The Colombo Plan Staff College, in partnership with the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) and the National Skill Testing Board (NSTB), organized the Customized Program for Training on Facilitating Development of Competency Standards.

The complete duration of the program is from April 4 to July 8, 2022 with a planned onsite consultation for the training manual development and conduct of training in Kathmandu from April 24-May 7, 2022. A total of 40 instructors and facilitators attended the training.

The program was organized in order to facilitate the implementation of the National Vocational Qualifications System Project (NVQS-P), which is a joint initiative of both the governments of Nepal and Switzerland. The Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation (Swisscontact) provides Technical Assistance to the project on behalf of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Initially, the first phase of the project was implemented from October 2015 until July 2020. The second phase is a nationwide initiative, implemented from 16 July 2020 until 15 July 2024 at Federal level and gradually in all seven Provinces. CPSC was able to provide the technical expertise to ensure that the planned establishment of a National Vocational Qualifications System (NVQS) in Nepal gains ground.

Similarly, the project revolves around its three planned outcomes: (1) Certify Nepali youth through National Vocational Qualifications System and facilitate their employment in domestic and international markets; (2) Ensure that CTEVT/NSTB, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), implement the National Vocational Qualification System in partnership with the private sector and (3) Ensure that provincial governments implement the Vocational Qualification System (VQS).

Ms. Therese Lee, the Program Coordinator and Expert for the Nepal NVQS Project

The program was supervised by Prof. GLD Wickramasinghe, CPSC Director General and Mr. Subas Subedi, Team Leader of the NVQSP Phase II. Ms. Therese Lee, an International TVET Expert and Former CPSC Faculty Specialist, was sent to Nepal as the Program Coordinator and Implementer of the Project on behalf of CPSC.

During the two-week program, the participants were able to develop the functional analysis, basic common and core competencies, and the format of these documents for evaluation and validation. They were also able to enrich their knowledge on the labor market through the labor market information system, sector analysis and occupational analysis. They were also able to distinguish the occupational standards from competency standards and were able to develop and formulate a draft competency standard based on the results of these workshops.

Program participants during the actual workshop at the CTEVT Headquarters, Kathmandu.