There is growing interest worldwide in reforming national systems of financing technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Based on examples of countries and industries with innovative arrangements, this book covers many new practices, both successful and unsuccessful: public funding schemes, tax incentives and co-financing. It should be of particular interest to policy-makers wishing to make better decisions on funding TVET.

Post -school training significantly improves the employment probabilities but not the wages for urban salaried and self -employed women in Peru, possibly because they train for low -paying jobs. Because their chances of receiving job training are largely determined by educational attainment, women with limited schooling also face training opportunities.

This publication reviews recent developments within technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as future challenges in skills development in the region. Based upon 70 case studies covering 20 countries, it provides a good starting point for the development of country policies and programmes, of relevance to other African regions as well as countries in other regions facing similar challenges. Issues discussed include: the labour market context, reform of public training programmes, regulation of non-government training institutions, enterprise-based training, building skills for the informal economy, balancing cost-effectiveness with growth and equity, and financing.

The challenge facing future World Bank investment in vocational education and training is to bring past successes in middle-income countries to the lower income countries. Strategies naturally will have to vary greatly from country to country.