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In the 1970s up through the 1990s, technical vocational education and training (TVET) in developing countries had been considered a poor cousin of higher education. Nowadays, governments acknowledge it as a key strategy to meet the demands of the country and global labour markets. Some civil society organisations frame it as a driver for sustainable development. This paper attempts to look at how TVET can stand out as a poverty eradication strategy. While locating TVET within this framework is limited, it is hoped that such can be a building block towards understanding the other facets of TVET as a development strategy for inclusive growth.

Drawing from the cases of Nepal and the Philippines and learning from other experiences in [the] Asia-Pacific, this paper scrutinises: (1) how TVET has been oriented towards the needs of marginalised youth; and (2) how it is integrated into poverty eradication programs of governments. It focuses on three questions: Who are the marginalised and vulnerable youth? How are TVET policies and programs designed for these youth? What are the institutional support programs that link TVET to poverty eradication? It concludes with a set of recommendations that argue for an integrated approach, where literacy and life skills are embedded in TVET policies and programs to harness the full potential of the youth who were denied access to education and life opportunities. The paper argues for the need to scale up literacy-TVET-life skills programs through anti-poverty measures and strategically through policy and institutional reforms in the education system with the vision of empowering marginalised youth.

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