Workshop schools for employment and entrepreneurship

Introduction

This Triangular Cooperation Initiative, supported by the ADELANTE Window, brought together key institutions from Spain, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay to develop an innovative model for vocational training and entrepreneurship. It aimed to enhance employability, social inclusion, and economic recovery in the post-COVID context—particularly benefiting youth and women.

The Initiative combined successful models from different regions to design the Workshop Schools for Employment and Entrepreneurship, adapted to local contexts in Paraguay and Uruguay.

A cross-cutting approach to gender, environmental sustainability, and climate change was integrated throughout the Initiative—not only through dedicated sessions and case studies but also by embedding these themes into policy dialogue, training modules, and implementation strategies. This ensured that the Initiative’s impact extended beyond the initial beneficiary regions.

Objectives

The initiative aimed to respond to the socio-economic challenges intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly youth unemployment and economic inequality—by strengthening the capacities of partner entities to design and implement a new model for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and entrepreneurship.

It sought to enhance employment opportunities for youth and women, empower them through skills development, and promote economic recovery. By combining the expertise of two successful and complementary models, it created a scalable, adaptable framework for broader regional application, contributing valuable solutions to the international community.

Key activities

The Initiative’s work plan was structured around a series of key activities, following a methodology that emphasized the provision, combination, use, application, and feedback of internationally recognised expertise. A continuous focus was placed on the involvement, training, and empowerment of municipal teams and authorities at both the local and regional levels. These activities were implemented through a combination of capacity building, technical analysis, model adaptation, and community engagement:

• Capacity building: Local professionals and institutions were trained in implementing the Workshop Schools Model through:
  • Practical workshops and training sessions led by AECID and Peñalolén/YUNUS, focusing on vocational training and entrepreneurship.
  • The participation of 97 professionals, including public officials, educators, and economic development specialists.
• Model implementation: A dedicated consultancy was conducted to analyze local needs and align AECID’s Workshop Schools with Peñalolén’s Entrepreneur’s Roadmap. This resulted in:
  • A hybrid vocational-entrepreneurship training model tailored to the labor market realities of Cerro Largo (Uruguay) and Alto Paraná (Paraguay).
  • A roadmap for implementation, providing municipalities with a clear framework to integrate the model into local development strategies.
• Evidence-based design: Two competitiveness and labor market studies informed the design of training curricula and entrepreneurship support services:
  • Cerro Largo (Uruguay): Identified strategic industries for vocational training.
  • Alto Paraná (Paraguay): Assessed entrepreneurial opportunities and business support needs.
• Community engagement and reflection:
  A final seminar in Uruguay convened all project partners, public and private stakeholders from the education and economic sectors, and municipal representatives from other regions. The event served to:
  • Reflect on lessons learned.
  • Refine the hybrid model.
  • Explore opportunities for replication and broader adoption.

Expected results

The initiative successfully developed two prototype Workshop Schools for Employment and Entrepreneurship for implementation in Cerro Largo and Alto Paraná. These serve as replicable models, offering practical guidelines for other territories with similar socio-economic profiles and facilitating knowledge transfer across regions.

It directly contributed to Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), particularly:

• Target 8.6: Substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education, or training.
• Target 8.9: Promote sustainable tourism that supports job creation and local culture.

By reinforcing TVET with an entrepreneurial dimension, the Initiative established a foundation for long-term job creation and sustainable economic development, while demonstrating the value of cross-regional cooperation.

Providers and beneficiaries

Each partner contributed specialized knowledge and experience:

• Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Spain – Second provider:
  Leader in TVET through its globally recognised Workshop Schools model, implemented in over 25 countries.
• Municipality of Peñalolén & YUNUS Centre, Chile – First provider:
  Creators of the Entrepreneur’s Roadmap, integrating entrepreneurship into vocational training.
• Departmental Government of Cerro Largo (Uruguay) & Itaipú Development and Integration Agency (Paraguay) – Beneficiaries:
  Key actors in local economic development, ensuring model adaptation to regional labor markets.

Implementing partners

Departmental Government of Cerro Largo (Uruguay)