Cati Coe has been awarded a major research award as a member of a multinational team of researchers under Open Research Area 8 (ORA 8) initiative coordinated by SSHRC in collaboration with the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, France), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, Germany), and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, UK).
The project, Pathways for Vocational Training and Informal Learning in West Africa, will explore the value attributed to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in West Africa, with a particular focus on the continued dominance of traditional apprenticeships in the region, despite reforms since the 1990s aimed at formalising vocational education. The study will follow young people across socio-economic backgrounds in small cities in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana to understand how young women and men acquire technical skills in both formal and informal settings. With a youth-centred and feminist relational approach, the research will be collaborative, involving nine researchers and twelve youths who will actively contribute to content creation about their experiences with TVET. Along with Dr Akosua Keseboa Darkwah (University of Ghana), Cati will be leading the research on TVET in Ghana.
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