Policy dialogue in vocational education: what role for civil society organisations?: a pilot survey in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean

Developments in vocational education and training (VET) intersect with social, economic and labour market policies, impacting young people and adults, as well as the employed and the unemployed. Governments across countries establish dialogue and cooperation with a wide variety of stakeholders to respond to the diverse needs of these groups through formal and non-formal learning. This paper investigates the specific role of civil society organisations in the VET policy cycle and governance ecosystem, drawing on the results of an ETF pilot survey carried out in 2018 in a selected group of countries from the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean - Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.

Whereas the role of the government and social partners, as well as that of the private sector and VET training providers, in such a multilevel governance set-up has been relatively well defined, the nature of CSOs' contribution is less clear-cut. To better understand the added value of the CSOs' role in the multilevel governance of VET, their contribution can be contextualised in the following phases: (a) strategy formulation and policy design; (b) training provision and monitoring; and (c) policy evaluation and review. The EU considers CSOs to include all non-state, not-for-profit structures (non-partisan and non-violent), through which people organise to pursue shared objectives and ideals, whether political, cultural, social or economic. They include membership-based, cause-based and service-oriented CSOs. Among them are community-based organisations, NGOs, faith-based organisations, foundations, research institutions, gender and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) organisations, cooperatives, professional and business associations, and the not-for-profit media. Trade unions and employers' organisations, the so-called social partners, constitute a specific category within civil society. For the sake of this study, social partners are viewed as traditionally playing a role within a structured tripartite policy environment of training and employment, while CSOs (as defined above) rarely do.

The report concludes that CSOs have an acknowledged role to play as non-state actors in terms of VET policy shaping, and are equally making a valuable contribution in terms of implementing of high-quality, innovative and relevant VET training and providing employment services in the region. However, CSOs' role in terms of reviewing training provision and holding the public VET service providers accountable is clearly underdeveloped in the region. The report recommends raising awareness around the demonstrated added value that CSOs already bring to the table and how they could be contributing even more if allowed greater participation in the VET policy environment. It also suggests developing a wider understanding of CSOs' involvement in the VET policy cycle through further research.

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