MARRAKECH, Morocco—The Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Government of Morocco today announced their intention to invest an estimated $50 million to improve Morocco’s technical and vocational education system. The announcement was made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Marrakech. The funding will be used for grants to fund public-private partnerships to provide job training.
In January, 2015, MCC and the Government of Morocco will release a Call for Ideas to attract the best ideas from the private sector, government and civil society for possible grant funding. The job training funding is part of a broader proposed large-scale investment, or compact, that MCC is developing with Morocco to ensure its youth are trained to meet the demands of a dynamic and growing economy, and that Moroccan businesses can find the skilled workforce they need. Once developed, the compact will require approval from MCC’s Board of Directors.
FACT SHEET: Morocco Vocational and Technical Education Call for Ideas
The Government of Morocco is developing proposals for a Millennium Challenge Corporation compact that would improve the quality of human capital and the business environment to promote economic growth. To attract investment in Morocco, firms must be able to find employees with adequate training and skills to adapt to dynamically changing market demands. Accordingly, the Moroccan government is developing a demand-driven professional training strategy, which aims to strengthen the linkages between the private sector and the training system to ensure students are better equipped to meet evolving employer needs.
To support this strategy, MCC plans to include an estimated $50 million grant facility to fund public-private partnership training in its compact. MCC and the Government of Morocco will issue a “Call for Ideas” in January 2015 that would be open to private sector, government and civil society for public-private training partnerships responding to enterprise demand. This mechanism would enable the promotion of new or scaled-up innovative approaches and provide the private sector with direct engagement in program design.
Pending MCC Board approval and Congressional notification, the facility is expected to be included as part of a potential compact agreement to be signed in 2015.
In December 2012, MCC’s Board of Directors selected Morocco as eligible to develop a MCC five-year compact to promote sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. This program builds on the successful partnership with the Government of Morocco on the country’s first compact, a five-year, $698 million program which increased productivity and employment in high-potential sectors. Responding to identified binding constraints to economic growth, the Government of Morocco is developing proposals for potential MCC investments to address the quality of human capital and to improve the business environment in order to enable economic growth. This intense preparatory process includes continuing consultations with the private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders.
Call for Ideas
In the Call for Ideas, MCC and the Government of Morocco will request potential future sponsors of job training partnerships to submit proposals in response to preliminary grant criteria. The objectives of the Call for Ideas include:
- Gauging interest from the private sector, training providers, and other interested parties for the proposed activity.
- Testing both the viability and understanding of the facility design parameters and criteria such as grant size, subject/theme focus, or social and gender requirements.
- Evaluating the quality of the potential “pipeline” of project proposals, including gathering key data such as cost and potential beneficiaries needed to justify the project.
The Call for Ideas will define particular parameters including maximum grant size and other key criteria. Applicants will be asked to produce a short concept note describing their idea for a proposal including the objectives, specific activities, estimated budget, and how the proposal would respond to the key criteria. No funding is awarded at the end of the call. By participating, applicants will have the opportunity to provide input into the final design of the program. All submitted materials are kept confidential to protect competition during the actual grant award process.
More Information on the Call for Ideas
- To receive further information regarding the Call for Ideas please contact Abdelghni Lakhdar (Abdelghni Lakhdar (abdelghni@gmail.com) at the Government of Morocco office of the Head of Government or Jason Bauer (bauerj@mcc.gov) at MCC.
- For more information on the first Morocco compact: http://www.mcc.gov/documents/reports/countrybrief-2013002144901-morocco.pdf
- For more information on MCC’s model: http://www.mcc.gov/pages/about
- For more information on MCC in Africa: http://www.mcc.gov/pages/docs/doc/fact-sheet-mcc-and-africa
- For more information on MCC and education: http://www.mcc.gov/pages/docs/doc/factsheet-education