Mechanical and Digital Engineering Training
Mechanical and Digital Engineering Training
Business Model Description
Invest in education to provide vocational training through training centers, especially at secondary school level. Target sectors and subjects include especially mechanical and digital engineering (new technologies), which are required in the economy and to support Togo's economic transformation.
Expected Impact
Provide required skills to enable efficient use of human resources, stimulate labor productivity and improv remuneration of workers.
How is this information gathered?
Investment opportunities with potential to contribute to sustainable development are based on country-level SDG Investor Maps.
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Country & Regions
- Togo: Maritime
- Togo: Plateaux
- Togo: Centrale
- Togo: Kara
- Togo: Savanes
Sector Classification
Education
Development need
Togo's school system favours general education to the detriment of technical and vocational education and training. Indeed, enrolment in technical and vocational education and training represents only 5.8% of secondary school enrolment. Togo has a relatively pronounced mismatch between the training offer and labor needs with a high rate of underemployment (24.9%) (1).
Policy priority
Education is a priority sector in the Togo Roadmap (2020-2025) (2). In addition, Togo aims to provide businesses with a skilled workforce that is in tune with the labour market. The ambition is to offer education that is accessible to as many people as possible and which responds to labour market needs (3).
Gender inequalities and marginalization issues
In 2017, the majority of out-of-school children aged between 6 and 11 lived in rural areas (88.1% compared with 11.9% in urban areas). These children were mainly concentrated in the northern regions of the country, with 27.9% in Savanes and 27% in Kara. They also came from poor families, with 80.5% from the 40% most disadvantaged families in the country. Girls were also more likely to be excluded from education, accounting for 53% of children not attending school (4).
Investment opportunities introduction
In 2021, Togo devoted more than 195.5 billion CFA francs (331 million USD) to the education sector, compared to 25 billion 16 years earlier. Faced with COVID-19, the authorities have raised the level of educational infrastructure; and have taken measures to help students and parents and to ensure a safe and quality study environment (8).
Key bottlenecks introduction
The mismatch between training and employment remains a major concern. There appears to be a real imbalance between supply and demand for employment, which does not make it possible to meet the labor needs of companies due to unsuitable qualifications and profiles, or the local unavailability of suitable labor on the labor market (9).
Formal Education
Development need
The equipment used by public training centres and establishments is obsolete, dating back 20 to 40 years or more. The obsolete technical and pedagogical equipment dated back to the end of the 1990s and their revision, started in 2009, has not yet been completed, which affects the attractiveness of Technical and vocational education and training (5).
Policy priority
The Government is committed to promoting technical and professional education. It also focuses on improving access, equity and quality of education (5). In its Education Sector Policy Declaration (2009), the government highlighted access to school, the quality of learning and the management of the education system as critical success factors (6).
Gender inequalities and marginalization issues
Tithe low level of education of women and their low level of literacy constitute an obstacle for the development of their professional skills. The level of literacy of women in Togo is 55.5% compared to 79.9% for men, while the average number of years of schooling for women is 3.5 compared to 6.7 for men (7).
Investment opportunities introduction
Establishing partnerships to promote the development of vocational training programs adapted to market needs, particularly in the sectors of agriculture, industry, technology, industry and services, is a crucial opportunity. The digital transformation of technical education and vocational training is also envisaged to improve their capacities (9, 10).
Key bottlenecks introduction
The continuing professional training of individuals is confronted with advances in technology, the culture of sustainable development, the continuous emergence of new professions and the gradual disappearance of certain others, and therefore the obsolescence of skills (5).
Pipeline Opportunity
Mechanical and Digital Engineering Training
Invest in education to provide vocational training through training centers, especially at secondary school level. Target sectors and subjects include especially mechanical and digital engineering (new technologies), which are required in the economy and to support Togo's economic transformation.
Business Case
Market Size and Environment
76,000 students seek vocational training
The government aims to offer 80% of students the opportunity to benefit from vocational training and enter the job market with a stable, lasting job over the period 2020-2025, which represents 76,000 students (24).
In the 2023-2024 academic year, Togo's public universities, notably the University of Lomé and the University of Kara, welcomed a total of 74,195 students. However, specific data on the number of students enrolled in vocational courses is not available (24).
Indicative Return
15% - 20%
The experience of investors in Togo indicates (on the basis of data collected from a number of training establishments) that the financial return on investment is between 15 and 20% on average (10).
Investment Timeframe
Medium Term (5–10 years)
The promoter company Carrefour des Leaders committed to a recovery period of the invested capital of 4 years and 2 months for its vocational training center for an investment of USD 104,930 (21).
Ticket Size
USD 500,000 - USD 1 million
Market Risks & Scale Obstacles
Market - High Level of Competition
Impact Case
Sustainable Development Need
Togo has had only 527 training opportunities per 100,000 inhabitants. The country featured 179 training establishments of which 25 are public. Urban areas have more structures than rural areas (5).
The number of learners was 67,183 in 2023, still far from the government target of 120,371 to be integrated by 2025 (27). The attractiveness of technical education is limited due to limited adaptation in programs and equipment to technological developments (5).
Gender & Marginalisation
Only 40.4% of TVET learners were female in 2020 (19,286 out of 47,682). Universities (general and technical education) had only 30,324 female students out of a total body of 92,293 in 2020 (32.9%) (26).
The promotion of technical education is not very effective to the point where the agricultural sector, which accounts for 56% of jobs in Togo, only benefits from 0.6% of learners in technical education and vocational training who followed agricultural training in 2017 (1).
Expected Development Outcome
The mechanical and digital engineering training will enable learners, young people and adults, to develop their skills and be more likely to obtain employment in the job market.
The mechanical and digital engineering training will better prepare those who benefit from it to start their own businesses and implement more efficient production processes.
The mechanical and digital engineering training will enable the centres offering these training courses to be more attractive to young people and adults seeking qualifying training.
Gender & Marginalisation
The mechanical and digital engineering training will be able to offer skills training opportunities to young people, girls and boys, including those from vulnerable groups and rural areas.
The mechanical and digital engineering training will provide a critical mass of young people trained in these processes who will be able to undertake high-productivity income-generating activities, including in rural areas.
The mechanical and digital engineering training constitutes a path that can be a source of innovations that the trained young people could amplify for increased competitiveness and improved well-being.
Primary SDGs addressed
4.3.1 Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, by sex
In 2017, the participation rate was: 56.2% (Population aged 15-24), 1.5% (Population aged 55-64), 20.5% (Population aged 15-64) and 4.1% (Population aged 25‐64) (12).
N/A
9.2.2 Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment
2.6% in 2017 with 3% for men and 2.2% for women (12).
Access, equity and gender equality in TVET system are improved (25).
8.5.2 Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
2.6% in 2018 compared to 3.4% in 2015; 3.5% in urban areas excluding Greater Lomé and 1.3% in rural areas; 4.0% for active men and 2.7% for active women (14).
N/A
Secondary SDGs addressed
Directly impacted stakeholders
People
Gender inequality and/or marginalization
Corporates
Public sector
Indirectly impacted stakeholders
People
Planet
Outcome Risks
If the training programmes are not equipping learners with the required skills, the skill mismatch may increase.
If the conditions of access to Mechanical and Digital Engineering training are not fair, young people, girls and boys from vulnerable backgrounds will be left behind, without the required skills.
Impact Risks
Vocational training in mechanical and digital engineering will need to be adapted regularly to allow the different cohorts of young people trained to be sharpened for emerging types of jobs.
Vocational training in mechanical and digital engineering while allowing young people to change their lives, will require that women and young people from vulnerable groups are not left behind.
Vocational training in mechanical and digital engineering while attracting young people will require training to integrate low-carbon technological choices.
Impact Classification
What
Mechanical and digital engineering training improves the quality of education, matching supply and demand on the labor market.
Who
Populations, especially youth who lack access to high quality vocational and technical training, which allow them to obtain employment opportunities.
Risk
While the benefit of technical education is proven and widely recognized, the choice of the types of programmes as well as the ability for institutions to reach those most in need require consideration.
Impact Thesis
Provide required skills to enable efficient use of human resources, stimulate labor productivity and improv remuneration of workers.
Enabling Environment
Policy Environment
The National TVET Strategy (2022-2026) is structured around four strategic axes: improving the governance of the TVET system; improving access and equity in the TVET system; strengthening the attractiveness of TVET and increasing TVET financing (28).
The National TVET Strategy of Togo seeks to contribute, among other things to: strengthening the efficiency of management and partnerships in the TVET system; strengthening the territorial coverage of TVET; anticipating the demand for skills and promoting TVET geared towards the employability (28).
The document of the National TVET Strategy of Togo (2022-2026) is accompanied by a matrix of the action plan which made it possible to assess the cost of implementing the said strategy, estimated at USD 682,544,625 (28).
Financial Environment
Fiscal incentive: Training centers can benefit from the tax advantages granted to SMEs through the Single Professional Tax (TPU) according to the declarative regime during the first four years of activity. A 40% reduction of the TPU is due from the first year to the fourth year (29).
Fiscal incentive: The Single Professional Tax is paid by individuals whose annual turnover is less than or equal to USD 600,000, regardless of their sector of activity. The Single Professional Tax is a synthetic tax that exempts the taxpayer from a set of taxes, including and Personal Income Tax (16).
Fiscal incentive: Services provided in the field of school or university education by public or private educational establishments are exempt from Value Added Tax (29).
Regulatory Environment
Law No. 2002-016 of April 2002 on the orientation of TVET defines that reaching takes place in public and private technical establishments and trains, depending on the profile, at the levels of Professional Aptitude Certificate, Baccalaureate and Higher Technician Certificate (26).
The creation of technical and vocational training establishments and centers is in the public or private domain (Art 39). Private training institutions are required to employ staff who demonstrate the required moral qualities and professional qualifications (Art 54) (29).
Marketplace Participants
Private Sector
African Institute of Administration and Commercial Studies, Don Bosco, Catholic University of West Africa, Carfour Informatics and Office-Automation Institutes, News Applied Technologies, African Institute of Informatics.
Government
Ministry of Technical Education, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Ministry of Labour, National Agency for the Promotion of Employment.
Multilaterals
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Non-Profit
Higher Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training; National Fund for Apprenticeship, Training and Professional Development, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Public-Private Partnership
The Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training will collaborate with all ministerial departments and national public or private institutions, foreign countries and international cooperation institutions in order to achieve the objectives defined in the TVET orientation law (29).
Target Locations
Togo: Maritime
Togo: Plateaux
Togo: Centrale
Togo: Kara
Togo: Savanes
References
- (1) Analyse du secteur de l’éducation: Des défs pour un enseignement de qualité pour tous. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000372909
- (2) Feuille de route gouvernementale 2020-2025, une évaluation satisfaisante pour l’éducation. https://jdeditionsmagazine.tv/togo-mepst-feuille-de-route-gouvernementale-2020-2025-une-evaluation-satisfaisante-pour-leducation/
- (3) PREPARATION DU SOMMET MONDIAL SUR LA TRANSFORMATION DE L’EDUCATION 2022, https://transformingeducationsummit.sdg4education2030.org/system/files/2022-09/Togo_NC%20report.pdf
- (4) Rapport d’Evaluation du Plan Sectoriel de l’Éducation (PSE) 2010-2025 et du plan triennal d’action 2014-2016 du Togo. https://www.globalpartnership.org/sites/default/files/2015_02_togo_appraisal_report_fr.pdf
- (5) République Togolaise, MINISTÈRE CHARGÉ DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT TECHNIQUE ET DE LA FORMATION, Stratégie nationale de l’enseignement technique et de la formation professionnelle (ETFP) du Togo : Des compétences pour l’emploi et pour la transformation de l’économie nationale https://pefop.iiep.unesco.org/fr/system/files/resources/pef000523_strategie_nationale_etfp_togo_oct2018.pdf
- (6) PLAN SECTORIEL DE L’EDUCATION PSE 2014-2025: AMELIORATION DE L’ACCES, DE L’EQUITE ET DE LA QUALITE DE L’EDUCATION AU TOGO. https://www.globalpartnership.org/fr/node/document/download?file=document/file/2015_02_togo_education_sector_plan_fr.pdf
- (7) Millennium Challenge Coorporation. United States of America, Organisme de mise en œuvre Millennium Challenge Account (OMCA-TOGO). Plan d’intégration du genre et de l’inclusion(PIGIS), Programme Treshold du Togo, juin 2022. https://omcatogo.tg/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PLAN-DINTEGRATION-DU-GENRE-ET-DE-LINCLUSION-SOCIALE-PIGIS.pdf)
- (8) Inadéquation entre formation et emploi. https://www.republicoftogo.com/toutes-les-rubriques/cooperation/inadequation-entre-formation-et-emploi
- (9) Inadéquation entre formation et emploi. https://www.republicoftogo.com/toutes-les-rubriques/cooperation/inadequation-entre-formation-et-emploi
- (10) Togo First Togo : lancement de la digitalisation de l'Enseignement technique et de la formation Professionnelle, https://www.togofirst.com/fr/education/2607-14525-togo-lancement-de-la-digitalisation-de-lenseignement-technique-et-de-la-formation-professionnelle
- (11) FORUM POLITIQUE DE HAUT NIVEAU SUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT DURABLE RAPPORT DU TOGO / Edition 2022, https://hlpf.un.org/sites/default/files/vnrs/2022/VNR%202022%20Togo%20Report_0.pdf
- (12) TVET Country Profiles, https://unevoc.unesco.org/home/Dynamic+TVET+Country+Profiles/country=TGO
- (13) Economic and Social Council Report of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals, https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n16/045/25/pdf/n1604525.pdf
- (14) Togo, Rapport volontaire nationaux VRN, 2022
- (15) Economic and Social Council Report of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals, https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n16/045/25/pdf/n1604525.pdf
- (16) Togo First , Togo : Tout savoir sur la Taxe Professionnelle Unique (TPU) https://www.togofirst.com/fr/fiscalite/1910-8725-togo-tout-savoir-sur-la-taxe-professionnelle-unique-tpu
- (17) Togo First, RGPH5 : le Togo compte 8 millions d’habitants, pour 51% de femmes https://www.togofirst.com/fr/gouvernance-economique/0404-11653-rgph5-le-togo-compte-8-millions-d-habitants-pour-51-de-femmes#:~:text=Dans%20la%20m%C3%AAme%20veine%2C%20la,avec%201%2C346%20million%20d%27habitants.
- (21) APIZF, Agence de Promotion des Investissements et de la Zone Franch, Centre de formation technique et professionnelle, https://projets.investirautogo.tg/opportunities/opportunity/centre-de-formation-technique-et-professionelle
- (22) LE CENTRE PROFESSIONNEL DON BOSCO DE KARA, https://www.sdbaon.org/4881-2/
- (23) CERFER Le Centre https://www.cerfer.org/le-centre/
- (24) Campus Togo Togo : Tout savoir sur le découpage de l’année universitaire 2024-2025 à l’Université de Lomé https://www.campus-togo.com/2024/09/16/togo-tout-savoir-sur-le-decoupage-de-lannee-universitaire-2024-2025-a-luniversite-de-lome/
- (25) Stratégie nationale de l’enseignement technique et de la formation professionnelle (ETFP) du Togo, https://pefop.iiep.unesco.org/fr/system/files/resources/pef000523_strategie_nationale_etfp_togo_oct2018.pdf "26) REPUBLIQUE TOGOLAISE, MINISTERE DES ENSEIGNEMENTS PRIMAIRE ET SECONDAIRE, MINISTERE DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT TECHNIQUE, DE LA FORMATION ET DE L’INSERTION PROFESSIONNELLES, MINISTERE DEL’ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR ET DE LA RECHERCHE, MINISTERE DE L'ACTION SOCIALE, DE LA PROMOTION DE LA FEMME ET DE L'ALPHABETISATION ATTENUATION DES EFFETS DE LA PANDEMIE DU COVID-19 SUR LE SYSTEME EDUCATIF TOGOLAIS. Document de Projet. Avril 2020 Année scolaire et universitaire 2019-2020, https://edutech.gouv.tg/wp-content/uploads/files/2020/05%20-%20Mai/Document_Projet_Education_Att%C3%A9nuation%20effet%20Covid-19.pdf"
- (27) Togo Le Togo lance un programme d'insertion pour les diplômés de l'enseignement technique https://www.republicoftogo.com/toutes-les-rubriques/societe/le-togo-lance-un-programme-d-insertion-pour-les-diplomes-de-l-enseignement-technique
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