| |
Contributions from
the Column
InWEnt News
Vocational qualifications after 24 years of war
Broadening horizons with Leonardo da Vinci
Accolade for cooperation with Nigeria
Opportunities to modernise industry
After the flood is before the flood
Young German managers learning in Asia
|
|
Reconstruction of Afghanistan
Vocational qualifications after 24 years of war
By Reimut Düring
InWEnt is using the experience it gained in the transition countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe to help accelerate the economic reconstruction of Afghanistan. The objective: to establish business-related state institutions and create free-market structures. The first capacity-building measures have been successfully completed.
Germany is putting 320 million euros into the effort to re-build Afghanistan, which makes it the biggest bilateral contributor in the European Union (EU). Among other things, the German Foreign Office funds initial and continuing training projects to help establish economic structures. Here, InWEnt can draw on experience of capacity-building programmes in the transition countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe – experience valuable for the creation of businessrelated state institutions and free-market structures. InWEnt advises five local partners on the development of training systems and provides support for the implementation of the training. The partners in question are the ministries of finance, reconstruction, labour and social affairs, commerce, and light industry and food. Links have also been forged with a number of commercial banks in Kabul and Herat.
At a planning workshop in June 2002 with representatives of the five ministries in Kabul, agreement was reached on programmes for multipliers and short seminars for management personnel. Since August 2002, 27 such measures catering for 800 participants have been implemented, most of them focused on economic management and corporate analysis and finely tuned to the occupational requirements of the participants. The measures were conducted with the help of German advisers communicating through interpreters. In March 2003, InWEnt representatives met with the five Afghan partner organisations in Kabul to evaluate the first phase of cooperation and make further plans for the future. In the programmes first short year, cooperation with all partners has been good, despite difficult local conditions. All participants were highly motivated and keen to learn and acquire vocational qualifications after 24 years of war. One handicap at present is lack of language competencies; hence the need for interpreters. The training materials need to be translated into Dari.
Cooperation highlights in 2003 will include a multiplier programme for the public authorities to help create a training centre that will enable Afghan training courses to be conducted by Afghan trainers. Courses on financial management are being conducted with the Afghan Ministry of Finance. Upgrade training in ministerial project management is being received by staff at the Ministry of Reconstruction. And programmes in business administration and corporate management are being conducted with the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Light Industry and Food.
Numerous talks with foreign consultants working in Afghanistan show that there are many good proposals for helping to re-build the country. What the Afghan institutions lack, however, are people qualified to put the proposals into practice. This is where InWEnt can make a contribution.
Reimut Düring is head of Division 6.07 'Mandate Central and Eastern Europe' of the 'Industrialized and Transition Countries' Department of InWEnt.
|
