Aid for Trade: World Bank Training Centers

Extracted 19JUL2011 from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/TRADE/0,,contentMDK:22961118~...

A World Bank program to establish workplace training centers in Lesotho has increased the number of skilled workers and helped strengthen the country’s export-oriented industry base...

“Deepening and widening the skills base of the workforce is central in increasing overall competitiveness, shifting towards higher quality and value added products and improving compliance with labor and social standards,” the World Bank said in the program document...

Training ranges from pre-employment training in such areas as basic sewing machine operation to more advanced areas such as quality control, merchandising and export documentation and marketing.

The proposed action plan for the training centers set them up as public-private partnerships. The partnership would introduce private financing and possibly more advanced training programs, which would allow diversification into other industries.