Contents SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Part 1. Introduction and context ................................................................................................................ 5Outline of report ........................................................................................................................................ 5Project background .................................................................................................................................... 5Evaluation and lessons learned: objectives of the report. ......................................................................... 6The SAT Project – key facts ..................................................................................................................... 7

Project institutional set-up .................................................................................................................... 7Current situation .................................................................................................................................... 8

Part 2. Evaluation ...................................................................................................................................... 9Issues identified in previous evaluations: ................................................................................................ 10Project outcomes ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Training: output, quality and consolidation of training methodologies .............................................. 11Labor market outcomes ....................................................................................................................... 13Target groups ...................................................................................................................................... 16Transition of Management Responsibilities ....................................................................................... 16Systemic impact .................................................................................................................................. 18

Key challenges to project sustainability .................................................................................................. 19The SAT partnership ............................................................................................................................... 20

Part 3. Lessons learned ............................................................................................................................ 21

Annex 1: Terms of References

Annex 2: Sources

Annex 3: Logical Framework (Extension)

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SUMMARY

The Swedish Academy for Training (SAT), a training academy in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), was initiated as a joint initiative between SCANIA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UNIDO, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The project began in May 2011, was extended for one year in .2015, and closed on June 30, 2016. The key objectives of the project were to provide vulnerable youth with labor market relevant training and support private sector development by increasing the availability of skilled workers. Set-up as a collaboration between private and public partners around a common set of development goals, the SAT project was a first Public-Private Development Partnership in its kind.

The project was instigated in a relatively stable and favourable economic and political context but the circumstances have dramatically changed. Since 2011, SAT’s activities and prospects have been severely affected by the onslaught of IS, the influx of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) into KRI, the global drop in oil prices, and cancelled budgetary transfers from Baghdad. Tthese developments directly threaten institutional and financial sustainability and affect demand for training, and job opportunities. Budgetary support is likely a necessity to sustain SAT’s operation as of next year.

Considering the adverse context, the SAT project has achieved many of its objectives: (i) the quality of training is manifestly high (ii) the school is operating, SCANIA assets have been transferred to the school, and management responsibilities have shifted from UNIDO to the local team (iii) the school has a strong reputation among students, government institutions, SCANIA, and other clients, is considered a “model” for vocational training, and there is a strong local ownership (iv) partnerships have been established with new donors and clients and new areas of training have been identified, while SCANIA and Education First (EF) have agreed to continue to support the school with training materials in Mechanics and English respectively.

Some outcomes are weaker, however: (i) labor market outcomes for students have been varied, even before the economic downturn (ii) while the school has successfully targeted unemployed youth it is not clear to what extent it serves poor and vulnerable populations (iii) management still needs support to go beyond “business as usual” to look for alternative solutions to financial and institutional sustainability (iv) there is no evidence of de facto replication of the SAT model in Kurdistan. It is difficult to isolate most of these weaknesses from the impact of the recession. They nonetheless merit attention because the targeting of more vulnerable populations as well as the systemic impact are among the key motivations for public funding of this venture.

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Key lessons for PPDPs in vocational training from the SAT project are: • Look for broad collaborations with more stakeholders to diversify business risk and

address systemic change more concretely. The SAT project is characterized by very strong and productive partnership between parties with common interests but different cultures, values, and modes of operation. However, the school depended on SCANIA to provide internships and to some extent job opportunities. This turned out to be a limitation even prior to the economic and security meltdown. Broader projects, coordinating several companies, may take longer time to prepare. They have the advantage of higher likelihood of diversifying risks related to business opportunities and initiating wider systemic change, however.

• Work with an existing institution with an established legal status, established management, and a financially sustainable set-up. Such a set-up would have reduced the immediate challenges in terms of sustaining SAT operations beyond 2017. This lesson appears already to be well incorporated in similar projects, by both SCANIA and Sida, judging by new, similar projects in Ghana, Zambia and Ethiopia.

• Define target populations clearly prior to the project, an access plan to reach them, training that serves them, and M&E systems that will measure progress. SAT has made good progress in reaching unemployed or underemployed youth, and has successfully reached out to women (although not through the mechanics training, and with more limited results in terms of jobs). However, more work would have been needed to identify the target group, their training needs, how to target them, and monitor their outcomes. There is also a broader question of whether the SAT model is at all suitable to reach vulnerable groups, given its focus on post-secondary education. Incorporating labor market analysis – including an analysis of key constraints to job creation on both demand and supply sides – would likely have strengthened project design and could have helped both targeting and job placement efforts.

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Part 1. Introduction and context

Outline

This report summarizes key lessons learned from the project “Swedish Academy of Training in Northern Iraq. The report is organized in two main parts. Part 1 provides background and key facts regarding the project, including the political and economic conditions surrounding it. Part 2 provides an evaluation of the project, including developments during the extension period between January 2015 and July 2016. The evaluation section starts off with a summary the findings from previous evaluations of the project undertaken underway (section 2.1). This is followed by a detailed review of project outcomes with relation to training, labor market outcomes, target population, local management take-over, and systemic impact (section 2.2), with an emphasis on achievements not covered in previous evaluations. Project sustainability is discussed in section 2.3, and the SAT partnership in section 2.4. Part 3 concludes with a summary of lessons learned. The logical framework, completed with achievements on different indicators, is provided as Annex 3.

Project background

The Swedish Academy for Training (SAT) is an operations and industrial maintenance training academy established in Erbil, Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, initiated as a collaboration between SCANIA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The key objectives of the project were to respond to the significant skills gap in heavy industry in Iraq by providing a model of organization and delivery of high quality technical training that could be replicated elsewhere in the technical vocational education and training (TVET) system. A financing agreement was signed between UNIDO and Sida for a four-year project running from May 2011 till December 2014 with a total budget of USD 6.5 million, of which Sida accounted for 2.8 million, SCANIA 1.4 USD million, and MoLSA 1.4 USD million (in kind contributions). On April 2, 2012, the SAT opened its door to a first batch of students.

The project was subsequently extended. First, it was extended on a no-cost basis between January 1 and June 30, 2015, pending recommendations from an evaluation of the project. In line with recommendations made by an independent evaluation of the project in early 2015, it was further extended by 12 months with a funding of around 1 million USD. The project ended on June 30, 2016.

The SAT project emerged through several parallel developments. First, SCANIA, whose operations had closed down during the Iraq war, had a renewed interest in the market. In 2009, SCANIA signed a deal with the Iraqi Government involving the delivery of 3900 trucks. In view of this important deal and expectations of significant additional market potential from the booming oil- and gas industry in Iraqi Kurdistan, the lack of skilled personnel to maintain and drive modern vehicles was identified as a critical bottleneck.1 To the skills gap was coupled an interest in

1 There is other evidence of a skills gap in KRI: from enterprise surveys suggesting lack of skills was a constraint in the local labor market, or that employers find that secondary and post-secondary gradates are very poorly prepared for work. See: World Bank (2016): Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Reforming the Economy for Shared Prosperity and Protecting the Vulnerable. http://www.mop.gov.krd/resources/MoP%20Files/PDF%20Files/Reforming%20the%20KRG%20Reforming%20the%20Economy%20for%20Shared%20Prosperity%20and%20Protecting%20the%20Vulnerable.pdf

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establishing good will in a region with a significant market potential. At the same time, Sida and UNIDO, in line with developments in the development cooperation community at large, had a stronger interest in and indeed mandate for working actively together with the private sector. Third, globally labor markets, job creation, and the role of skills were garnering more attention as significant drivers of development and poverty reduction.

The SAT provides training, mostly for Iraqi youth, but has also given tailored courses for employees of SCANIA-Iraq or companies associated with SCANIA-Iraq and, towards the end of the project period, to international organizations and a few other private companies. The overall objectives of the project have been to help support the economic recovery in Iraq by (i) improving access of poor and young Iraqis to job-oriented and demand-driven skills, with the purpose of improving their employability, and (ii) removing bottlenecks to industrial development by increasing the availability of trained mechanics, operators and drivers in the sectors of logistics, manufacturing, and industrial maintenance of heavy machinery. The project extension was intended to serve to consolidate these achievements and establish the Swedish Academy for Training’s role as a model for the KRG’s vision for the provision of skills training and help secure its future sustainability.

The SAT project was a first Public-Private Development Partnership in its kind: a collaboration between private companies, local government, Sida, and UNIDO, around a common development goal. The project has successfully delivered high quality training to significant number of young Iraqis, including women, and has provided a model for high quality, labor market relevant and flexible vocational training. These achievements are commendable not least since the project has taken place under extremely adverse – and, at the time of project design unforeseen – economic and political conditions, undermining the economic and business rationale of the project.

Evaluation and lessons learned: objectives of the report.

As a pilot project, the SAT has provided important insights into the challenges and opportunities offered by joint development initiatives between private and public sector. This report summarizes key lessons learned from the SAT with the purpose of informing the design and implementation of future similar development initiatives. More specifically, the terms of reference focus on identifying the project results compared to the planned outputs, how main challenges have been met, systemic impact and sustainability, and the role of the private sector partner (key partners are described in Box 1 below). The terms of reference for the evaluation are attached in Annex 1. The report seeks to avoid repetition of findings from previous evaluations and concentrates on findings from the extension phase as well as key lessons learned for future collaborations of this kind.

The report is based on the following material:

1. A desk review of different documents, including an in-depth evaluation of the project undertaken in early 20152, and institutional analysis undertaken in project steering committee minutes, annual reports, and other project documentation.

2. A review of key data provided through the GoProve web-site as well as directly by SAT Management on request.

3. Phone interviews with concerned parties from SCANIA, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Kurdistan, Sida, UNIDO, and clients of the company.

2 An independent evaluation of the project was undertaken in early 2015 during a no-cost extension phase, including a visit to Iraq. The evaluation proposed an extension of financing for one year (July 1 2015-June 30 2016) in order to give the project time to find a sustainable financial and institutional solution.

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A list of documents consulted and interviews conducted is provided in Annex 2.3

Box 1: SAT project partnerships

The SAT Project – key facts

Institutional set-up

Management of the project has officially been transferred from an external UNIDO consultant to local staff. The project is run by a General Manager (previously employed by Molsa and at the time the Deputy Manager of SAT, but now on secondment to UNIDO until mid-2017) and a Deputy Manager (from MoLSA). Support staff (accounting and IT) is funded by UNIDO. Teacher functions (two mechanics trainer, the IT trainer, the driver trainer and the English teacher) are all employees under MoLSA (See figure 1); most of the teachers are from the Erbil Vocational Training Center (VTC). Although the premises of the school belong to KRG and its staff are MoLSA employees, the SAT is not officially part of MoLSAs VTC structure.

3 In addition to these sources, the report is also informed by experiences and findings by the author from a previous consultancy for the preparation of a project extension and an exit strategy for Sida for the SAT in 2014. This task involved a one week visit to the SAT in Erbil in June 2014 and meetings with representatives from MoLSA, the SAT (management, trainers, students), and representatives from UNIDO, Sida and SCANIA.

Project partners are contributing to the project as follows:

• MoLSA provides the training centre’s premises, the trainers, their salaries and operational costs for utility supplies;

• SCANIA provides supply of technical training equipment, a full-time Master Trainer and other ad hoc trainers for training of local trainers

• UNIDO is the project implementer, funded by Sida • Sida, through its unit for cooperation with the private sector (ENICT, later named

NÄRSKAP), funds Project management (UNIDO), Center manager and trainers (SAT) and some equipment and operational costs including travels, evaluation, and such.

• SCANIA-Iraq provides internships for the Academy students, and has received training for its staff and clients)

• Education First (EF), provides course materials for the online English courses.

The Project Steering Committee has consisted of representatives of MoLSA, SCANIA, Sida, and UNIDO.

• Japan ODA is providing additional financing (July 2016-June 2017) under a UNIDO financing envelope.

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Figure 1: Organization of SAT

The school provides courses in Mechanics, English and Computer skills. The two latter courses were originally conceived as complements to Mechanics training to facilitate the adoption of manuals in English and familiarization with computers. In response to a high demand for English and Computers (which are generic competencies and in demand in the labor market) in combination with subdued demand for mechanics’ training, the number of students enrolled in English and computer courses have significantly outnumbered those in Mechanics. Between 2011 and 2016, the Academy provided training to 1596 students, of whom 1498 students graduated.

The school cannot, as a public entity, charge for training. By law, public vocational training is delivered free-of-charge to students in KRI. The school must hence depend on public funding or sponsorships in some form.

Current situation

The SAT was initiated in very favourable economic circumstances. At the time of project preparation, Kurdistan’s oil industry was booming and SCANIA was planning for a rapid expansion on the Iraqi market. The composition of SAT’s training courses as well as its financial model were prevaricated on a stable and prosperous economic climate, a high demand for SCANIA trucks locally, and a booming oil and gas industry.

The situation for the SAT in 2016 is dramatically different. Since 2011, the Kurdistan region of Iraq has experienced four very major shocks that, aside from humanitarian suffering, also have had wide ranging economic and financial implications.

(i) The emergence of IS and its rapid advance into Kurdistan in June 2014 which affected public security spending and has affected the local economy very significantly and negatively

GeneralManager(FormerMOLSA;nowUNIDO)

Accountant(UNIDO) IT(UNIDO)

MechanicsInstructors(MOLSA)

ITTrainer(MOLSA)

DriverTrainer(MOLSA)

EnglishTrainer(MOLSA)

DeputyManager(MOLSA)

ManagementSupport(UNIDO)

9

(ii) The subsequent massive influx of approximately 2 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), putting pressure on public services and funding, at an estimated cost of US$1.4 billion in 2015.4

(iii) The global drop in oil prices as of mid-2014 (from 100 to about 60 USD per barrel). (iv) The dispute over oil revenue and budgetary transfers from the Central Government

leading to late and/or cancelled budgetary transfers from Baghdad (which represent the vast majority of the total KRG budget)

In combination, these events have lead to a precipitous drop in economic growth rates from 8 percent in 2011-2013, to below 5 percent in 2014 and an estimated stagnation at less than one percent for 2015. Poverty rates are estimated to have more than tripled (from 3.5 percent in 2012 to about 12.5 in 2014).5

In addition to macro-level shocks, the SCANIA order with the Iraqi Government was cancelled. The changed business outlook and demand for workers from SCANIA has significantly affected SAT operations since internships (fully) and employment opportunities (partly) depended on SCANIA.

A project extension was approved to consolidate the achievements of the school and facilitate a transition of the project from expatriate to local management and a clearer definition of SAT’s institutional status. Against the backdrop of the school’s promising beginnings and the externally imposed challenges, an external evaluation of the project commissioned by Sida recommended that the SAT project be extended to consolidate the results and give SAT a chance to find an institutional and financial solution.

However, challenges remain in terms of sustaining operations. The continued deadlock between KRI and Baghdad implies that SAT cannot rely on financing from MoLSA – in fact, the entire vocational training system is affected by lack of financing. A conversion of SAT into a private entity (which would permit training fees) or a regular VTC has not proved politically possible.

Temporary solutions have been found to sustain the school. UNIDO has received financing from Japanese ODA for one year. The purpose of this grant is to develop courses in fork lift driving, more basic mechanical and metal work, as well as agriculture and food processing. It should be noted that the Japan ODA fund is not a mere replacement of the SIDA project funds. UNIDO is involving SAT as a training provider in the scope of livelihood assistance during this crisis. Resources are being used to diversify some of the courses as well as continue to strengthen the management and trainers of the SAT.

The SAT has also been afforded a letter of exemption by the DG which permits the school to charge some cost recovery for courses delivered courses to IOM, UN Habitat, and other officially registered NGOs. These are commendable but short term solutions: the main challenge in consolidating financing to sustain school operations and retain instructors beyond 2017 has not been resolved, however.

Part 2. Evaluation

In view of the fragile situation in KRI, a significant challenge of this evaluation is to isolate those factors that have contributed to SAT achievements in spite of these circumstances and, perhaps even

4 World Bank (2016): Op. Cit. 5 World Bank (2016), Op. Cit.

10

more significantly, to separate out weaknesses in project design that would influence negatively project outcomes and sustainability even in favourable circumstance.

Key question for analysing project effectiveness include:

1. Whether the Academy is operational and delivering high standard training relevant to the private sector

2. Whether this training delivers jobs 3. Whether the poor and vulnerable access training, and jobs 4. Whether the school is sustainable judging from the hand-over of management responsibilities 5. Whether the school is sustainable from an institutional and financial point of view 6. Whether the school has had a systemic impact, notably by influencing vocational training and

life-long learning systems (both public and private)

Issues identified in previous evaluations

Previous evaluations of the project include analysis contained in the exit strategy prepared for the project extension proposal in 2014 as well as the mid-term evaluation and an institutional analysis, both prepared in 2015.6 These evaluations largely converge in their findings, namely that:

• The SAT was a relevant development project with respect to the priorities of all parties: the Kurdistan Government (in particular: providing high quality and labor market relevant training through the vocational training system, based on close collaboration between private sector, government and other stakeholders), Sida’s cooperation strategy for Iraq (in particular: developing markets as a way of achieving equitable and sustainable global development, and improving the living conditions and economic participation of disadvantaged groups) and UNIDO’s mandate to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development.

• The SAT offers high quality training both in terms of content and organization (on-hands training, internships, etc.) and is held up as a model for VTCs.

• The project partially reached target groups (“unemployed Iraqis that otherwise have little or no means of breaking out of poverty”; women)

• The project was prepared during a very short time frame which may explain some less well formulated project objectives (including those on vulnerable beneficiaries, women, and the number of students) as well as insufficient attention to the potential problems of project sustainability.

• The project has been very negatively affected by extreme external events, threatening the sustainability of the project, with no clear institutional or financial solution.

The remainder of this section reviews project outcomes from the perspective of the project extension.

Project outcomes

The expected outcomes of the project (Original proposal and Extension) are7:

6 The mid-term evaluation included a statistical analysis of a tracer study on employment outcomes as well as focus group discussions with former students to gauge the impact of the training on employment outcomes and student satisfaction with training. 7 See Annex 3 for the logical framework.

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For the original project:

• A Training Academy on operations and maintenance of heavy duty vehicles and industrial machinery established and operational in Erbil.

• The trainers of the Academy deliver up-to-date training courses in subjects such as heavy duty vehicle maintenance and related computer systems, chassis suspension, electronics systems.

For the project extension (July 1 2015-June 30 2016):

• The training methodologies are consolidated and embedded into the Academy’s day-to-day operations

• The national management is adept to administer and “run” the Academy and pursue a model for operations of the SAT which aims to be financially sustainable.

The immediate target beneficiaries, according to the original project document, were essentially: youth from the region, SMEs, employees looking for skills upgrading, and trainers from other VTCs. The project would also pay particular attention to reaching vulnerable youth:

“The training academy will especially target unemployed individuals that otherwise have little or no means of breaking out of poverty. In particular the lack of language and computer skills makes it difficult for many poor (especially for women) to gain productive employment within their communities and for these training courses the project aims to have at least 30 % female participants.”

Project Application Document, p. 4.

The establishment and successful operation of the Swedish Academy for Training has evidently been completed. The section below discusses project outcomes from the following perspectives: Training quality, labor market outcomes, target population, consolidation of training methodologies, and the transition of management responsibilities. Project data has been provided by SAT management and retrieved from the M&E website goProve. Some of the information drawn from tracer surveys of former students, especially on earnings, provide some interesting pointers to labor market outcomes but relies on a very limited number of responses, and should consequently be interpreted with caution.

Training: output, quality and consolidation of training methodologies

SAT’s approach to training is strong, judging by demand for courses, graduation rates, and student, client and government views. The interviews as well as other documentation, including the independent evaluation, provide persuasive support for the quality of SAT training.

The demand for training in English and Computers is very high; only one in ten applicants can be accepted into the English program. The demand for mechanics training has been considerably lower. This is not reflecting the quality of training which has been commended by students and clients alike, however. Partly the lower intake for mechanics reflects a rational response to the economic conditions and the resulting lower demand for mechanics. In addition, however, the mechanics profession is not a popular option for youth in spite of the potential opportunities in extractive industries.8 The resistance to enter into practical vocations destined for the private sector is likely higher in a setting where half of the employees are in the public sector, which has been a preferred employer for many,

8 This problem is not specific to KRI. In Sweden, the demand for mechanics is exceeding supply, because of insufficient students in Mechanics education and training, according to the Swedish Job Centre, the Arbetsförmedlingen.

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and in particular women. Such constraints on the labor supply side have not been taken into account into project design.

Virtually all students entering the programs graduate successfully. Completion rates are very high (in 2014-2016, between 98-100 percent of enrolled students also graduated, and this holds for women and men, and across the courses), likely owed in much to a comprehensive application/intake process that has been developed by the SAT. Applicants are interviewed by SAT staff and ranked on their motivation and attitude as well as academic merit. Instructors are centrally involved in the selection process, and as such given ownership of their course and students.

Figure 2: Students graduating: by year, course and gender.

Source: Project data provided by SAT

The quality of training is manifestly high. The perception that the SAT provides excellent training by regional standards is consistent: among students, as expressed in quantitative and qualitative information presented in the mid-term evaluation, as well among former and recent clients as from interviews. Facilities and equipment are considered clean and well maintained. The quality of training – the modern curriculum, the pedagogical approach, and the focus on hands-on training and, in the case of mechanics, internships – is considered unique by Kurdistan and reportedly even Iraqi standards.9 The high level of training is upheld as SAT instructors have received further training in important areas such as addition al mechanics, training of training methodology (in 2014), work place safety and first aid (2016).

The School has also provided training to including SCANIA Iraq and private companies that are clients to SCANIA-Iraq. Demand for these training trainings peaked in 2013 and 2014 (Table 1). In

9 MoLSA’s internal monitoring suggest that the SAT delivers many more courses than the average VCT (reported in the project extension proposal).

33 39 49 46643

713 13

9

-

5

10

15

20

25

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

%fe

male

Numberofgradu

ates

a.Mechanics

Males Females Femaleshare

81 8468

10280

56

108

92

92

88

-

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

%fe

male

Numberofgradu

ates

b.English

Males Females Femaleshare

22 33 36 29 14

21

58 59 82

25

49

64 62

80

64

-

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

020406080100120140160180200

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

%fe

male

Numberofgradu

ates

c.Computer

Males Females Femaleshare

231 415 134

45

436

24516

51

65

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Mechanics English Computer

%fe

male

Numberofgradu

ates

d.Allcourses2012-2016

Males Females Femaleshare

13

the past two years, SAT has successfully won tenders for training from NGOs like IOM and UN Habitat, whereas interests from private companies has been more subdued. Finally, the fact that SCANIA has invited one of SAT’s trainers to travel to some of their sites in North Africa to provide training must be seen as a certificate of high quality standards.

Labor market outcomes

Do SAT students land a job and/or raise their income? External conditions, more specifically the overall demand for labor, significantly affect the potential for successful job search in the private sector. Although no recent statistics are available interviews suggest that general labor market conditions have deteriorated significantly since 2014 including both a decline in job offers and a fall in real wages.

Table 1: Courses provided to private sector partners (including NGOs)

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Private companies

Mechanics SCANIA

22 39 26 SOC

40 2

Abbas holy shrine 10 Energy Logistics

4

ILTC

9 Driver training

Mateen express co. 6 SOC

1

´SKA

5 Energy Logistics 15

SCANIA

10 Other

1

4

Other courses Molsa English 26 SCANIA English 6

Finding Job Opportunities (FORAS) 95 Know about Business (KAB) 61

P.I.N.

42 Hospitality for IDPs (IOM)

33

English for IDPs (IOM) 40 UN habitat Computer?

42

DRC Mechanics 10 TOTAL 26 222 137 77 87

Source: Project data provided by SAT

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Prior to the economic crisis, between 50 and 60 percent of students traced after graduation had found a job. It is impossible to isolate the effect of training from overall economic situation. The deterioration in available job offers is likely to explain the deterioration in the placement rates of mechanics in the private sector (Figure 3). The tracer surveys suggest that graduates from the 2015 intake overall are significantly more likely to be unemployed compared to graduates from the 2014 intake, and that the situation is considerably worse for women than for men. However, even prior to the economic shocks, placement rates ranged around 50 percent. Without comparable information from other vocational training centers – which reportedly does not exist because of lack of monitoring and evaluation practices – it is not possible to ascertain whether this is a commendable outcome or not. The school has previously lacked placement services and job search support, however, which has been shown to be relatively cost efficient activities to increase jobs outcomes, especially when combined with training.10 A short module is now being developed to help students identify job opportunities and prepare for the application process.

Training did not increase earnings for a majority of those previously employed. For the class of 2014, a majority of employed graduates viewed their earnings as sufficient to support them and often their families too. For the same cohort, 40 percent of those who had previously been employed, had also increased their earnings after training, while another 40 percent had the same earnings.

There are gender differences in jobs characteristics, including earnings. The tracer surveys also suggest that women graduates are more likely to find jobs in the public sector: 62 percent of all women employees in 2014 were in the public sector, according to the tracer survey, while the opposite holds for men (27 percent). Women were also less likely to have acquired an increase in earnings through training. The fact that two out of five female interviewees had found jobs in the private sector is still quite impressive in the socio-cultural context in which the SAT operates: In 2012, an estimated 13 percent of employed women in the Erbil Governorate were working in the private sector.11

10 Betcherman and others,2010, Cunningham and others, 2010. 11 Data on public/private sector employment of women from Kurdistan Region Statistics Office, 2014: Labor Force Report for Kurdistan Region 2012. Available at: http://www.krso.net/files/articles/050215014412.pdf

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Figure 3: Labor market outcomes

Source: project data provided by SAT (a), tracer survey from goProve (b, c, d)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Shareofstudentswhofoundjobsintheprivatesector

English Computer Mechanics

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%

Male Female Male Female

2014 2015

Employmentsituation

Employed Self-employed Student Unemployedorother

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Male Female Male Female

2014 2015

Adequacyofearnings

Enoughtosustainmyselfandmyfamily Enoughtosustainmyself

Notenoughtosustainmyself

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%

Total Male Female

Changeinearningsopportunities

More Same Less Idon"tknow

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Target groups

The school has successfully reached out to women students. As seen in figure 1 above, women account for about half of all students. The gender balance varies between courses and the high share of female students is predominantly due to a high number of women in the English and Computer courses, where they account for 51 and 65 percent respectively. Women have nonetheless, accounted for 16 percent of all mechanics students. This appears high compared to European standards and must be considered a significant achievement in the local socio-cultural environment. For example, in 2012, only 12 percent of women aged 15 and above were active in the labor market in Erbil.12 Thus, in its context and given its focus on traditional male occupations, the SAT has done well in serving women with training. (A project that specifically aims to involve women in labor market opportunities, would likely have needed a different set-up involving a set of job activation policies aimed at the inactive population.)

There is evidence that students were unemployed or in precarious employment prior to entering SAT. A survey undertaken for the purpose of the mid-term evaluation showed that a majority of students had been unemployed (58%) or self-employed (20%) before starting the training.

There is no information on whether the regular courses in SAT have served youth from poor or vulnerable households, however. From a statistical (and analytical view point), poverty and vulnerability are household level measures. No information is available on household income or other proxy measures of vulnerability such as highest level of education of students at entry, or parental education/job status. While the project proposal mentions women-headed households and widows as a potential target group no information has been collected to support this aim. The possibility to reach out to households from more distant localities (likely to be less well off than Erbil population) was limited by the cost involved in bringing in students, arranging for lodging, stipends for living expenses, etc..

Could the school in fact have targeted the poor population as per the project proposal? A main problem is the lack of definition of “poor” in project documentation, and the lack of indicators to follow up on this specific group. Although official poverty rates as reported are estimated to have tripled in KRI as a result of the recent crisis and the massive population influx, they remain quite low by international standards. Whereas no detailed poverty profile exists it is probably safe to conclude that unemployed youth are not necessarily poor and vice versa. In 2016, as part of its efforts to establish a client base for its services, the SAT provided ad-hoc courses in hospitality on behalf of IOM, to IDPs and refugees. Although this group would count as a vulnerable population it does not form part of the SAT’s regular student intake or regular course offer as per project design.

Project design would likely have benefited from a more solid review of local conditions, notably labor markets, poverty and the constraints to labor market access faced by vulnerable populations, including socio-cultural constraints as well as those related to job search, and the costs related to bringing in students who would need to live away from their own families.

Transition of Management Responsibilities

The demands on management in a modern school acting in competitive markets (for training, as well as in general) are high, requiring long-term strategic thinking, innovation, and networking. In the case of SAT, in a setting with uncertain institutional ownership, weak demand from the regular client base and poor labor market prospects for students due to general economic stagnation, the requirements for

12 KRSO (2014), Op. Cit.

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innovation and ability to establish fruitful partnerships and ensure school sustainability are even higher.

The transition of management responsibilities from UNIDO to SAT began well before December 31, 2014 (the official end of the original project). As of July 2015, the former Deputy Manager (DM) assumed the position of General Manager (GM). The GM is in charge of daily operations as well as strategic planning. In July 2016, the GM transferred from MoLSA to becoming a full-time staff of UNIDO during the period covered by Japanese funding. A new DM has in turn been placed from MoLSA, signalling the continued commitment and connection from MoLSA. The new DM is an instructor in Metal Works/Welding as well as a Master trainer in profiling for training programmes. The new GM has received recurring coaching/back-up support on strategic and managerial issues from a UNIDO expatriate consultant, and the process on increasing staff ownership of the school has accelerated in the past year. During the past year, the GM has attended a one-week course on VTC Management, the insights of which are being implemented in the daily operations. Support staff have been upgrading skills in work place safety and accounting. A monitoring and evaluation system is in place, with basic project data available on a project data website (www.goprove.com).

Specifically, new outputs were included in the project extension in recognition of the need to accelerate the transition of ownership and secure a continuous operation of the SAT. Sida requested that (i) an institutional analysis of the school be undertaken and (ii) that the SAT management provide a business plan for the future.

Several facts indicate that the management capacities of the team have strengthened, including a sense of ownership of the school and its future, and the successful delivery of a new type of courses to new clients.

Ownership. Different reports suggest that SAT staff hold significant pride in and ownership of their work. This is witnessed in the lack of staff turnover, the involvement of staff in building maintenance and upgrading, the exposure of staff to different skills upgrading initiatives, and the willingness of instructors in adapting to new teaching challenges (including first aid and work place safety), and the strong involvement of staff in student intake. It is also evident in the positive reports regarding the management team’s willingness to discuss and adapt to client needs for the benefit of SAT.

New partners. With the limited demand for training from the private sector, the SAT has explored opportunities to extend courses to clients outside the private sector. Although, as explained, the SAT is not formally allowed to charge for training, the Director General has prepared an exemption letter for SAT, for the purpose of delivering services to registered NGOs. SAT has successfully won tenders for training to UN Habitat, Danish Refugee Council, and IOM. For the latter, a new type of course – on hospitality services - was delivered on the client’s request.

At the same time, and in much due to the drastically changed circumstances in which the SAT operates, the management team may need continued support, especially in identifying new opportunities to sustain operations during the current economic downturn and contribute to socio-economic development.

More proactive approach needed. The high inflow of refugees and IDPs is one such area of opportunity for outreach with, likely, a potential in both the NGO and official donor communities. For the IOM courses, the IOM identified potential job opportunities for IDPs, and provided the instructors as well as consultant support to the SAT to strengthen the school’s set-up. In a subsequent second call for proposals, the expectation was that SAT should have identified labor market opportunities for IDPs/Refugees and organized relevant courses to this effect. This did not happen, however, likely because of management’s lack of familiarity with such market driven approaches.

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The SAT has also successfully raised funding support from the Japanese ODA, for a one-year period up until June 30, 2017. While highly commendable as a transitionary solution to the school’s financial straights, the funding proposal originates from UNIDO for which a funding window exists for these opportunities. SAT management are likely to need tools and support to continue to search for such opportunities.

Business Plan should be strengthened. The Management Team presented a Business Plan for the SAT at the final PSC meeting on June 7, 2016. The Plan outlines how training is being strengthened, new possibilities for SAT in the area of NGOs, and the challenges facing SAT. It does not outline specific steps to be taken to ensure school sustainability beyond June 2017, however.

Systemic impact

Locally, the SAT model is not being replicated, but lessons from the project are being incorporated in other projects. The potential for a systemic impact of the SAT project on vocational training in Kurdistan is an important motivation for the project. The systemic impact could take several forms: other schools could seek partnerships with the private sector or private companies could organise themselves to provide training jointly and/or the training methods and school management could be streamlined into government policy for vocational training and adopted by other VTCs (including curriculum and organization of training, application process, course delivery, monitoring and evaluation, etc.).

The KRG view the SAT as a model for providing skills training and for collaborating with the public sector. The SAT corresponds directly to the strategy outlined in KRGs Vision 2020, which emphasizes the importance of: Private sector-led job creation (p. 14), modern skills (p. 15), enterprise based learning and life-long learning (p. 16), assisting women in entering and succeed on labor markets (p. 17) and collaboration with private sector (p. 22).13 As already discussed, the SAT is held up by the Government as a model for collaboration. The Director General of MoLSA is, as previously mentioned, an SAT champion, and has expressed a possibility that SAT become an institute of training of trainers for other VTCs. A recent World Bank report on reform for the KRI states that, in the area of education

“ […] PPPs between the Government Council and the major private corporations could help schools align the curriculum and train secondary school TVET graduates with skills sought after in the private sector rather than to rely solely on the public sector for limited work opportunities.”

World Bank (2016), op. cit.

There is no evidence of the SAT being replicated in the public VTC or in the private sector, however. To date, however, these practices appear have not been established with other VTCs in spite of their strong points. Lack of operational budget and low demand for training is likely to explain the limited systemic effect, but also the limited attempts at anchoring this initiative in a broader group of private sector actors from the outset. It has not been possible to verify whether there have been more private-public partnerships along the model provided by SAT model but interviewees are not aware of any such attempts to replicate the institutional model by other companies in KRI.

In SCANIA, the SAT experience serves as an example of the possibilities of partnership in the development area. A new school has been established in Accra, Ghana, in conjunction with a major SCANIA deal for delivering local buses, and SCANIA has also started a school for drivers’ training

13 Ministry of Planning, Kurdistan Regional Government (2013), Kurdistan Region of Iraq 2020: A Vision for the Future. Available at http://www.ekrg.org/files/pdf/KRG_2020_last_english.pdf

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in Morocco. In favorable business circumstances, the school model is seen as serving SCANIA in building goodwill, in ensuring skills development and in contributing to local development. Trainers from the SAT have been invited to visit and provide training at other SCANIA sites. Within the SCANIA Academy, Södertälje, there is now a person is responsible for collecting and managing information and lessons learned from the different projects. However, there are still issues with support at the local level where the local CEO is de facto in charge of the project in addition to ordinary duties.

Following a Government decision, Sida’s collaboration with Iraq is gradually being phased out (with the exception of humanitarian aid). The work to develop strategies with respect to joint development initiatives with private sector partners is ongoing within the institution. The insights from the SAT have being used in the development of new partnerships, e.g. in Ethiopia, Morocco and Zambia. UNIDO is also establishing further partnerships built on the SAT model, for example in Tunisia.

Key challenges to project sustainability

The main motivation behind the project extension was to provide a transition period during which management could hone their skills, and funds for upgrading computers and school infrastructure. The project extension was based on a thorough evaluation and appears to have succeeded in “buying time” in order to strengthen local management capacity and look for alternative sources of financing. Although there are many positive signs, SAT’s sustainability remains uncertain, however.

On the good side, the provision of relevant and up-to-date training material has been guaranteed for the medium term through post-project partnerships:

• For English – the most popular course - the EF has agreed to provide an additional 340 English licenses, to be supported until December 2017.

• Two new computer labs were created to support both English and Computer classes. • For Mechanics, SCANIA has agreed to provide training software and training of trainers (the

latter conditional upon travel and accommodation being covered by MoLSA). In addition, Haynes, a UK technical manual publisher, has provided (free of charge) manuals in small engine repairs, an area which will be incorporated in the curriculum. The workshop content including truck and engines have been signed over to SAT. (Since SCANIA-Iraq has closed down, there are no opportunities for internships however.

Teacher turnover is probably not a major risk at the moment. Without additional funds (from KRG or donors), the SAT and its staff would revert back to normal working hours (approx. ½ day) - as is the case with all MoLSA VTC’s in the Kurdistan Region. Given the lack of other opportunities in the private or public sectors, staff are not likely to leave even with reduced work and pay schedule.

Utility costs will likely fall as the generator is being changed (from 500 KVA to 100 KVA), using the Japan ODA fund. This will help bring down operational costs.

There are nonetheless several difficulties ahead threatening SAT survival. The security situation remains unresolved for the foreseeable future. In the hope of a resolution to the MoLSA budget problem -and, with time, the security situation – SAT management has identified solutions that meanwhile can sustain operations. However, the future institutional residence of SAT, as well as financial sustainability, remains unresolved. Together with UNIDO the school has attempted to raise the SAT profile further within the Government.14 In 2015, an attempt was made to secure a standalone

14 For example, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs has been invited to the graduation ceremony in 2016.

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status for SAT as a VTC, but this has not been feasible for political and budgetary reasons. MoLSA’s proposal is to incorporate the SAT under the Erbil VTC with a portion of that institution’s budget allocated to SAT. Under normal budgetary circumstances, this would be a feasible solution, but it is not a likely outcome at present. Without budgetary support, SAT’s status cannot be normalized and additional donor support would likely be needed. UNIDO are coaching SAT management in preparing project proposals.

The SAT partnership

The SAT partnership has been characterized by significant goodwill and collaborative approaches from all involved parties. There is a genuine appreciation within UNIDO, Sida, SCANIA, and KRG, of the efforts made by other parties, and the partnership has overall been characterized by strong team work.

The SAT was born as a joint initiative by UNIDO and SCANIA. In 2009, UNIDO contacted SCANIA to inquire into employment and internship opportunities for mechanical training. SCANIA had identified a lack of skilled personnel, opened up for discussions around a more significant venture. The project proposal was hence the result of a very close collaboration between the MD for SCANIA Iraq at the time, and UNIDO representatives working in Erbil. It has since received significant visibility within SCANIA through the SCANIA Academy. The project has also drawn significant strength from the support and engagement by MoLSA; the DG has been a strong champion for the school. Within Sida the project has received considerable attention as a first pilot PPDP, and serves as a good practice example of how demand and industry driven vocational training can be used to improve TVET.

Championship for the SAT within SCANIA shifted, from SCANIA-Iraq to the SCANIA Academy, based in SCANIA’s headquarters in Södertälje, with a change in management in Iraq. Because of the unique position of the local dealership in the design of the SAT partnership – as a client, a source of internships, a potential employer – the weaker links between SCANIA-Iraq and SAT has, together with the dramatically declining prospects for SCANIA-Iraq’s business, affected the project. Whereas the relationship between SCANIA Academy and SAT has been very strong, contacts between SAT and SCANIA-Iraq management has been sporadic and synergies in terms of training and public relations have not been explored. Overall, however, SCANIA’s engagement appears to have been characterized by goodwill and flexibility in adapting training and ensuring project continuity, judging from interviews and steering committee minutes. The weaker project outcomes are more related to the poor business conditions facing SCANIA than to lack of interest or commitment. There has, however, been one point of continuous disagreement, regarding the option to open up for internships in other companies.

The project has not had a clear residence within Sida. The department for private sector collaborations has been responsible for project management throughout the project (see Box 1). However, there has been significant turnover in project administrators which has complicated dialogue, including during the project’s more critical phases such as discussions around the extension. The attempt to involve the Iraq country desk has to some extent created confusions around responsibilities for the project counterparts, but may have created better ownership of the project in Sida.

The project extension was approved after intense collaboration between the parties. Based on the findings of the external evaluation and the recommendation towards an extension of the projet, an intense discussion on how to best structure the next phase followed between Sida, MOLSA; school

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management, UNIDO, and SCANIA, including several conference calls and a meeting in Södertälje, Sweden, and a joint agreement was made to extend the project.

The extension was preceded by an intermittent period of uncertainty, however. With savings from project funds, the school could be sustained during the no-cost extension (January 2015-June 2015). In view of the political and security situation in Iraq and the Swedish decision to phase out development assistance, the need for an in-depth evaluation before approving the project extension appears well warranted and reflecting judicious use of aid money. Uncertainty during a drawn-out period, from at least mid 2014, and until April 2015 when a decision was made regarding the extension, affected the school and staff morale negatively, although momentum appears to have picked up again as the extension was approved.

From an organizational perspective, the challenge is to build up a support structure that ensures continuity and organizational memory during such transitions. This has been particularly important during the later phases of the original project when a decision regarding project extension had to be made, and when lack of continuity in counterparts on both the Sida and SCANIA side complicated dialogue and exacerbated uncertainty.

Part 3. Lessons learned

The SAT faces a number of challenges largely due to highly unfortunate circumstances affecting security, politics, economics and business, that are beyond the control or foresight of project preparation and implementation efforts. In view of these circumstances, the SAT has made commendable achievements in terms of incorporating private sector standards into training and attracted students to its courses by virtue of a strong reputation for delivering high quality training. At the same time, the project has successfully provided coaching to local management that in ordinary political and economic circumstances could suffice to ensure school sustainability and success over the medium and long term. The project is characterized by a strong and productive coalition of parties. The decision to make an extension of the project correct ex ante, given the information at hand regarding achievements and challenges, and appears, ex post, to have bought time in order to strengthen local management capacity and look for new solutions.

Nonetheless, the requirements on management capabilities, in a politically and financially unstable situation such as the one in KRI, are extremely high. The SAT project has successfully worked to build up local management capacity through a coaching approach. However, the current situation requires a highly entrepreneurial and proactive approach to secure new donor funding, identify potential business opportunities, and retain a strong standing within MoLSA priorities. It is vital that the new management step up to these challenges, and the team is likely to require support to build up their capacity, instruments, and network.

The main weaknesses of the SAT that could have been addressed in project design relate to targeting, institutional residence and systemic impact.

• Labor market outcomes have been varied, and significantly worse for women than for men. Although poor business prospects account for some of this outcome, constraints on both the labor demand side (alternatives to SCANIA employment) and the supply-side (lack of interest in mechanics professions, preferences for public sector work, socio-cultural constraints regarding what constitutes an acceptable job for women) should have been better researched and incorporated in project design. This also holds for vulnerable populations. Many students are youth who were not previously employed, but it is not clear that they are from poor households. With the exception of the recently arrived IDPs/refugees, a majority of whom are

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women and girls, it is not well understood who, exactly, the vulnerable are in KRI, (and the group may have changed with the security upheaval), nor how SAT could serve them providing training at post-secondary level.

• The creation of a new institution through the project, rather than collaboration with an existing entity, was largely the result of circumstances and lack of potential partners in the public TVET system. However, had SAT been established within an existing school, the future institutional residence would not have been a problem. It is also possible that working with an existing school would have increased the chances for systemic impact (by giving an entry point to the public VTC system). This lesson is well understood and incorporated in subsequent projects.

• Several initiatives co-exist in the area of vocational training and labor market insertion in KRI. A canvassing of existing programs, and synergies to explore, prior to project design would likely have raised impact and could have helped project sustainability in the absence of government/SCANIA funding as it would have likely provided a mapping of potential partners.

• Similarly, the lack of collaboration with other companies around this goal contributes to the vulnerability to one company’s business opportunities. In the case of SCANIA, much appears to have hinged on one deal with the Iraqi Government. Although it may be more difficult to organize a common project with several firms, examples exist of such multi-company public-private development partnerships in other countries and sectors (e.g. Coffee and Climate Initiative, Sweden Textile Water Initiative, STWI). The limitations on internships has been a point of contention from the outset and has not been resolved.

• By nature, public-private partnerships of this kind are opportunity driven and rely on business prospects. A challenge is to make sure that lessons learned from the project are analysed incorporated in the institutional memory – this may be a particular challenge for private companies where no such functions may exist and need to be created from scratch.

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Annex 1. Terms of References (to be inserted).

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Annex 2. Sources. I. Interviews

Name Position Date Jason Hiscocks Consultant, UNIDO, Iraq 18.08.16 Tian Chen Clausen SCANIA Academy, Sweden 23.08.16 Magnus Karlsson SCANIA Academy, Sweden 23.08.16

22.09.16 Eidi Genfors (former) Counsellor, Sida/Swedish Embassy in Iraq 24.08.16 Stavros Papastavrou Project Manager, UNIDO, Vienna 24.08.16 Anne Kullman Senior Advisor, Private Sector Collaborations, Sida 25.08.16 Mr. Huner Abubaker

General Manager, Swedish Academy for Training 25.08.16

Mr Younis Akbar Deputy Manager, Swedish Academy for Training 25.08.16 John McKay, Maintenance Manager, Energy Logistics, Iraq 30.08.16 Anna Soave Advisor, UN Habitat, Iraq 01.09.16 Bozhan Hawizy Programme Associate, UN Habitat, Iraq 01.09.16 Dr. Arif Hito Director General, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, KRI 02.09.16 Tord Holmström (former) MD SCANIA Iraq 02.09.16 Carl Ashley Project Officer, IOM, Iraq 06.09.16 Sara Beccaletto Project Officer, IOM, Iraq 06.09.16 Andreas Follér Sustainability manager, SCANIA, Sweden 08.09.16

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II. Project documentation:

Original project proposal (2011-2014) Project extension proposal (2015-2016) Exit strategy (2014) Annual Reports 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Institutional Analysis of the Swedish Academy for Training (SAT) in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) Memorandum of understanding, original project proposal, 2011. Memorandum of understanding, project extension, 2015. UNIDO Office for Independent Evaluation, 2015. UNIDO Independent Evaluation: “Operations and Industrial Maintenance Training Academy in Erbil, Iraq (2015)

Project Steering Committee Meetings, Minutes and annexes, February 2015 and June 2016.

III. Bibliography

Betcherman, G., M. Godfrey, S. Puerto, F. Rother and A. Stavreska (2007): A Review of Interventions to Support Young Workers: Findings of the Youth Employment Inventory. Available at http://www.youth-employment-inventory.org/downloads/1.pdf

Cunningham, W., L. Sanchez-Puerta, and A. Wuermli (2010): Active Labor Market Programs for Youth: A Framework to Guide Youth Employment Interventions. World Bank Employment Policy Primer November 2010. Available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLM/214578-1103128720951/22795057/EPPNoteNo16_Eng.pdf

Kurdistan Region Statistics Office (2014): Labor Force Report for Kurdistan Region 2012. Available at: http://www.krso.net/files/articles/050215014412.pdf

Ministry of Planning, Kurdistan Regional Government (2013), Kurdistan Region of Iraq 2020: A Vision for the Future. Available at http://www.ekrg.org/files/pdf/KRG_2020_last_english.pdf

SCANIA (2011): “SCANIA Strengthens its Position in Iraq – signs Agreement to Deliver 4,000 vehicles”. Press Release, 23 May 2011. Available at http://en.scania-iraq.com/about-scania/media/press-releases/scania-strengthens-its-position-in-iraq.aspx

SCANIA (2010): “SCANIA is back in Iraq”. Press Release, 3 May 2010. Available at https://www.scania.com/group/en/scania-is-back-in-iraq/

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Sweden (2009): Strategy for Development Cooperation with Iraq 2009-2014. Annex to Government Decision, UF2009/32538/MENA. Available at: http://www.government.se/contentassets/14c3d5e6b8424ec8898f73a89a7b6a3f/strategy-for-development-cooperation-with-iraq-2009-2014

World Bank (2015): The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Assessing the Economic and Social Impact of the Syrian Conflict and ISIS. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0548-6. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO

World Bank (2016): Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Reforming the Economy for Shared Prosperity and Protecting the Vulnerable. Available at: http://www.mop.gov.krd/resources/MoP%20Files/PDF%20Files/Reforming%20the%20KRG%20Re

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forming%20the%20Economy%20for%20Shared%20Prosperity%20and%20Protecting%20the%20Vulnerable.pdf

UNHCR (2016): Displacement as Challenge and Opportunity. Urban Profile: Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and Host Community. Erbil Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, April 2016. Available at: http://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/displacement-challenge-and-opportunity-urban-profile-refugees-internally-displaced

Narrative summary Indicator Status Comments 1. A training Academy on operations and

maintenance of heavy duty vehicles and industrial machinery established and operational in Erbil.

Protocol with MOLSA confirming delivery of training centre signed Handover of centre by MOLSA to the project Handover of the academy to MOLSA upon completion

Complete Complete Complete

Signed on 20 September 2011 Vacated and handed over to project end of 2011 Hand-over July 2016

2. The trainers of the Academy deliver up-to-date training courses in subjects such as heavy duty vehicle maintenance and related computer systems, chassis suspension, electronics systems --

Functional training centre fully equipped with facilities to deliver modern training

Complete

Room partitions on first floor completed

IT equipment delivered and installed

Furniture for school delivered and installed

Remediation works of toilet facilities have been completed

SCANIA training equipment delivered and installed

Internet bandwidth contract in-place for IT courses

Workshop construction completed and facility functional

Workshop equipment delivered and installed

--and the training methodologies are consolidated and embedded into the Academy’s day-to-day operations.

Former Deputy Manager has assumed the position of General Manager and is in charge of daily operations as well as long term strategic planning, with recurring back-up support from a UNIDO Consultant as needed.

SAT business plan Complete SAT Business Plan presented at PSC meeting June 2016

3. A minimum of 340 youth trained per year in operations and maintenance of industrial machinery.

Curricula that are appropriate and meet with industry demand and acceptance

Complete Type and duration of courses established

Curricula developed for

- Mechanical training (translated into

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Kurdish and Arabic by staff) - Driver training - English (EF-provided)

Curricula reviewed by SCANIA and EF

6 trainers provided with up-to-date skills

Complete Basic mechanical training on SCANIA facilities (Erbil)

Communications skills training (Erbil)

Mechanical training SCANIA Academy (Istanbul)

Master Trainer provided by SCANIA

Trainers retrained on xxxx

Number of trainees successfully completing the programme

Complete Marketing activities completed, fliers produced

276 students graduating from Mechanics course between 2012-2016

851 students graduating from English course 2012-2016

371 students graduating from Computer course 2012-2016

Completion rates 98-100 percent for 2014-2016

% graduates finding jobs in the private sector

Partially Complete

Tracer study for 2016 suggests 26 % of Mechanics students, and 40 % of English and Computer students, secured a job in the private sector after graduation.

4. The national management is adept to administer and “run” the Academy and pursue a model for operations of the SAT which aims to be financially sustainable.

Job descriptions of staff indicating roles and responsibilities

Equipment handed over

Management responsibilities handed over

# of companies using services of

As of June 2015, Former Deputy Manager has assumed the position of General Manager and is in charge of daily operations as well as long term strategic planning, with recurring back-up support from a UNIDO Consultant as needed.

# not available (not monitored).

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Academy graduates

Ability to uphold operations including the provision of training at the Academy

Other donors demonstrate interest to support the academy as a centre of excellence to provide high quality technical education in the region

School is operating and has successfully delivered courses to new clients (NGOs)

SAT Business Plan presented at PSC meeting June 2016

Funding from the Japanese ODA (on the initiative of UNIDO), ending in June 2017.

5. Cluster of activities • Develop/improve curricula for the

MOLSA training centre • Ensure key trainers retain technical and

pedagogical skills necessary to deliver upgraded and new training curricula.

• Initiate and monitor the training program • Development of an exit strategy • Completion of management hand-over.