How TVET systems and institutions in Sub-Saharan and North Africa build green skills and contribute to international migration partnerships

• In Event: Transnational Teritary Education, Student Experiences, and Global Skills Formation

Proposal

This formal paper presentation, co-authored by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and the Center for Global Development (CGD), shares insights from a joint study exploring how TVET systems and institutions in sub-Saharan and North Africa build green skills and contribute to international migration partnerships.

IREX, a global development and education organization, strives for a more just, prosperous and inclusive world where individuals reach their full potential, governments serve their people and communities thrive. Since 1968, IREX has supported individuals and institutions to create change in their own communities and create person-to-person bridges between nations. In the education sector, IREX has experience working from primary through to higher education, including through delivering projects capacity developing global technical vocational education and training (TVET) systems.

Since 2001, CGD has worked to reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world’s decision makers. CGD contributes to the realisation of the sustainable development goals through a commitment to evidence informed policies that maximize returns on scarce resources. CGD pursues this objective through developing knowledge on areas critical to development progress, including the themes of education and migration and displacement. CDG’s ‘Linking Training and Migration for the Green Transition’ project conducts research and policy outreach to understand whether a creative combination of TVET and migration could be used to support a just green transition, facilitating development whilst reducing carbon emissions.

It is these potential synergies between migration and green economic transition synergies which this paper looks to better understand. The presented insights align with CIES GM-SIG's ambitions to provide a space for dimensions of migration in the context of policy, and education and economic migration.

Rationale
There are many constraints to the green transition, a lack of climate finance, political will, and technology, yet the lack of skilled manpower is rarely discussed. International bodies have identified that shortages of skilled labor are already translating into project delays and impacting investment decisions. No country currently has enough domestic talent to support the green transition, and current training pipelines are not being scaled up quickly enough to meet agreed upon targets.

Skilled migration is one option to addressing skills gaps, but would it merely move the problem around? The world needs an increase in the global supply of workers equipped with skills linked to emerging green jobs such as heat pump installation and solar panel (photovoltaic) engineering if we are to meet carbon emissions targets. This demands global partnerships that support increased skilled migration coupled with ‘compensation’ countries of origin that support domestic talent pipelines.

Doing so would provide multiple benefits. Trainees would get access to better pay and opportunities. Countries of destination would receive the skills they need to mitigate climate change and meet net-zero commitments. Countries of origin would gain an increasing green skills base, making them more attractive to foreign direct investment, and remittance flows. All countries, whether participating or not, would benefit from a more stable climate.

Summary
Globally, the green transition is accelerating, increasing demand for skilled workers. Shortages are already delaying green investments and projects throughout Europe, causing many countries to seek skilled workers from abroad. Yet there is a lack of understanding as to how TVET systems in low- and middle-income countries are contributing to green skills provision and economic development; how comparable their systems are with those in high-income countries; and how the green transition could be supported through tailored partnerships which link international migration and training.

The paper presents research conducted to identify global partnership models that can fill this gap by focusing on five origin countries across sub-Saharan and North Africa Kenya, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire, which have a burgeoning focus on green skills provision, and are strategic partners for European countries development and economic activities. The paper explores the countries TVET systems’ capacity to develop skills demanded for green transition through insights on sector stakeholders, policies, programmes, funding and examples of good practice.

The research draws from a qualitative study, conducted from June to September 2025. The methodology is built on a landscape analysis, conducted through a literature review, identifying policies, stakeholders, sectors, and processes driving the scoped national TVET systems and skills models. The review draws on national TVET and climate change related strategy and policy documents such as Ghana’s Climate Change and Green Economy Learning Strategy, and Kenya’s National Strategy on Green Skills and Jobs. The review is informed by TVET sector profiles provided by agencies such as UNEVOC UNESCO and ILO, development partner reports including EU, GIZ, Jacob’s Ladder Africa, Swisscontact and UNEP, and CGD and IREX’s own in-house research sources. Findings from this desk research have been cross referenced with available metrics on sector enrolment, progression and inclusion outcomes.

Findings from the landscape analysis were developed through virtual and face to face semi-structured key informant interviews and validation workshops conducted with stakeholders from government, policy, TVET, industry and development partners. The stakeholder consultation allowed for the identification of strengths and gaps in the respective origin countries systems’ capacity to develop the skills needed for the sustainable green transition. This includes the role of private-public partnerships in delivering quality, industry aligned TVET models, and examples of innovative policy and practice in green skills development.

The paper draws on this analysis to present an overview of the researched TVET systems and their capacity to contribute to green skill development, the challenges they face, and alignment with European, and wider, skills demands and standards. This will lead to recommendations to support policy makers develop ‘triple win’ talent partnerships that enhance international migration, domestic TVET provision and migrant opportunities, and highlight areas for further research.

The session will present insights to CIES community on opportunities to utilise global TVET partnerships to unlock triple wins that promote mutually beneficial migrational models contributing to the realisation of sustainable development goals. It will also seek insights from similar research being conducted by the Global Migration SIG informing and enhancing recommendations for future recommendations.

Author

• Marcel Ricou, International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)