Piloting a training guide to promote social cohesion in collaboration with TVET practitioners in various countries.

Promoting Social Cohesion and Peaceful Coexistence in Fragile Contexts through TVET is a guide that was developed to strengthen the role of TVET practitioners as active promoters of social cohesion. It provides practical guidance to trainers and managers of training centres on how to adapt delivery to mixed groups of students; embed conflict-resolution skills, cooperation and other relevant core skills into training curricula; and create conflict-sensitive, inclusive and diverse learning environments for all. The guide sets out a four-day curriculum to build the capacities of TVET trainers in facilitating core skills in social cohesion, so that they are able to include social cohesion elements in their skills development curricula.

Sample four-day curriculum:

• Day 1: Creating the learning group and wider context
• Day 2: Understanding social cohesion in fragile contexts working with youth and adults – the role of the trainer
• Day 3: Exploring resources: what we bring and what else is out there to promote inclusion
• Day 4: Assessing social cohesion and preparing for change

The guide was piloted under PROSPECTS in Kenya, Jordan, Ethiopia and Uganda, in cooperation with the Peaceful Change Initiative. A total of 73 trainers took part in a training-of-trainers session on incorporating conflict-sensitive methodologies and elements into the design and planning of vocational training programmes. In the Kenya pilot, occupational standards for technical trainers and the corresponding teacher-training curriculum were revised to take account of the role of trainers in promoting social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, following the guide.