European Union and UNESCO presented a roadmap for 2021 for the development of agriculture in Uzbekistan
On 23 February, 2021, the Steering committee meeting of the “Skills development for Employability in rural areas of Uzbekistan” project, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNESCO, took place.
The event is organized by the Delegation of the European Union in Uzbekistan, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan (MHSSE), the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The project, funded by the European Union in the amount of 9.6 million euros, was launched on 28 July 2020 by the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and UNESCO for the period from 2020 to 2024.
The project’s activities are aimed to improving the system of advanced training in the agricultural and irrigation sectors in four regions of Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan, Khorezm, Bukhara and Surkhandarya regions). In particular, National Workshop for Project Stakeholders was held in January 2021 and preliminary results on needs assessment and analysis of the status of skills development in agriculture and irrigation in the four selected regions in Uzbekistan were presented.
Mr. Jan Hladik, Head of the UNESCO Tashkent Office, in his welcoming speech noted that The Steering Committee is the high-level governing authority of the project, providing fundamental policy and strategy guidance and ensuring strong commitment and engagement of all national stakeholders. The Steering Committee is a key success factor for the project and the primary mechanism of national ownership.
During the meeting of the steering committee, that includes government representatives, leaders of academia and professional associations and other representatives, a roadmap for the project for 2021 was discussed, including the following points:
Reconciliation of the budget in order to effectively allocate and use resources in accordance with the plan.
Reviewing regular progress reports as well as any other evaluation reports and issuing instructions to the Secretariat.
Key role in national political dialogue and open commitment to strategic and political changes identified and proposed by the project.
Discussion of the project implementation policy.
Ensuring stakeholder participation and promoting project coordination and synergy with other initiatives.
“Reforming the vocational education and training system in agriculture is an important dimension for which the experience and technical assistance of donor organizations are very useful. This joint program is aligned with the priority areas of the Development Strategy of Uzbekistan for 2017-2021 in terms of skills development, as well as with the Sustainable Development Goals, such as “Quality Education”, “Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls” as well as Decent Work and Economic Growth. I believe that this new program, bringing together the strengths of the EU and UNESCO in the area of skills development, will contribute to the implementation of reforms, especially in these difficult times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that the program will also contribute to improving the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the vocational education and training system in the modernized agricultural sector and reforms initiated by Uzbekistan in the field of education,” said François Bejo, Head of the Cooperation Department of the Delegation of the European Union in Uzbekistan.
About the Project
“Skills Development in Rural Areas of Uzbekistan” is aimed to enhance the living standards in rural areas through better employability. The specific objective is to equip women and men in Uzbekistan with relevant skills for a sustainable, diversified and modernized agriculture. The expected outputs are: 1) TVET (Vocational Education and Training) policy implementation supported and governance arrangements modernised, strengthened and adapted to the evolution of the agriculture and irrigation sectors; 2) TVET qualifications and methodology modernized to serve the needs of the labor market and women and men learners and workers in the agriculture sector; 3) Efficient TVET colleges with competent management and teaching staff able to use modern equipment, technologies and learning methods.
About UNESCO
UNESCO was established on 16 November 1945 as a United Nations Specialized Agency. It contributes to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. UNESCO’s intervention in Uzbekistan is planned and managed by the UNESCO Office in Tashkent in close cooperation with its Headquarters, regional offices in Bangkok, Jakarta and Almaty, and the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO.
Website: https://en.unesco.org/
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