and 2,000 labour inspections were conducted.

In Guinea

The INTEGRA project aimed to enhance economic development and job creation by employing young people in labour-intensive construction work, providing immediate income. Enabel, along with partners UNCDF and UNDP, has successfully employed 7,500 young individuals. As part of the project, Enabel supported setting up 13 nurseries to enable young mothers to participate in training. These nurseries have hosted 400 children during the project period.

In Uganda

84 secondary schools in 5 districts will be supported, reaching over 1,000 local communities.
Training of over 2,000 teachers, head teachers, and other education staff. Each year a minimum of 40,000 lower secondary school students will benefit from improved access to quality education, with a particular focus on vulnerable youth.