Learn more here about:

			Infrastructure development
			Partnership with professional organisations
			Training the trainers
			In-house training

Infrastructure development

Bringing Tunisian enterprises up to standard has reinforced the country’s training infrastructure. Since 1997, in the public sector, 34 new centres have been created, of which two are linked to the Ministry of Tourism. Also, 48 centres have been restructured, of which two are linked to the Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources.

The new regulations relating to training in the private sector, which have replaced the previous authorisation through printed specifications, have established the creation of private structures and their need to adhere to the procedure for the approval of diplomas. Thus the number of structures delivering approved diplomas has risen from one structure in 1997 to 133 in 2005.

The total number of public and private institutions organising standardised training has risen in the period 1997-2005 from 167 to 343: an increase of 44 centres for the public sector. This increase has mainly involved the Tunisian Agency for Vocational Training (the number of centres has increased from 96 to 132) and the Ministry of Defence (from 4 to 13 centres).

As for the private sector, it has progressed remarkably since the number of organisations delivering approved diplomas has risen from one organisation in 1997 to 133. This is due to the flexibility introduced by the administration by suppressing the authorisation system and replacing it with printed regulations.

Partnership with professional organisations

A diversified partnership has been established with professional organisations. Framework conventions have been signed by the ministry and professional organisations (UTICA, UTAP and UGTT) and the sectional professional federations for the development and control of training.

Within the terms of these conventions many actions have been undertaken to reinforce the capacity of the production sector and define its needs for competencies, as well as taking part in initial and on the job training. These conventions have laid down a framework where training projects are proposed, discussed, validated and approved.

On the other hand, a strategy to support training within enterprises has been defined and put in place. In 2005, this enabled more than 70% of those attending training to benefit from this method.

This strategy has been consolidated by the promulgation of the decree n°512-2004 dated 1 March 2004 and setting out the conditions for registering, organising and rewarding training programmes within establishments linked to the ATFP (Tunisian Agency for Vocational Training).
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Training the trainers and training methods

Since 1997, CENAFFIF has worked towards improving the skills of training staff (trainers, training advisers, tutors, and managing staff of training establishments). It has also adopted a structured methodology for curriculum design, within the competencies approach. Its principal achievements include:

Pedagogic training of trainers:

All newly recruited trainers undergo this training which lasts 60 days. During the period 1997–2005, 2,285 trainers attended such training.

Training of training advisers:

310 advisers in charge of the orientation and control of learners within enterprises have undergone at least 10 days training each.

Technical training of trainers:

This training varies in duration between three and 18 months and includes practical training in enterprises. During 1997-2005, 1,734 trainers took this technical training.

Training of tutors:

Two day workshops have been organised for 1,000 tutors in order to improve the support for learners within enterprises.

Curriculum design:

CENAFFIF has built expertise in curriculum design according to competencies and has trained many staff in this methodology. Since 1997, 164 training programmes have been set up according to this approach.
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In-house training

The training capacity of the entire public sector (ATFP, ONTT, AVFA, Health, and Defence) has developed because of the creation and/or the restructuring of the centres, the improvement of existing capacity, and the extension of training within enterprises.

This has allowed a five-fold increase in the number of new registrations in the system, the number of qualified trainees as well as the number of in-training trainees within a decade.

The number of in-training candidates amounted to 56,000 in 2005, of whom 45,000 used ATFP centres. Training within the enterprise has largely contributed to the achievement of these numbers, bearing in mind that the number of available places for training at the ATFP was about 35,500.

Here is a breakdown of these figures. Numbers in training (normalised training):

Body	1997	2001	2005
Public Sector	18303	33427	52160
Agence Tunisienne de Formation Professionnelle (ATFP) [Tunisian Agency for Vocational Training]	12834	27363	45080
Agence de Vulgarisation et de Formation Agricole (AVFA) [agricultural training and popularisation]	1229	1143	1335
Office National du Tourisme Tunisien (ONTT) [Tourism]	1827	2076	2258
Ministère de la Santé Publique [Ministry of Health]	2285	2516	2971
Ministère de la Défense Nationale [Ministry of Defence]	128	329	516
Private Sector	170	1398	3837
Total	18473	34825	55997

The training capacity of the private sector in approved training programmes has grown rapidly and remains largely under-used because of the limited demand for creditworthy training and the limited diversity of available training. The number of in-training candidates in the sector (3,800) is less than 30% of the capacity in standard training of the sector, which is estimated at 12,000 places.

The number of qualified candidates also increased from about 8,000 in 1997 to 16,533 in 2005, distributed as follows. Qualified Candidates  (Approved Training):

Body	1997	2001	2005
Public Sector	8043	13033	15333
Agence Tunisienne de Formation Professionnelle (ATFP) [Tunisian Agency for Vocational Training]	5832	10653	12603
Agence de Vulgarisation et de Formation Agricole (AVFA) [agricultural training and popularisation]	676	588	585
Office National du Tourisme Tunisien (ONTT) [Tourism]	808	867	682
Ministère de la Santé Publique [Ministry of Health]	603	644	1197
Ministère de la Défense Nationale [Ministry of Defence]	124	281	296
Private Sector	0	250	1200
Total	8043	13283	16533

Training within enterprises has largely been developed in the MANFORME programme, within the framework of a training strategy aimed at promoting the alternation between training centres and economic enterprises and training for a qualification. Training within enterprises exceeded 70% in 2005, compared with 30% in 1997.
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