Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In February of this year, the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan approved a plan of measures aimed at realization of “Uzbekistan: Skills Development for a Modern Economy Project” financed by the Asian Development Bank.

The purpose of the project is to strengthen the relationship between the labour market and professional education system, alongside improving the quality of vocational training for unemployed people and youth, and management of professional education system and employment assistance.

The project with the participation of the Asian Development Bank is being executed by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education and amounts to $93mn loans. Implementation period equals to 2022-2027. 

Over the past few years Uzbekistan saw a sustainable economic growth. 

In particular, foreign direct investment is growing, which is evidenced by the exports increase.

However, there are still obstacles to increasing direct investment. For example, 

a shortage of qualified workforce. More than 35% of firms report that employee skills seriously hinder growth and about 49% of industrial enterprises have difficulty finding workers with the right skills.

To address this issue, the Government of Uzbekistan has adopted a number of documents directed at transforming vocational training services, including provision of skills development in market-relevant competencies.

This approach is seen as crucial for creating a competent and adaptive workforce who will meet the labour market needs and support economic competitiveness and diversification.

The ADB’s “Uzbekistan: Skills Development for Modern Economy Project” geared toward supporting vocational training reforms in Uzbekistan will improve the infrastructure of 14 vocational training centers under the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and 6 colleges and technical schools under the Ministry of Higher Education. The project provides for purchasing modern educational and training-industrial equipment and reconstruction of production workshops and laboratories.

Moreover, the project will finance the development of curricula, qualification requirements and professional standards for vocational training institutions, the establishment of National and Sectoral Councils for professional qualifications and the development of professional competencies, as well as a pilot center for assessing professional qualifications.

Also, work will be conducted to strengthen the capacity of the Labour Market Research Institute in order to improve the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on the labour market, labour force observation, and introduce a mechanism for forecasting labour market needs in the medium and long term.

The project will also support vocational training for socially vulnerable groups of population, including women and people with disabilities.  

Programmes for retraining and advanced training of teachers, instructors and masters of industrial training of vocational education institutions have already been implemented. 

Implementation of the project is expected to facilitate the introduction of an effective vocational training and professional skills assessment system for unemployed people and youth, focused on the labour market needs and increase the employment rates together with employers’ satisfaction.

Project implementation will directly benefit at least 10th TVET students, 48th job seekers (including 500 persons with disabilities), 600 specialized teachers/trainers and 100 managers and employees of selected TVET centers and TVETC institutions, 1,200 employees of the Public Employment Service, and 210 PES managers and civil servants.