On June 10, a delegation led by Ursula Laubli, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland in Armenia and Deputy Regional Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), conducted a field visit partners of the “Modernizing Vocational Education and Training in Agriculture in Armenia” (MAVETA) project.
The delegation was accompanied by Mkrtich Ayvazyan, Chairman of the Strategic Development Agency NGO, Lilit Hovhannisyan, Team Leader of MAVETA project and Lilit Beglaryan, Vocational Education and Training (VET) Consultant.
In the Chambarak community of Gegharkunik region, the delegation visited the veterinary pharmacy operated by Sevak Sahakyan, a private sector partner of the project. They also met with a group of second-year veterinary students from Berd State Multifunctional College – currently engaged in apprenticeships, offering a valuable opportunity to observe the program’s dual education component in practice.
The visit featured discussions on a wide range of topics, including the organization of dual education, assessment and remuneration of apprentices’ work and college-employer cooperation.
The delegation continued to Berd, Tavush region, where the delegation met with the management and faculty of Berd State Multifunctional College – one of MAVETA Project’s VET partnes. Discussions focused on MAVETA project’s impact on the college’s teaching practices, programmatic interventions, the current status of dual education specialties, ongoing challenges, teacher capacity building and collaboration with the private sector.
The MAVETA project is funded by a broad coalition of international and local organizations led by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), including the Austrian Development Agency, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Government of Armenia, the Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER) NGO, Izmirlian Foundation, the Strategic Development Agency (SDA) NGO and Vanand Agro CJSC.
The project’s implementing partners are the GIZ and HEKS/EPER with the involvement of SDA and the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (HAFL).