BiBB launched "International Advisory Academy"
Hashim Abdul-Wahab and David Fretwell as featured speakers
Jan Ebben
BiBB has launched a new series of lectures on international TVET consulting. The new format will be known as the "International Advisory Academy." The main goal for these lectures is to provide opportunities for first-hand learning about the practice of international TVET consulting, and to foster a community of practice of international consultants within and around BiBB.
In order to kick off the series, BiBB sought to recruit recognized professionals in the field with experience in a great variety of projects and countries. The first two speakers did in fact fit this description: The opening speaker, on 12 December 2011, was Hashim Abdul Wahab, a native of Mosul, Iraq, who is the former President of Bagdad Technical University, and the former chief of the UNESCO TVET section. Since his retirement in 2008 he has done consulting work in twelve countries, and has been involved in more than 40 projects and evaluations. A gave a very personal perspective on TVET consulting in places like Nigeria, Bahrain and Yemen that was loaded with good advice to those who are new to the field.
The second speaker, on 7 February 2012, was also a person with an eminent professional record: David Fretwell, of Scarcliffe Associates in Paso Robles California, spoke on consulting opportunities in international workforce development. He sorted out the opportunities by countries, economies, and world regions, as well by topics. David has completed short-term assignments in over 70 countries; and long term residential assignments in Canada, USA, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia. His conclusion was that there are very many opportunities out there, but organisations like BIBB need to position themselves vis a vis economic regions and topics, and do a very careful analysis of risks. Dabid has worked both with bilateral agencies like USAID, CIDA (Canada) SIDA (Sweden) and GTZ/GIZ, as well multilateral organizations like ADB, ILO, African Development Bank and UNESCO.
The lecture programme for 2012 includes Madlen Serban (ETF), Stavros Stavrou (formerly Cedefop) and Professor Reinhard Stockmann (Centre for Evaluation).
