Enhanced Skills for Sustainable and Rewarding Employment (ENSSURE) project, 2016 to 2025, is established under an agreement between the Government of Nepal (GoN) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Divided into three phases, phase one of the project (January 2016 to December 2019) is implemented by the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) with technical assistance from Helvetas Nepal.

The project supports the CTEVT to implement its Strategic Plan (2014 -2018) that will contribute to the GoN’s policy on Technical Education and Vocational training (2012). The policy emphasizes the need for a more inclusive system of programmes and courses leading to employability and relevance. ENSSURE aims to achieve this by recognizing, activating, and improving the skills development activities of the private sector.

The project addresses the issue of unemployment, underemployment and unfair pay facing the Nepali labour market resulting from the mismatch in skills demanded by the industries and that which the workers possess through different training modalities such as apprenticeship and courses with robust on-the-job training (OJT) for the new job entrants and the training of existing workers on the principles of lifelong learning.

ENSSURE Phase II (2021-2025) will be implemented based on experience in the first phase and in response to the evolving context in Nepal. ENSSURE will continue to engage with Federal, Provincial and Local Governments and support to establish and fulfil their role in the implementation of TVET services in line with their constitutional mandate. As the TVET sector adapts to federalisation, all levels of government are formulating new regulations and implementing new processes.

ENSSURE Phase II will be flexible and adaptive, as such legal provisions evolve. Broadly, ENSSURE will support and facilitate the process by which the three levels of government perform their TVET functions (as defined by the legal frameworks), thus enabling functionaries and promoting appropriate sharing of funds.