Education and training have been identified as one of the key instruments for the promotion of social stability and economic prosperity in the MEDA region in a number of documents and bilateral cooperation programmes by the Euro-Mediterranean Partners under the Barcelona Process. Although countries in the region are far from homogeneous in terms of their socio-economic, labour market and training systems, there are a number of common challenges faced by all training systems in the region if they are to become an effective tool to combat unemployment and to promote social inclusion and economic development. Therefore, there is an added value in the exchange of experiences between countries in the region and EU Member States about the development of common regional approaches to support national reform processes and regional and international comparability. It is on these principles that the regional MEDA-ETE project "Education and Training for Employment" was designed by the Euro-Med Partners with a special emphasis on regional networking and cooperation.
The project's overall progress concerned the implementation of activities according to the project annual operation plan (OPA) and in line with the project objectives: Enhancing regional dialogue and contribution to policy making through regional approach.
Supporting the regional dialogue on TVET and its relation to the labour market is a key element of the MEDA-ETE approach to building expertise in human resource development in the beneficiary countries. The project team has been supporting this dialogue through the design and implementation of relevant activities leading to concrete knowledge sharing processes.