Support for institutional, managerial and administrative capacity building of the Regional Training Center for Road Maintenance (CERFER)
Session de travail avec Khalil BAHLOUL, Expert IIEP-UNESCO Dakar (à gauche)
Within the global framework aiming at transforming the Regional Training Center for Road Maintenance (CERFER) in a pole of excellence responding effectively to the labor market skills needs, the African Development Fund finances a project (PAIF) to support the integration of training in road, railway and mining trades within the member countries of the Agreement Council. IIEP-UNESCO is one of the technical partner for this project.
The main objective of the project is to set up a new dynamic in terms of vocational and technical training within CERFER so that it can better respond to the skills needs of the major construction sites in progress in the sub-region. It is a question of putting in place :
- (i) Quality training with the appropriate equipment and qualified teachers;
- (ii) Restructuring and strengthening of human resources, particularly in terms of management personnel for road maintenance, railroads and mines;
- (iii) implementation of a new basic and continuous training system organization and of the qualification levels (BT, BTS, road maintenance trades, railroads and mines).
Within this framework, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Agreement Council acting in the name and on behalf of the PAIF and IIEP-UNESCO Dakar for the implementation of the institutional, managerial and administrative capacity building of CERFER.
Within the framework of this support, IIEP-UNESCO Dakar carried out five missions of expertise to CERFER, between July 2021 and January 2022.
Discover the stakes of these different missions below.
1 - Analysis of the management framework and development of a mapping of the center's management processes (July 29 - August 6, 2021)
A first expertise mission of IIEP-UNESCO Dakar was carried out at CERFER from July 29 to August 6, 2021 by Mr. Khalil BAHLOUL in order to analyze the management framework and to elaborate a mapping of the management processes of the center:
- An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the current management framework of CERFER;
- A formulation of recommendations in order to make the management framework of CERFER more efficient and adapted to the new dynamics in the field of vocational training in direct link with the needs of the labor market;
- A formulation of consequent actions to be undertaken for the implementation of the recommendations on the one hand and for the improvement of the management framework of the center on the other hand;
- A process mapping project that highlighted eight management processes in the center;
- A first version of the management process description sheets detailing the input and output data, the sequence of activities, the indicators and performance monitoring measures as well as the responsibilities and authority of each process;
- A draft matrix of interactions between management, operational and support processes at the center management level.
2 - Training on PPP issues in professional training for a new mode of partnership governance (October 18 - October 22, 2021)
A second mission was carried out by Ibrahima DIALLO from 18 to 22 October 2021. The objective of the mission was to make CERFER understand the determinants and implications of PPP in vocational training in order to better design a new mode of partnership governance. More specifically, it was about presenting:
- The concept of PPP in vocational training with its specificities, advantages and constraints/limitations as a mode of governance of a training center;
- The principles of PPP and its potential impact on CERFER;
- The type of partnership desirable for CERFER;
And to define :
- The roles and interests of the key private actors identified in a partnership governance of CERFER;
- The prerequisites to mobilize, involve and maintain the key private actors in a partnership dynamic;
- A model of partnership governance for CERFER.
3 - Finalization of the center management process (November 15 - November 19, 2021)
A third mission with Mr. Khalil BAHLOUL took place from November 15 to 19, 2021 and consisted in:
- Finalize with the managers and their respective teams the descriptive sheets of the management processes of the center, including the sequence of activities, performance criteria and interactions with other processes;
- Facilitate a workshop to validate the process map with partners, including the process description sheets, the list of procedures and instructions accompanying their implementation and the proposals for revising the center's procedures manual;
- Finalize the institutional analysis report including the new management model based on the process approach.
4 - Review of texts and submission of proposals to the Board (November 29 - December 3, 2021)
A fourth mission was led by Ibrahima DIALLO from November 29 to December 03, 2021 with the following goals:
- To propose a composition of the partnership Board of Directors;
- To propose revisions of the texts governing the CERFER: Convention, Statutes and Rules of procedure;
- To submit the proposals to the current Board.
5 - Networking and development of CERFER partnerships (January 24 - January 28, 2022)
The fifth mission led by Jérôme GERARD took place from 24 to 28 January 2022. The main objective of the mission is to set the first milestones to establish a strategy of networking and partnership development for the CERFER. More specifically, it will involve:
- To animate working sessions with the project team and the persons in charge of the Center on the objectives of the networking and partnership development strategy of CERFER: which priorities, which actors, which actions;
- To co-construct and validate the mapping tools of the targeted actors and institutions in order to constitute the basis of the network(s) desired by CERFER: TVET Centres with a multi-country vocation in West Africa and institutions specialised in the road, railway and mining sectors in Africa;
- To introduce the methodology of classification and analysis of the tools of vocational training of the West African Platform of mutualization to determine how to apply them to the sectors of the road, the railway and the mines;
- To draft the positioning strategy of CERFER within a sectoral network around the complementarity of training for the road, railway and mining sectors in the sub-region.
The PEFOP in action
01 December 2021