Towards a Market-Driven EconomyAgriculture is a key sector to support economic growth and poverty alleviation in Ethiopia. As such, government plans and polices have recommended that Ethiopian agriculture undergo a paradigm shift from subsistence-based to market-oriented. To achieve this, the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has called for the modernization of the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions to use competency-based programming with a balance of skills and knowledge. Agricultural TVETS (ATVETs) are now adapting their curriculum to produce graduates that are market-oriented and will meet the labour market demands of the present and future. There are a number of challenges to achieving this including addressing the underutilized human resources of the rural areas of Ethiopia and a necessity for the ATVETs to re-invent themselves from training development agents to training graduates to be agricultural entrepreneurs.
Project Goal
ATTSVE is designed to contribute to the national TVET strategy to continue to train DAs when required, but to focus on graduating students who are equipped with the practical and theoretical competencies that support the national priority of market-oriented agriculture. Under the ATTSVE project, ATVETs will also become reputable providers of modular training as well as customized short-term trainings that meet the unique needs of farmers, rural youth, the agri-industry and the broader rural communities.
The ultimate goal of the project is to “Increase the supply of male and female graduates from agricultural technical and vocational education and training (ATVET) institutions who have the necessary skills and knowledge required by the labour market to develop the commercial agriculture sector in Ethiopia.”
Domains of ChangeThere are three general domains which the ATTSVE project will impact. These are institutional transformation, instructor training and programme development, and networking and linkages.
Institutional Transformation
By improving the ability of the ATVETs colleges to design and implement gender and sustainable management strategies in addition to improving their infrastructure in the areas of IT, library, laboratory and demonstration sites, ATTSVE will lead to the ATVETs increased capacity to implement innovative management strategies and provide high quality training that responds to labour market needs of private and public sector active in commercial agriculture.
Instructor Training/Program Support
“Teaching the teachers” will result in improved teaching competencies in pedagogy and increased ability for instructors to develop and deliver outcome based education using a competency based curriculum. Ultimately, this will result in increased capacity of ATVET instructors to provide training and services that is gender sensitive and meets the needs of commercial agriculture.
Networking and LinkagesFacilitating collaboration amongst the ATVETs as well as external stakeholders is a key objective of the ATTSVE project. This will be accomplished by improving the networking skills among ATVET colleges to share sectorial best practices developed through project support. It will also lead to more effective partnerships developed between targeted ATVET colleges and public and private stakeholders in the sectors of agriculture and education.
Quote "Projects like this bring us together to face our challenges together. Agriculture is a global industry, and we are a global community." Dr. David Gray, Dean, Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture
Partner Institutes
Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture, MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates of Canada), JUCAVM (Jimma University College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine) and McGill University. The project will work with four ATVETs in Ethiopia, Maichew in Tigray, Woreta in Amhara, Nejo in Oromia and Wolaita-Soddo in SNNPR.
Project Duration
Five and a half years (March 2014 to December 2019)
Total Project Budget
20,297,712 CAD (including in-kind contributions)