Cambodia made employers co-design TVET so training followed jobs

Cambodia needed more skilled workers, but the formal TVET system risked training people for classroom supply rather than labor-market demand. The default response would have been more institutes and more places.

The ADB-backed program chose a more operational lever: make TVET market-responsive through partnerships with employers and the private sector. ADB's 2025 validation rated the program successful.

The project page shows the operating changes behind the slogan. By Q2 2021 all three outcome targets had been achieved, all 38 training institutes used an improved TVETMIS, 845 instructors had completed competency-based training, and 40% of skills bridging courses were outsourced to non-state providers.

The cleverness was moving employers from 'consulted later' to part of the delivery machinery. Private providers, competency standards, internships, and labor-market data shortened the distance between a course and a job.

Let employers pull the curriculum toward real jobs

It attacked the feedback loop between schools and employers, not just the capacity of schools.

Outsourcing bridging courses let the system use non-state providers where they were faster or closer to demand.

Competency-based assessment shifted quality control from hours taught to skills demonstrated.

A shared TVET management system gave managers data for revising courses and tracking participation.

When a training system produces credentials employers do not value, fix the feedback loop before adding seats: make demand visible inside course design and delivery.

By project reporting in 2021, the program had achieved all three outcome targets and trained tens of thousands through the voucher skills training program. ADB's independent validation later confirmed the completion report's successful rating.