The international community has set an ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Agenda and education and training are central to its achievement. In this context, the international community also adopted a framework for action “Education 2030 Agenda” which devotes considerable attention to technical and vocational skills development, with the aim to improve access, enhance relevance and eliminate gender disparity.

Mobilizing the means for such an ambitious skills agenda is crucial. The use of financial resources must be optimised and additional resources need to be mobilised. Funding skills development: The private sector contribution takes stock of recent developments regarding the mobilisation of private sector resources.

The publication begins with an analysis of international trends in financing technical and vocational education and training (TVET) with particular focus on levies schemes and training funds. It then presents a methodology to evaluate the potential of private sector investment in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in countries that have adopted levies schemes. This approach is then illustrated by three country case studies in Cyprus, the Dominican Republic and Senegal. Finally, the publication demonstrates how the levy base/rate directly impacts upon the amount of revenue able to be raised. The publication also highlights other factors that could influence the outcome achieved by the relevant levy, such as the economic and institutional context and the general conditions of the labour market.