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DARYA – Dialogue and action for resourceful youth in Central Asia

FACTSHEET - DARYA: Dialogue and Action for Resourceful Youth in Central Asia

See leht on olemas ka järgmistes keeltes

In a nutshell

  • Implementation: June 2022 – June 2027
  • Budget: €10 million
  • Funded by: European Union
  • Implemented by: European Training Foundation (ETF)
  • Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

A flagship EU initiative for skills and youth

A historic crossroads between Europe and Asia, Central Asia plays an increasingly strategic role in the international landscape, particularly considering recent geopolitical developments and global energy challenges.

The DARYA project aims to strengthen the region’s education and vocational systems, create new opportunities for young people, and foster stable, results-oriented cooperation with Europe.

It supports Central Asian countries in making education and training more relevant to the world of work. Implemented by the European Training Foundation, an EU agency, the initiative helps align skills systems with labour-market needs, promote youth inclusion, and foster regional cooperation.

It is part of the EU’s commitment to building stronger, more resilient societies under the Global Gateway strategy.

Impact at a glance 

DARYA is helping Central Asia build inclusive, modern, and future-ready education and training systems. By connecting vocational education and training schools, employers, and young people, it supports a new generation of skilled and confident youth ready to shape the region’s sustainable growth. Among the key impact:

  • Flagship EU initiative on skills and youth in Central Asia
  • Education and labour ministries co-financing activities for long-term sustainability
  • Shared regional standards on qualifications and vocational excellence
  • Tens of thousands of teachers starting to use new approaches to teaching and learning that support students with a smooth transition into the world of work and students benefiting from Youth participation integrated into education policy dialogue

Key results 2024–2025

Understanding labour-market needs

  • New graduate and employer surveys in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are helping ministries adapt education and training to real job-market demands. Kazakhstan is expanding this work to agriculture, construction, water, and energy, while Kyrgyzstan will include all 95 vocational schools.
  • Result: Governments use new data to guide education and training reform.

Modern and comparable qualifications

  • Countries are developing shared occupational standards for tourism, construction, logistics, energy efficiency, and e-commerce. New national qualifications — from software developers to energy specialists — are being created, and a pilot to recognise skills learned outside formal education will start in 2025.
  • Result: Greater transparency and the opportunity to consider regional sectoral developments

Better teaching and learning

  • The SCAFFOLD toolkit, promoting competence-based teaching that supports student growth, is now used by educators across all five countries. More than 5,000 teachers and trainers took part in workshops, over 25,000 educators took part in introductory sessions, and after a first 15 schools and VET providers tested a team-based use of the tool as of 2024, another 150 schools and VET providers are joining as of 2025
  • Result: Teachers are adopting competence-based methods that prepare students for the future of work.

Centres of Vocational Excellence

  • Countries are strengthening their Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) to link schools with businesses and improve training quality. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will pilot a European-inspired self-assessment tool following a study visit to Turin (Italy).
  • Result: Shared benchmarks for high-quality vocational training

Regional cooperation

  • Over 2,200 participants joined national and regional DARYA events. High-level meetings in Tashkent (December 2024) and online consultations prepared a regional roadmap for skills cooperation, to be endorsed in Turin.
  • Result: Closer cooperation between education and labour ministries across Central Asia which benefits Central Asian competitiveness

Youth engagement

  • A regional consultation on green competences, organised with UNICEF, gathered views from 41,000 young people across Central Asia. Findings were published in “From Awareness to Action – Engaging Youth in the Green Economy.”
  • Result: Young people are influencing how green and digital skills are taught.

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