RWoDA converts to WDA as Cabinet approves key reforms

The Cabinet has converted Rwanda Workforce Development Authority (RWoDA) into Workforce Development Authority (WDA), a new Government agency mandated to oversee the implementation of an integrated Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system. The move came as the cabinet on Wednesday, August 27, approved a national TVET policy, which effectively saw the previously disintegrated technical and vocational training programmes put under one umbrella – WDA. It followed months of intense technical work involving RWoDA technocrats and personnel from the ministries of Education, Public Service and Labour, Trade and Industry, Youth, as well as Finance and Economic Planning. “WDA’s vision is to become a world class centre of excellence in workforce development. Similar systems – recommended by both UNESCO and the International Labour Organisation – have facilitated expedited development of several economies around the world,” said WDA Director General, Singaporean Chong Fook Yen. The law establishing WDA is expected in the near future. Headquartered in Remera, Kigali, WDA is an autonomous body whose parent ministry is MINEDUC (Education ministry). Chong said it is hoped that the new system will help produce graduates with capacity to offer industry readily available utilizable skills without further need for training (except in highly specialized fields), and allow trainees’ mobility both laterally and vertically. The new system makes it possible for vocational training graduates to proceed to technical schools, and removes barriers that have been existing between formal education system, and technical and vocational training – with a graduate in either system getting a chance to join the other at a certain time. RWoDA was set up in January this year as a coordinating agency vocational training only. Ends

National

RWoDA converts to WDA as Cabinet approves key reforms