Project focuses on increasing the quality of education in Ethiopia by using modern vocational methods (MVM) in primary and secondary schools. The project builds on previous foreign development cooperation activities. People in Need, the implementer of the previous project activities, created a Manual of Modern Educational Methods which was then authorized by the Ministry of Education. The manual was created in order to meet the needs of government program aiming at enhancement of teacher’s qualification and capacities.

Based on the internal project logic, the project shall aim to review current vocational methods, simplify them and make them more useful in order to enable pupils to develop their problem-solving skills and knowledge. The project shall also continue to provide primary school teachers with trainings on modern vocational methods. As a novelty, high schools with focus on pedagogy will be included in the program, using specially designed MVM modules.

The project implementer will also continue the cooperation with the Ministry of Education on both federal and regional level and shall focus on distribution of modern vocational methods to other regions. By providing the selected ministry professionals (from both regional and federal level) with trainings on MVM, the project aims to train number of experts who will be able to further distribute and implement the above mentioned methods. These steps should thus make the implementation of new educational program more effective.

The project encompasses 750 primary school teachers and 150 principles, supervisors and school workers in three regions of Ethiopia (Addis Abeba, Amhara and SNNPR). The project is implemented in close cooperation with Hawassa College of Teachers´ Education and Debre Brehan College of Techer Education.

In 2012, MVM manuals were introduced to teachers during information seminars. Consequently, the manuals were tested for one month in the two Colleges – a physics manual was tested in Hawassa College of Teachers´Education and a manual for mathematics was tested in and Debre Brehan College of Techers´ Education. After a successful trial run, 2 educational excursions took place, each in one school.

Their goal was to evaluate the MVM manuals and update them according to the feedback from both schools. In Amhara, SNNPR and Adis Abeba region, 15 clusters were then chosen in cooperation with the local administration. Their objective is to facilitate further implementation of MVM in other schools. In those clusters, trainings of teachers in MVM took place - in 2012, 350 teachers were trained, out of which 90 were women. A new school building with 7 class rooms was built in Abiye center, Tarma Ber woreda. The building now serves 361 school children (195 boys and 166 girls) whose studying conditions thus improved considerably. Other cluster centres were supported materially with blackboards, human body models, maps, globes etc.