Greening TVET in Viet Nam
In Vietnam, environmental awareness is quite low and the green economy sector is relatively small. At the moment, green jobs and respective green skills requirements are not available. However, this situation will change due to new policies of the Vietnamese government which aim at a more sustainable socio-economic development of the country.
With the development of the Green Growth Strategy, the Vietnamese government has acknowledged the need to address the environmental and socio-economic challenges by giving a key role to sustainable economic development. TVET is included as an important cross-cutting issue to develop competent workforce capable to meet the requirements of a greening economy in Viet Nam. TVET’s contribution to achieve the goals of the Green Growth Strategy is developing training competencies needed in order to apply resource and energy efficient, environmental friendly production processes and technologies. Involvement of TVET is not only relevant for a single group of activities but for implementing all strategic tasks of the Green Growth Strategy, as they have at least an implicit skills development component.
Activities on "Greening TVET" in the frame of the Vietnamese-German Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam: Ideas for “Greening TVET” are placed on the TVET map in Viet Nam
"Green TVET" on a mission
Awareness Raising for the topics Green Skills and Green Jobs was top of the agenda in five of the southern TVET colleges during the last weeks. Supported by the international Greening TVET consultant, Mrs. Stefanie Gendera, the green topics were addressed in our partner colleges starting from An Giang up to Ninh Thuan. The focus of the mission was put on energy and resource efficiency but also covered knowledge on sustainability issues and potentials of Green Jobs for the graduates and the colleges.
During two days in the colleges the teachers and the students elaborated green visions and were asked to develop ideas and address challenges. With enacting the Vietnamese Green Growth Strategy in 2012 the legal framework is in place to integrate green knowledge into curricula and day to day live. A change in awareness and behavior towards more environmental friendly habits is emphasized and will be further boosted in future.
Seven Vietnamese Young Professionals graduated from GIZ-supported training on "TVET, Climate Change and Green Jobs"
On November 15th, 2013, at its representative office in Berlin, GIZ solemnly organized the certificate awarding ceremony for 7 Vietnamese graduates together with participants from Laos and Indonesia, of the training course “TVET, Climate Change and Green Jobs”. Following the completion of the training phase, Vietnamese graduates, who are young professionals from National Institute of Vocational Training (NIVT, of the General Directorate of Vocational Training/MoLISA), TVET institutes and enterprises, will bring into play and multiply their gained knowledge and skills through the implementation of their transfer projects with support of GIZ and their respective employers in Viet Nam.
"Greening TVET" at the Green-Biz 2013 exhibition
GIZ – supported “Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam” promoted awareness raising on Green TVET through its active participation in the Green Biz organised in Hanoi during 19-20 September 2013 by the Eurocham Hanoi.
TVET has been defined one of the priority areas of the Vietnamese-German Cooperation again in the recent Government Negotiations July 2013 and “Skills for Green Jobs” is becoming more important in the cooperation agenda.
Programme Officer introducing to a journalist activities of the Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam
While other 79 exhibitors of various types including enterprises, government agencies from Europe such as Germany, Denmark, France, Sweden, etc brought to the fair their technology solutions, the GIZ – TVET Programme brought its “hand and mind” solution through the presentation of a range of creative awareness raising publications and materials about its active work with Vietnamese partners about “greening” TVET. They included publications “TVET for a Green Economy”, “Go green: TVET, Climate Change and Green Jobs” and Green Skills poster, among others. Although green growth and “greening TVET” is relatively new in Viet Nam, contents and presentation of these materials were very well attractive to many visitors, especially enterprises and young people, during the two-day event.
TVET Programme invited to workshop on the implementation of Vietnamese Green Growth Strategy Action Plan
Viet Nam is determined to become an industrialised country by 2020 and as well, is one of the countries active in the global movements responding to climate change and preservation the ecosystem. In 2012, the Government has approved Green Growth Strategy (GGS) as its commitment to pursuit sustainable development. GGS is respected as a means to achieve a low carbon economy and to enrich natural capital. It will become the principal direction in sustainable economic development (click here for full version of the GGS).
It is obvious that “green growth” is a relatively new approach to economic development for many countries including Viet Nam. The country is committing a great deal of efforts to realise its GGS objectives and currently, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) is coordinating the development process of GGS Action Plan. This has attracted high level of attention and interest of both domestic agencies and the donor community with regard to how to develop qualified human resource for the implementation of this GGS.
The Vietnamese – German Development Cooperation (DC) organised a workshop jointly with our partner institution, the National Institute of Vocational Training (NIVT) of the General Department of Vocational Training (GDVT) under MoLISA and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Viet Nam to provide a forum to establish joint understanding on the concept of “Greening TVET” as well as other “Greening” related concepts. In the workshop, discussions also took place to define contributions of “Greening TVET” toward the achievement of the GGS goals.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mac Van Tien, NIVT Director facilitating the workshop
The workshop received a very broad range of participation of government agenices and enterprises such as MARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), MCST (Ministry Culture, Sport and Tourism), MoC (Ministry of Construction), private companies and the VCCI (Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Workshop participants had the opportunity to discuss the GGS and the drafted Plan of Action (AP) which has been presented by the MPI (Ministry of Planning and Investment) representative, Dr. Pham Hoang Mai, Director of the Department for Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment. The presentation indicates 3 strategic tasks which are: Reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions and promote the use of clean and renewable energy according to the following essential targets; Greening production; and Greening lifestyle and promoting sustainable consumption. In addition, Dr. Mai explained about implications for TVET to realize Greening TVET as part of the GGS and gave several examples about “greening TVET” which were found very practical and helpful.
The Action Plan for GGS shows that it requires active engagement of each and every ministry, local authority and sector as well as the society. As a result, awareness raising on the “greening” concept is one of the first important steps to implement, workshop participants widely agreed. This should be carried out at different levels from central to grassroots levels, for different sectors, different population groups, in particular, for the civil society. Supporting this viewpoint of Vietnamese experts, Ms. Dippmar from the GIZ “Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam” shared that understanding about green growth can be embedded in training curriculum as early as the primary level. This can bring in very good spillover impacts because children can “teach” their parents and siblings with what they learn at schools.
It was also interesting to learn from another comment that action on “greening” can start from individual and ourselves with small but practical actions. It is often discussed about action for sectors, or required by ministries and not starting from what one self can offer. With a similar approach, participants all shared that “green TVET”, “green skills”, or “green jobs” are about greening our practice instead of creating something green new.
It was very pleased to learn about the wide common viewpoint on “green growth” and “green TVET” that workshop participants shared, particularly, specific recommendations generated from the discussion. GIZ is interested in continuing to work closely with Vietnamese partners in the finalisation as well as in the implementation of the Green Growth Strategy Action Plan, which approval is expected in the next months.
"Greening TVET" Mission in Vietnam from 04 – 12.03.2013
During the “Greening TVET” mission within the Vietnamese-German Programme Reform of TVET, German TVET Expert Dr. Klaus-Dieter Mertineit met several stakeholders to discuss approaches of Human Resource Development in the view of the implementation of the Vietnamese “Green Growth Strategy”.
Meeting the objectives of the "Green Growth Strategy" is considered a major priority for the sustainable economic development of Viet Nam towards an industrialized country until 2020. To adapt production processes towards clean production, to apply (new) technologies and develop (new) sectors (e.g. renewable energies) a competent workforce is essential.
The goal of this mission was to identify the key aspects and starting points for „Greening TVET" in Viet Nam and possible intervention fields within the “Programme Reform of TVET in Vietnam”.
On behalf of GIZ, the German Experts for TVET for sustainable development, Dr. Klaus-Dieter Mertineit, Ms. Silvia Boehmsdorff and Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Huong from NIVT (National Institute for Vocational Training), met several Vietnamese stakeholders (NIVT, VCCI, VVTA, VINASME) and donors, visited vocational colleges (Long An and LILAMA2) as well as enterprises (LAMICO, CS Wind).
In open and stimulating conversations the Mission discussed with TVET stakeholders the role of TVET and possible approaches in TVET to develop the needed workforce for greener production and to integrate greening aspects in TVET and work. A further vital topic of discussion was how to raise awareness and responsibility within society for environmental protection. As a result, the mission attained a comprehensive picture of current situation, experiences and challenges along with exciting new ideas and suggestions with respect to “Greening TVET”.
Environmental issues were still new territory for many stakeholders and have not been implemented in training or practice. First steps in “Greening TVET” could be the focus on responsible and efficient handling of materials, energy and further resources – with recycling, energy saving, and careful handling of hazardous materials as some key fields. Based on these aspects, students can practically apply environmental protection already during training. It is important that these skills are trained and “lived” not only in schools, but also applied in the industry and society. If the students learn about and also live in environmental friendly surroundings, “greening” can be permanent and sustainable. Therefore improving the quality of TVET and “Greening TVET” are going hand in hand.
The results of the Mission “Greening TVET” will be presented in a workshop, which will bring together all stakeholders to continue the fruitful discussions and to create networks.
We hereby would like to thank all stakeholder for sharing their views and experiences regarding the key aspects and frame conditions for “Green Jobs”, “Greening” production, “Green skills” and “Greening TVET” in Viet Nam.
The International Leadership Training (ILT) on "TVET, Climate Change and Green Job"
Seven Vietnamese participants are ready for the International Leadership Training (ILT) under GIZ Human Capacity Development programme on “TVET, Climate Change and Green Job” (for Young Professionals from Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam)
Seven young Vietnamese professionals have been selected for the ILT “TVET, Climate Change and Green Job”. They are experts in TVET with different technical background and responsibilities at their workplaces. Coming from TVET institutes, companies and the National Institute for Vocational Training (NIVT/GDVT), the participants together with colleagues from Lao PDR and Indonesia will have the opportunity to obtain further understanding about approaches and experiences in TVET for a sustainable “green” economy. During the period of February – November 2013, the 9-month training course will be implemented in 2 phases in 2 countries, Korea and Germany and covered by 6 modules including (i) Introduction phase; (ii) Training Needs Assessment; (iii) Didactics and Curriculum Development; (iv) Internship; (v) Management – Fundamentals of Sustainable Development Integration and (vi) Developing a Transfer Project.
With the transformation to a green economy the term of “green jobs” is mentioned in the international discussion very often. But what are “green jobs”? In the first sense it might be associated with workplaces in green or brown sectors, as the wood processor, gardener, fishermen or waste water technician. In the second sense jobs in the renewable energy sector might come to mind. But for the definition it has to be considered that any job is at least indirectly of significance for the environment. On every workplace – in agricultural, industrial and service sector – energy, material and other resources are used. It’s the worker in any job who deal with energy and resources at their workplaces efficiently – or not. Efficient use of energy and resources on the job is the task of every employee. Efforts towards green economy lose their effect or fail when the personnel do not have the necessary competencies to fulfil the tasks and responsibilities for adjusted more efficient production processes and the installation, operation and maintenance of (new) technologies. According to this TVET plays an essential role for the transition to a green economy.