Vocational training in Vanuatu

I am working with the Vanuatu National Training Council - there's only 4 of them but I have to say they are the most efficient group I have ever met! It is a real pleasure to work with them - Sam, Gerald, Emmanuel and Janet. They have arranged my programme so that I have had meetings with all the key TVET and skills development stakeholders in Vanuatu. They pick me up and drive me to all the meetings and make sure I have important stuff like water and SIM cards. VNTC are hosting a workshop for COL which starts on Sunday - to plan pilot programmes to deliver vocational literacy in Samoa, PNG, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. They have me organised right down to the last name badge and workshop folder - great stuff! We are very much in the hands of our partners when we work in Commonwealth countries and usually things are a little haphazard - but not this time :-)

Today we drove around the entire island of Efate to visit the Epule Training Centre. 5 staff, less than 50 students - 4 vocational areas. We got there at 11am and they had already broken for lunch. Unfortunately I think the students spend more time cooking and gardening than in the classroom and workshops. The facilities were better than I expected. The centre is between Onesa and Matarisu. We started in  Port Vila.

Great roads in Vanuatu! great beaches ... great food (but very expensive because of the cost of transport) ... strong tourist industry ... all sort of quietly efficient!

If you ever get the chance to come here ... come!