giz (deutsche gesellschaft für internationale zusammenarbeit) in
coordination with the department of vocational training in the lebanese
ministry of education and the chamber of commerce, industry, and
agriculture of zahle and bekaa (cciaz) organized a round table meeting
to discuss the "promotion of vocational education and small and medium
enterprise development in lebanon". the meeting was held on thursday 3
march 2011 at 2.00 pm in the chamber of commerce, industry, and
agriculture in zahle. the director of jlss, rev. george d. haddad,
attended the meeting, along with the head of the vocational department,
mr. joseph bou semaan, and its program coordinator, mr. nasr debs. jlss
was delighted to participate in this meeting, as it was the first to
coordinate with the chamber in zahle, upon the advice of its partners in
germany and switzerland, in order to bring the private sector
represented by the local industries, chambers, and association, as full
partners in dual system vocational training. it was exactly for this
purpose that we held
the
vocational consultation with the local industry and chamber in zahle on
monday 7 september 2009.
the round table meeting started with addresses by mr. edmond jreissati,
president of cciaz, mr. michael bierhoff, counselor of the federal
republic of germany, and the delegate representing mr. ahmad diab, the
director general of the department of vocational training.
ms. sonia fontaine, head of the giz program for the
promotion of vocational education and small and medium enterprise
development in lebanon, gave a short introduction about the purpose and
expectations of this meeting.
mr. carlos nafaa (giz) highlighted the work that has already been done
in lebanon with ds vocational training expressing his hopes and
expectations for a very successful future.
mr.
youssef geha, general director of cciaz, spoke about the role of the
chamber (cciaz) in linking the private sector with the parties involved
in vocational training.
the director of bekaa technical institute, mr. mohammad el-hajj ahmad
then spoke about the dual system program in the bekaa from his
experience of the last fifteen years, emphasizing the dual system
profile, specialization, and possible links with the labor market.
he was followed by mr. tony skaff, the coordinator of zahle technical
school, who spoke about the collaboration between technical schools and
companies emphasizing the role of coordinators and their success
factors.
after the coffee break all present broke into two working groups to
develop ideas for better cooperation and to identify common activities.
the first group was moderated by mrs. maria rizkallah and its topic was
short term technical training courses and programs.
the second group was moderated by mrs. nada melki and its topic was
promotion of sme interests in the dual system. the question of defining
the role of the chamber, associations, and local industry in the dual
system of vocational training was the topic of discussion.
the meeting was concluded with wrap-up presentations of the findings of
both groups.
a reception kindly hosted by the chamber followed.
we express our sincere gratitude to all the participants, especially giz
and the chamber in zahle, for this wonderful meeting. although very few
representatives of the local industries and associations attended, the
ground was laid for the chamber to take its role as the mediator
and facilitator between the vocational schools and the local industries.
it will be the institution that will collect and channel information
between schools and industries regarding the needs of the local market
and the programs the schools need to offer. it will also provide schools
with lists of industries interested in being involved in dual system
vocational training through accepting ds students in their workshops and
factories. the meeting also provided a wonderful opportunity to explain
the importance of dual system vocational training to directors of local
industries, and to start cooperation that will move the ds vocational
training program to include them as full partners and participants.
we congratulate giz, dgvet, and the chamber in zahle (cciaz) for a very
successful meeting.