TVET and industry: where professionals can help

Where Xidig members may contribute

These are learning and collaboration opportunities, not confirmed jobs or contracts.

• Curriculum advice: professionals in construction, electrical and solar work, mechanics, ICT, health and finance reviewing course content against real jobs.
• Training trainers: short courses and mentoring for TVET instructors, in person or remotely.
• Placements: employers offering apprenticeships and work placements.
• Standards: helping describe occupations and competences for the qualifications framework.
• Tracer studies: following up graduates to see whether they find work.

Possible services, research, supplier or collaboration roles

• Employer panels for a trade, meeting a TVET centre once or twice a year to review courses.
• Recognition of prior learning: helping design assessments for people who learned a trade on the job.
• Short industry courses, for example in solar installation. See Solar installer and technician skills in Somalia.
• Diaspora assignments through established programmes such as MIDA.

Who may find this useful

• Tradespeople, engineers and technicians in Somalia and the diaspora.
• Employers who hire skilled workers.
• TVET instructors and managers.
• Education and labour-market researchers.

Who runs TVET, and what is already funded

Who does what.

• Education ministry: its TVET directorate leads work on a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) with the African Continental Qualifications Framework (ACQF) project. In January 2025 ACQF reported drafts of a 10-level NQF and of policies on recognition of prior learning (RPL) and credit accumulation and transfer, with finalisation planned for 2025. Xidig found no source confirming that they were adopted.
• Labour ministry: its TVET department describes itself as "Mandated to coordinate all technical and Vocational Training programs" and as a "watchdog for the quality of TVET Programs across the country".
• What is missing: Xidig could not confirm a national TVET policy, a TVET law, a separate accreditation body or sector skills councils.

Programmes since 2018.

• At launch (2018): the EU said the German–EU project would "rehabilitate 4 selected vocational training centres across Somalia" and train 3,500 students in agricultural and veterinary skills, mechanics and technicians, and administrative skills.
• Today: GIZ says it still supports "Programmes in agriculture, automotive mechatronics, construction, and media design", but names no current project.
• Rajo Kaaba: in December 2025 the World Bank said the project aims to equip "more than 40,000 women, girls, and youths across Somalia" with skills.
• Centre numbers: the most recent count Xidig found is from the education sector plan: 58 TVET centres with over 8,700 trainees in 2020, "in the southern part of the country". It is not a national count, and Xidig found no newer one.

The labour market.

• Skills mismatch: a June 2025 labour market analysis by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) describes "a substantial skills mismatch exacerbated by ongoing political instability and economic challenges" and says "Informal employment remains pervasive across all sectors". Xidig read only its summary page.
• Youth unemployment: the modelled ILO estimate for ages 15–24 is 34.2% for 2025 (World Bank data). This is a model estimate, not a survey result.

Diaspora skills transfer. IOM's Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) programme has run in Somalia since 2008 and has "deployed more than 800 diaspora professionals, local professionals, and local interns". Its page does not say how many worked in TVET.

What this means (Xidig's interpretation). Money has gone mainly into buildings, equipment and courses. Matching courses to what employers need depends on things that barely exist yet: an agreed qualifications framework, regular input from employers, and data on what trainees do after they finish. These are areas where professionals, including in the diaspora, can help without large budgets.

Dependencies and implementation constraints

• Adoption of the qualifications framework, so that certificates mean the same thing everywhere.
• Clear roles between the education and labour ministries.
• Equipment and trained instructors at existing centres.
• Employers' willingness to take trainees in a largely informal economy.

Risks and unknowns

• Duplication between donor projects and the two ministries.
• Training without jobs: courses that do not match local demand.
• Unequal access for women, rural learners and displaced people.
• Missing data on centres, trainees and outcomes.

Questions members should verify before acting

1. Has the National Qualifications Framework been adopted, and who accredits TVET courses?
2. Which TVET centres would the government's proposal support, and in which trades?
3. How would the proposal work alongside the AfDB, KfW and World Bank projects?
4. Is there a formal way for employers to advise TVET centres?

What is confirmed, and what isn't

Confirmed

• The proposal, its cost and duration as printed.
• The NQF, RPL and credit-transfer drafting process (ACQF, 2025).
• The labour ministry's stated TVET mandate.
• The GIZ and World Bank programmes and their stated amounts, and the AfDB procurement notice.
• The modelled youth unemployment estimate.

Our interpretation

• Employer input and a working qualifications framework are the binding constraints.

Not yet verified

• Whether the NQF has been adopted.
• A national TVET policy or law.
• Current numbers of TVET centres and trainees.
• Budgets for the KfW, AfDB and TİKA support.

Relevant next steps

• Employers and professionals: contact a TVET centre in your trade and offer to review a course or host a trainee.
• Follow the AfDB procurement notices and the education ministry's TVET directorate for new programmes.