“Bottlenecks” Alleviation Program (BAP)

This action will target to enroll Syrian refugees and underprivileged Jordanian candidates via implementing several projects. BAP tackles the following objectives: (i) improved access to technical and vocational education and training opportunities; (ii) improved student employability and increased access to labor market opportunities in relevant sectors; (iii) institutional capacity building through linking and learning among implementing partners and relevant stakeholders in technical and vocational education and training.

To address the first two objectives, NUFFIC will carry out aforementioned activities by designing and managing calls for proposals for Jordanian and international stakeholders to submit short projects tailor-made to alleviate three bottlenecks; the students’ lack of the technical and vocational skills as required by the job market, the challenge in accessing the labor market and attaining jobs, the lack of knowledge and experience exchange among the various technical and vocational education and training institutions.  The call for proposal will be tailored towards projects that focus on and contribute to employability and labor market opportunities in sectors where the demand for skilled employees is highest. This can be achieved by targeting successful projects of the current EDU-SYRIA project that have the potential to upscale their activities and successfully contribute to the employability of students and employment opportunities. Strong involvement of the private sector in relevant sectors (e.g., health, ICT, Green Growth) will be required in both curriculum development as in the organization of internships and mentorships and guidance towards a paid job.

NUFFIC will address the third objective of BAP by providing linking and learning opportunities and improving institutional capacity. This component will be executed through a range of workshops organized in Jordan and through a policy seminar in Brussels to also contribute to dissemination of results and advocacy.

NUFFIC and GJU do intend to conduct a stakeholders’ meeting at the beginning of the project to identify the skills and educational gaps between graduates and the labour market. This meeting(s) will form the base for the BAP activities the planned calls for proposal, complemented by feedback from scholarship holders and providers on difficulties encountered. For this action, there would be one patch.