SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

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The Skills Development Project will assist the Government in the implementation of a pilot program to stimulate the private sector demand for skills training development, through a demand-driven, and competitively-based mechanism. Project components are as follows: 1) the awareness program, and monitoring and evaluation component will finance the provision of technical advisory services to promote outreach programs; implement monitoring and evaluation surveys, studies, and assessments; enable beneficiary firms to undertake training needs assessments, and plans; enable training providers to develop training proposals; and enable project intermediaries to develop aggregated training proposals. The project will target initially three sectors of the economy - manufacturing, construction, and tourism - and, the small- and especially, medium-sized private sector enterprises (SMEs), employer federations, business, and investor associations in these sectors; 2) the training sub-projects component will finance a demand-driven training program on a cost-shared basis with beneficiary firms, and, strengthen the institutional capacity of project intermediaries. The program will be implemented for the benefit of small and medium size enterprises, and related business organizations, initially in the construction, manufacturing, and tourism sectors. Short term (less than six months) production-related training will be supported, particularly in areas of in-service training, and training for prospective employees; and, 3) Project management, and monitoring and evaluation (M& E) component will finance goods, and technical advisory services to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Project Management Unit, and conduct the monitoring and evaluation of the project's inputs, processes and outputs. It includes staffing costs, equipment, materials, and office space, as well as consultant assistance to ensure effective operation, and monitoring and evaluation.