Don Bosco Technical Institute in Cairo commissioned Common Ground Solutions to conduct a rapid assessment of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) centres in Greater Cairo, under the project Improving the Prospects for Forcibly Displaced Persons and Host Communities.
The terms of reference asked CGS to screen and map at least ten public and private TVET centres, assess their training workshops, and identify needs and gaps in teaching quality, with a focus on gender-responsive and inclusive practice. The assessment was to serve as a baseline for the institute's strategy and for training instructors in safe, gender-responsive and inclusive workshop practice.
CGS designed a formative, qualitative assessment with a participatory and gender-sensitive approach. Between October and December 2023, the team mapped the centres with a screening matrix and applied a workshop observation checklist at ten of them, covering the physical environment, equipment, teaching practice and inclusion measures. It conducted 42 key informant interviews, with ten centre administrators, 25 instructors and seven staff of Don Bosco Technical Institute, and 11 focus group discussions in eight centres with 57 trainees, 20 of them women. Gender-balanced teams of moderators and note-takers were trained for the fieldwork.
All interviews and discussions were transcribed verbatim in Arabic and analysed thematically, with the observation data integrated into one coding scheme.
CGS delivered a rapid assessment report with twelve recommendations, covering training fields and workshops, the inclusion of women, persons with disabilities and refugees, trainer management, curricula, financial sustainability and private sector engagement.
