Germany is intensifying its commitment to vocational training in Afghanistan. In order to visibly increase the German civilian engagement in the south and east of the country, the Federal Foreign Office is funding the reconstruction of the Technical High Schools in Kandahar and Khost. In addition, in cooperation with private enterprise, car-repair workshops with integrated training schemes will be set up in the north of Afghanistan.
Particularly in regions which up to now have benefited less from reconstruction, the creation of income prospects plays a central role. This is why the Federal Foreign Office is providing a total of 5.4 million euro for the establishment of vocational-training centres. These projects will be implemented by the Gesellschaft f=FCr Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and the German Development Service (DED).
Today, Tuesday (29 April), in the presence of the German Ambassador, Dr Hans-Ulrich Seidt, the Afghan Education Minister, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, and the Head of the GTZ's Kabul Office, Dr Ingolf Vereno, signed an agreement aimed at first of all rehabilitating the Technical High School in Kandahar. The Canadian Government will participate in this project by launching a wide-ranging training programme. The shared objective is to provide the growing number of school-leavers with improved job prospects. Building work on the Technical High School in Kandahar can now start immediately.
In addition to these measures, there is an urgent need for the development of countrywide teaching concepts and state-recognized vocational qualifications.
Afghanistan is currently only able to cover a small part of its youth's vocational-training needs. The vocational-school system was mostly destroyed during the war. The centre in Kandahar is one of two technical schools in southern Afghanistan, and its construction in 1957 was already financed by Germany.
In its autumn 2007 Afghanistan Concept the German Government decided to strengthen civilian reconstruction and to enhance its commitment across the country. As part of this "reconstruction offensive", Germany has therefore increased its financing for civilian reconstruction during 2008 from 80 million euro per year to over 140 million euro. Germany's total civilian commitment by 2010 will amount to 900 million euro.