Center for Skills and Society (CeSSo)

Center for Skills and Society (CeSSo) envisages education as an enabling tool to transform individuals and communities.  It is established to contribute to knowledge building focusing on skills and society through research, discourse building, and sharing.  The goal, however, is to be able to play a key role in re-engineering skills-based learning and education systems in Nepal to make them more relevant and responsive to generate better outcomes for youth and society. 

Knowledge and skills enhancement is a lifelong learning process that an individual gains through various modes. The CeSSo is dedicated to accelerating change, by motivating individuals and institutions to play the role of change agents in shaping a just, ethical, and live society.  Its understanding is simple, given their agency, every individual and institution can contribute to change and lead in societal transformation.  Therefore, it plans to work for and with people in bringing out their skills, capacities, and competencies.  At the same time, it also recognizes the need for instituting an efficient system for more competent, adaptive, and socially responsible vocational workers and professionals and, hence, plans to direct its activities in that direction.  Likewise, it calls for recognizing the roles and values of non-human entities in maintaining the health of the planet Earth. 

With a focus on bridging the gap between learning and education, workforce readiness, and present and future societal needs, the CeSSo aims to work at the intersection of policy, research, and practice and develop possible strategies for action.  Developing a collaborative partnership with educational institutions, government bodies, development partners, businesses/ industries, and communities, it advocates for synergy of efforts.  

Growing youth migration for study and/or job, as soon as they arrive at the age of 18, with some or not much education, is a critical challenge in Nepal.  The perceived lack of opportunities in the country, absence of support systems, unavailability of counseling and motivation, limited and even discriminated access to education and opportunity, unemployment and under-employment, etc. are behind high and ever-growing youth migration outside the country.  Deprived youth means the whole society is in deprivation resulting in all sorts of economic, political, and social challenges in the country.  It is not that no attempt has been made to address these challenges.  The government and non-government sectors have been carrying out activities to address these challenges, but the dream of a quality life is still a distant reality for many.  

Aims of the Center 

​Focusing on working in vocational and professional skills areas in a broader societal context, the Center aims to serve as an active actor, and as a mediator, mainly in the following areas:   

• Designing and implementing TVET and professional-related courses, particularly above level five (above secondary education) in the national and sub-national context

• Advocating for promoting locally developed skills knowledge-base and advocating for seeing such a localized knowledge base as a base for Nepali vocational and professional education systems

• Calling for expanding and popularizing skills-based vocational and technical activities, along with learning and innovations, at all levels of social functioning and making these dignified vocational and professional occupations 

• Creating forums for key stakeholders – the governing bodies, education and training institutes, and employers – and others for collaborating, discussing, and finding ways to address challenges and problems and then implementing programs as well as for sharing and learning

• Fostering public discourses on related matters for informing people about the policies and programs, giving space to public voices, discussing emerging challenges and finding strategies for addressing those challenges, informing policy-making process, etc.   

• Working for addressing social concerns through youth entrepreneurship and employment 

• Advocating for instituting and strengthening research-based and informed policy reform systems at all levels and institutions 

• Backing for adopting the full-scale digitalization of vocational and professional learning and work and occupations

• Conducting research, running short courses, interaction programs, counselling programs, practical experience sessions, visits, etc. for promoting learning and practices related to skills in societies.  

Governance of the Center

The Head of the Department of Development Education will take the role of the Director of the Center and will oversee the overall activities, including policy and planning, funding, implementation, and monitoring.  The HOD will appoint one of the faculty members of the Department as the Coordinator of the Center, who will take full responsibility for the management of all its activities.  The Departmental and the School faculties and staff will also be associated with the Center when necessary and the Center will also invite other people to contribute to its activities.  Likewise, the Center will have the necessary staff required to manage its activities.  

Approaches for Financing

The Center will run its activities through the funds it generates.  Its main sources of funds are its partnerships with different other organizations – governments at all levels, the private sector, non-government organizations, donor agencies, international organizations, universities, etc.  The Center will also participate in national and international bidding processes for getting programs and funds that are aligned with its mission.  However, the financial and other support it receives from the Department of Development Education, the School of Education, and the Kathmandu University will play important roles in the successful functioning of the Center.