By: Kanto
Kai Okanta
Kenya is emerging as a key
focus of strengthened cooperation between Germany’s GIZ and South Korea’s
KOICA, with the two development agencies working to expand women’s employment,
labour-market skills and green manufacturing.
The cooperation was
highlighted during a GIZ workshop held ahead of the German-Korean Forum and
business dialogue in Eschborn, Germany, where the organisations reviewed
opportunities to combine their expertise and resources amid a changing global
development landscape.
Kenya provides a practical
example of the collaboration through the Promotion of Employment for Women and
Green Industries programme, supported by KOICA co-financing to German
Cooperation and implemented by GIZ Kenya.
The programme is working to
strengthen dual, labour-market-oriented technical and vocational education and
training within Kenya’s TVET system, with training aligned more closely to the
needs of private-sector employers.
A particular focus is on
creating employment opportunities for women and developing skills needed for
green manufacturing and other emerging industries.
The initiative brings
together several priorities relevant to Kenya’s economic development, including
its young and growing workforce, private-sector expansion, the green transition
and stronger links between education and decent employment.
GIZ said combining the
organisations’ resources and expertise can help connect public and
private-sector actors and develop programmes that are embedded in national
systems and capable of being scaled.
The wider discussions
between GIZ and KOICA also focused on the changing environment for
international cooperation, including pressure on multilateralism, tighter
development budgets and shifting geopolitical relationships.
The two organisations agreed
that stronger coordination and complementary partnerships are increasingly
important to achieving greater development impact.
GIZ East Africa and Horn of
Africa Director Matthias Rompel said the cooperation would be taken to the next
level in Kenya and beyond as both organisations seek to strengthen practical
partnerships around development priorities.
