Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan- The ILO’s Applying the G20 Training strategy project: A partnership of the ILO and the Russian Federation" (Phase 2) in the Kyrgyz Republic has enabled the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic to analyse the existing trends and challenges in the TVET system in one of the country’s regions.

The Chuy region is one of the industrialized regions of the Kyrgyz Republic where growing and emerging industry sectors such as processing industry, construction, trade, transport, agriculture, services (around 4,500 large, medium and small enterprises) are located. With its population of 921,700 people (14.7% of total country population), the unemployment rate in the region is 8.1% (29,402 people). According to the National Statistics Committee Publication "Employment and unemployment”, among the unemployed - 2,009 people have higher vocational education, 4,839 - secondary vocational education and 3,462 - primary vocational education. Directions subject to analysis for the Chuy region followed diverse stages including analysis of available statistical data, dynamics of industry sectors for the last 5 years, enrolment graduates in lyceums, colleges, survey of enterprises, etc., from which a comprehensive cross-cutting analysis of demand and supply was made.

According to the analysis, it may be concluded that some of the challenges are related to the mix or choice of occupations provided through the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system in the region, which do not adequately respond to the labour market needs and does not secure full employment for its graduates. The regional TVET system will now need to revise its training programmes and make them flexible and easily adaptable to the rapidly changing labour market.

Dilbara Suinalieva, Head of the Employment promotion unit in the Chuy region, who has an extensive experience working in the Employment centre, expressedher satisfaction with the pilot capacity building project on the demand analysis:

"For 23 years of my work in the Employment service of the Chuy oblast, I have participated in many workshops and trainings. They were informative and useful for our work. Among them I would like to highlight workshops and trainings conducted under the Project on the analysis of the demand for the skilled labour force in the Chuy oblast. It allowed us to look at our work through the prism of international best practices, and learn how such an analysis is conducted in other countries. We have learned how to carry out detailed analysis of the database on the registered unemployed and compare them with labour market needs. The analysis results are meaningful, and they are of great interest for me. A very strong and solid team have been working over the project. Thanks a lot to the Project team for joint quality work done!"

Nargiza Turkebekova from the Employment promotion department of the Ministry of labour and social development of the Kyrgyz Republic, believes that the new methodology need to be extended to other oblasts of the Kyrgyz Republic:

"I would like to point out that until now the Ministry of labour and social development of the Kyrgyz Republic did not have detailed information about the labour market and employment situation in the Chuy oblast. With the help of the Project we have obtained a very detailed and comprehensive information. The same calculation methodology can be applied to other regions of the Republic. Also, we have been able to identify those occupations and qualifications on which jobs are available in the labour market but no training courses are provided in TVET institutions. Now when the proposed methodology has shown excellent results, it will be submitted for approval by the Government Decree." 

On behalf of the ILO Prpject Team, Cezar Dragutan, Chief Technical Adviser of the Project, conveyed the satisfaction of the ILO Project Team with the success of the above pilot initiative:

“We are very pleased to see that a highly competent and committed Team of national counterparts involving experienced TVET practitioners, constituents and policy makers, in the result of an intensive and meticulous hands-on work conducted throughout most of year in 2019 with the support of the Project, has managed to build a valuable asset for the Kyrgyz Republic. It now can be used in practice to make informed decisions on the mix of training programs to be offered by the TVET institutions in the Chui region in order to address better the demand of the economy in skilled labour force. In 2020 the application of the developed by the Project methodologies for Analysis of the Short-Term Demand for Skilled Workforce, and for informing Demand-Driven Planning of VET Delivery will be piloted in Djalal-Abad region. Together with the other Project components being implemented in the country, the above will contribute to further enhancement of the TVET system in Kyrgyzstan.”