Vocational training and inclusion of the finalists of the Education Centres for Development (CED) in Mali

Thisexperience focuses on young drop-outs from the educational system, which is now known as the CED (Education Centers for Development) strategy, started in 1993, when 20 pioneer centers supervised by the former DNAFLA (Directionnationale de l'Alphabétisation Fonctionnelle et de la Linguistique Appliquée)were created under the aegis of UNICEF. However, the initial educational programwas revised and completed in 1994, when vocational training aspects wereincluded, jnd the experiment was run from 1994 to 1998 by the NGO calledthe Mali Plan, Mali's ACODEP (l'Appui aux Collectivités Décentralisées pourun Développement Participatif)program and the UTAH Alliance, in partnershipwith the country's Ministry of National Education.From the experimental stage to the time when the strategy was generalised,29,832 learners completed the basic phase of their training cycle at DECs. Only927 of these DEC leavers underwent vocational training, however, and wereprovided with a start-up kit, while 523 others are currently undergoing vocationaltraining in 24 specialized occupations. For the majority of the remainder, the outlook is still somewhat fuzzy.In the present study, it is attempted to outline the problems involved in vocationaltraining and the transition to work of DEC leavers. In other words, it is proposed to identify and analyse all the problems arising both upstream and downstreamof the vocational training, as well as during the training itself