Implementing market-relevant vocational training programmes that target the job seekers from the host communities, refugees and forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) in Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, Duhok and Nina

Government-run short term vocational training in Iraq is primarily delivered through vocational training centers (VTCs) managed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MOLSA) at the federal level, and by the corresponding ministry in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). As of 2019, 45  training centres across Iraq have been providing short-term skills training for youth and adults (often those who did not complete formal schooling) in trades ranging from construction and auto repair to sewing and IT. Over the past decade, Iraq’s public vocational training system has undergone significant changes amid conflict and reform efforts. 
Over the last ten years, Iraq’s vocational training programs have evolved under the influence of both conflict and reform initiatives. In the mid-2010s, security crises – especially the ISIS occupation (2014–2017) – severely disrupted training services in several provinces. Many vocational centers in conflict zones were damaged or closed. For example, the major VTC in Mosul (Ninawa Governorate), was left in ruins during the war. It could only be rehabilitated post conflict and reopened in late 2018-2019 with international support to reduce the impacts, where training facilities suffered damage and required rebuilding.
Alongside these setbacks, the period saw renewed efforts to reform and strengthen vocational training as part of Iraq’s broader economic recovery. In 2014, the Iraqi government and the European Union signed a financing agreement to launch a comprehensive TVET Reform Project. This initiative (implemented by UNESCO and national authorities) aimed to modernize vocational education and training – for example, The Iraqi Technical-Vocational Qualifications Framework (TVQF) was officially signed off by the Iraqi Inter-Ministerial Working Group, the EU and UNESCO-Iraq in 2018, and approved in 2021 by the Council of Ministers. It forms part of the draft Law on National Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), which is yet to be approved in total by the Council of Ministers and the Parliament.
Improving the TVET sector is a key part of National Education Strategy for Iraq 2022-2031, with a youthful population, with nearly 35.9  percent of the population under 15 years of age, and 20  percent of the population between 15 and 24 , there are limited opportunities to absorb the population into productive learning, employment, and enterprise opportunities. As of 2021, youth unemployment stood at over 35.4 percent . This poses a key challenge for re-integration youth into a fragile, post-conflict economy, according to UNHCR as of February 2025 Iraq still hosts over 327,000  refugees and asylum-seekers, 90% of whom are Syrian and live in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I). Over 70% of refugees live in urban areas while 30% reside in nine refugee camps in the KR-I. 41% of refugees are children under 18. Iraq also has over 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). While the majority live in private accommodation in urban settings or informal settlements, some 100,000 live in 21 IDP camps in the KR-I. In past (the 1970s), Iraq was one of the Arab region's TVET pioneers, when the TVET sector successfully provided young people with strong technical skills and contributed to the country's development. Iraq had lost this vital economic asset as a result of its repeated crises and conflicts and is struggling to reclaim its regional leadership in TVET.