Center Emerges to Train Leather Specialists

Aug 24 , 2019. By SELAMAWIT MENGESAHA ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

The World Bank has pledged 24 million dollars for the construction of the first Centre of Excellence for leather processing and technological advancement.

Planned to be constructed by the Federal Technical, Vocational Education & Training Institute, the Centre will have an administration building with offices, meeting rooms, a server room, a library, a conference hall, first aid facility, a call centre, and a lounge. It will also have classroom and workshop buildings with laboratories and storerooms.

The Centre will be equipped with raw materials for the manufacturing of leather, measuring and precision tools, minibuses, pallet trucks, generators, air compressors, transformers, various grinder machines, horizontal band saw machines and universal testing machines.

The Centre will produce a workforce that can implement good governance systems, cutting edge technologies and modern infrastructure at a national level, according to Haftom G. Egziabiher, deputy director-general for academics at the Institute, which resides at the former Ethio-China Polytechnic College and was upgraded into an institute in 2011 to provide graduate and post-graduate programmes.

"It aims at creating trainers in the leather sector," Haftom said.

The World Bank approved the project on June 11, 2019, after a year and a half trial period in which the staff of the Bank evaluated the efficiency and activities of the Institute, which started training with 500 students but now trains 9,000 students in 22 separate degree programmes and eight master's degree programmes.

To hire a project unit coordinator, the Institute floated a tender last week. The project unit coordinator will be tasked with preparing bid documents for hiring a contractor and consultant.

The Centre will be designing high-quality academic programmes, effective internal and external governance systems, industry linkages and revenue generation programmes.

The World Bank pledged to finance the Institute as part of its East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration project. The Bank's project was launched to improve the quality of TVET programmes in selected regional institutes and to support regional integration in East Africa with a budget of 246 million dollars.

The project has been implemented in 16 regional TVET institutes in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Seven Ethiopian TVET institutes benefit from this project with a budget of 150 million dollars. Training is provided for transport, energy, manufacturing and ICT areas and offers certificates, diplomas and degrees.

It was implemented at Meles Zenawi Memorial TVET Polytechnic College and Ethiopia Railway Academy [on the railway], Kombolcha TVET Polytechnic College [on the road], at General Wingate Polytechnic College [on power and energy] and at the federal TVET Institute [on tool making and leather]. It was also implemented at Hawassa and Holeta Polytechnic colleges on textiles and agro-processing, respectively.

The Institute has 15 satellite campuses in four regional states -  Amhara, Oromia, Tigray and Southern Nations, Nationalities, & People's - and the two administrative cities. The country has 500 TVET colleges run by the government.

Through funding that is secured from Germany, China, Finland, the Netherlands, the World Bank, KOICA, KFW and GIZ, the Institute invested 220 million Br for teacher’s residential apartments, which are nearly completed at Bole Arabsa.

Getaneh Terefe, the founder of GT Consulting Engineers, believes that the Centre would play an immense role in reducing the unemployment rate.

"It will produce skilled manpower and professional human resources," said Getaneh.

Getaneh also believes that unemployment can be addressed by expanding this kind of centre in all TVET colleges.

PUBLISHED ON Aug 24,2019 [ VOL 20 , NO 1008]