International Skills Partnership Success in Morocco, Wales and Scotland
Our objective
Our International Skills Partnerships (ISPs) support UK and overseas skills institutions to devise innovative approaches to skills development in a bid to enhance the employability of young people across the globe.
In 2014, the British Council launched an ISP which brought together the UK’s Coleg Gwent and West Lothian College with AIDA, Association BAYTI and the Ministry of Youth and Sport in Morocco. Together, the organisations developed an ambitious plan to improve their own capacity to provide vocational programmes for disadvantaged young people – those with limited financial or social opportunities, vulnerable to unemployment. The partners aimed to equip the learners who participated in the pilot training with increased skills and confidence thus better preparing the young people to find vocational work within their communities.
Our strategy
"Young people from the project have gone on to secure employment…and we have succeeded in changing the perception of employers regarding young people in vulnerable situations."
Luz Maria Ostau De Lafont, Project Manager
AIDA
Over the course of three years, supported by grant funding and comprehensive advice from the British Council, the partners:
- built extensive networks with employers, initiating conversations regarding their skills training requirements and attempting to dispel negative perceptions of disadvantaged young people.
- developed innovative vocational curricula incorporating soft skills training and assessment. Much of the course materials were based on the discussions held with employers and sought to meet the needs of both the marginalised youth communities as well as their potential employers. The curriculum was the first of its kind in Morocco.
- devised and delivered training of trainer sessions in Morocco to ensure the sustainability of the partnership’s work.
Our impact
"As a result of our participation in this International Skills Partnership, West Lothian College has significantly increased its capacity to support vulnerable, marginalised and disadvantaged learners into employment."
Daniel Evans, Commercial & Enterprise Centre Head
West Lothian College
Of the 20 disadvantaged young people who benefited from the pilot curricula developed and delivered in 2014 – 2015, 10 successfully found employment. In 2016, evaluation of the latter stage of the project found that 70% of the 200 learners involved in the partnership’s activities in Wales, Scotland and Morocco secured employment, began an apprenticeship or continued their vocational education following the project’s completion.
All the course materials produced during the partnership remain available online and, most significantly, the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sport has introduced the curricula developed during the ISP to 3 of their Child Protection Centres in Casablanca, offering a further 60 disadvantaged young people the opportunity to benefit from the courses developed by the partners. Moreover, the Ministry plans to roll out the curricula to another 18 centres across Morocco during 2017. The partnership is therefore likely to have wide-scale, national impact, sustained beyond the lifetime of the project.
Cementing this potential, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was recently signed by the British Council Morocco and the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sport. The institutions have committed to continue work similar to that which was achieved during the ISP, collaborating to enhance the employability of young people by building their skills through educational and cultural interventions.
Please explore the download and video below for further information relating to this ISP. If you work for a UK skills organisation and would like to find out more about participating in our ISP programme, please click here.
