The evaluation results point to a long-term sustainability risk – by investing in only specific programs at providers existing governance and incentives may lead to deteriorating quality or an inability of programs to keep up with changing employer needs over time. Many findings and some explicit conclusions point to an understated sustainability risk that these programs will remain current (keep up with sectoral and technological evolutions) and will be able to reinvest in infrastructure and equipment. The report notes that notwithstanding the more industry-oriented programs and industry-oriented shifts in policy, there is a broader lack of movement to make provision more industry-oriented. The findings support the lessons from the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Principles into Practice that TVET providers should be accountable to employers for delivering trainees with relevant and high-quality skills. One way in which this is still not the case is that providers received flat voucher funding and without substantial quality assurance (or accountability for results.) The report notes that trainees often did not take jobs in the field and that some employers still faced a skills gap after the program. If continued support for programs was contingent on trainees getting relevant jobs, providers would be incentivized to screen for candidates interested in related positions and perhaps alter their operations to be more closely linked to those employers (like by recruiting from and providing training in the regions where there are employers instead of in Tbilisi.)
Lesson Learned