Public Financing of Vocational Training through Competitive Funds: A Promising Option for Latin America and the Caribbean

Date issued
May 2017
The objective of this Technical Note is to describe the way competitive funds operate, based on examples from developed countries. The ultimate goal is to inform and guide its possible design and implementation in Latin American and Caribbean countries. The selected examples offer interesting contrasts due to the heterogeneity of their design, objectives and operation. In addition, these are new funds that were recently designed by the respective governments, with the purpose of introducing improvements in public policies for financing job training. The document is divided into two sections. In the first section, a conceptual framework is presented which seeks to understand the benefits of competitive funds to finance training. In the second section, specific examples are described: three projects in developed countries (New Zealand, United Kingdom andMichigan State in the United States) and one in a small developing economy, Barbados. Finally, the last section presents conclusions and identifies the challenges to be considered.