S.T.E.P: Strengthening TVET in Ethiopia in smoother Pathways to career (STEP)

Continent: Africa

Bridging Skills and Careers: Strengthening TVET in Ethiopia
To boost youth employment and ensure a better match between education and the labour market, Ethiopia is investing in the future of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). This project brings together three TVET colleges in Addis Ababa (Oromia), Dire Dawa (Afar), and Bahir Dar (Amhara) to build sustainable capacity and foster meaningful partnerships with the private sector.

With S.T.E.P, we aim to create a smooth and inclusive transition from TVET to the world of work—making vocational education more relevant, engaging, and impactful for all students.

We do so through building capacity of the three TVET colleges and strengthen teachers, and trainers in creating stronger toes with industry, getting familiar with innovative teaching methods, innovation in education and labour market and awareness on gender mainstreaming.

But training is not enough, in TVET it is crucial to collaborate closely with private sector in order to brigde the gap between education and labour market. One of the core objectives is to create stronger ties with industry: 60 private companies join six roundtable sessions to align skills training with labour market needs.

Sessions Topics:

With an approach of six Training of Trainer sessions – also called learning carrousel- , we went through the following topics:

Entrepreneurship: developing learning units based on the EntreComp framework;
Career guidance: supporting the trainers to guide the students in the best way to a job that fits them;
Gender inclusion & sustainability: Each college creates a gender inclusion action plan and builds lasting partnerships with local businesses.
Modern teaching & training and digital innovation: 21^st century skills and Virtual Reality (VR). Students explore real-world job environments through Virtual Reality,
Career readiness and self employment: Career guidance and incubation centres are strengthened to offer tailored support for every student.

A sixt training is focused on implementing and upscaling the practices of the five training sessions.

Why it matters

By reinforcing the connection between TVET and the job market, this project helps reduce dropout rates, close the skills gap, and give all students—regardless of background—a better chance at a successful career.

Read more about the activities and experiences in the highlights of the STEP project, showing that we are shaping a future where TVET drives growth, inclusion, and opportunity.

The 3E project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.