The World Bank Programme

This major project, funded by the World Bank, came within the Labour Market Reform component of the Social Protection Development Project (SPDP) of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Its general objective was to improve interactive learning, obtain and develop business skills, and introduce University students into the day-to-day business life and labour market reality using the Practice Enterprise concept.

The project had 5 specific objectives:

• Designing a Practice Enterprise model for Azerbaijan, including developing different curricula and guides according to the needs of the University and unemployed target groups. (The Practice Enterprise was customized to specific needs of the education and labour ecosystem in Azerbaijan, taking into account existing strategic plans, reforms and programs at a national level)
• Developing detailed implementation plans for services and procedures for service providers, including training of trainers and contracted service providers.
• Developing specifications of standard equipment and materials needed for Practice Enterprise implementation, including specifications and design of work space and departments.
• Assisting in setting up a Central Office and local Practice Enterprise offices in pilot regions. This objective required to support the capacity building of trainers and staff through adapted training, to promote the concept towards target users and to support physical set-up of the network.
• Assisting the Ministry and Universities in launching the Practice Enterprises, and in monitoring their activities – by assisting in training of trainees, assessing performance, proposing improvement from on-site learnings and preparing hand over and scale-up of the model.