Significant changes are going to take place, once the project partners apply the project results within their own national context. And this is what “Effective In-Company Vocational Training in the Mekong Region” has been working towards following the establishment of “Standard for In-Company Trainers in ASEAN Countries” in February 2015.

A year has passed and the project progress has been remarkable at all levels.

Regional Level
Master Trainers in 8 participating ASEAN countries are being trained as Regional and National Multipliers in order to give them the skills to train In-Company Trainers in their own language based on the established standards. Furthermore, In-Company Trainer Training Courses have already been conducted in cooperation with public and private partners as well as in GIZ Bilateral projects in Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Thailand to the great satisfaction of both the In-Company Trainers and their companies.

“The ASEAN In-Company Training Steering Committee (ACTS)” was established to drive the implementation and assure the quality of In-Company Training in all countries, while reaching towards the ASEAN level. The committee consists of 2 representatives from each country, one from the public and private sectors. Indonesia and Malaysia have joined forces with the 6 participating core countries, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam since September 2015.

National Level
The “Standard for In-Company Trainers in ASEAN Countries” has been taken up and adapted further by national stakeholders to develop the National Standard for In-Company Trainers in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. In Malaysia, the benchmarking of the regional standard and national standard has already been initiated by the Department of Skill Development (DSD) and the German-Malaysian Institute (GMI). In the Philippines, the training regulations according to the standard have been already endorsed by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). In Thailand, Thailand Professional Qualification Institute (TPQI) has developed a complete draft of Thai In-Company Trainer Occupational Standard, based on the regional standard. A Public Hearing was organised in June and the official launch of the National Standard is expected to take place in July 2016.

In Lao PDR, several In-Company Training courses have been continuously offered to train the In-Company Trainers from private companies. In Myanmar, the National In-Company Trainer Working Group has been established with the intention of developing a National In-Company Trainer Standard and implementing In-Company Trainer training courses. The GIZ Bilateral Project is discussing with relevant stakeholders the organisation of the course later this year.