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* Atleast Project Title is Required.
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Project No. |
HRD 02 2011A
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Project Title |
Human Capital Policies for Green Growth and Employment
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Project Status |
Completed Project
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Publication (if any) |
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Fund Account |
APEC Support Fund
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Sub-fund |
ASF: Energy Efficiency
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Project Year |
2011
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Project Session |
Session 2
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APEC Funding |
149,681
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Co-funding Amount |
50,319
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Total Project Value |
200,000
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Sponsoring Forum |
Human Resource Development Working Group (HRDWG)
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Topics |
Human Resources Development
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Committee |
SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE)
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Other Fora Involved |
Not Applicable / Other
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Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved |
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Proposing Economy(ies) |
United States
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Co-Sponsoring Economies |
Australia; Chile; China; Japan; Indonesia; Peru; Chinese Taipei; Thailand
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Expected Start Date |
08/07/2011
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Expected Completion Date |
31/12/2012
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Project Proponent Name 1 |
Brian Fu
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Job Title 1 |
program analyst
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Organization 1 |
US Department of Education
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Postal Address 1 |
400 Maryland Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20202 USA
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Telephone 1 |
+1 202-260-1467
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Fax 1 |
Not Applicable
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Email 1 |
brian.fu@ed.gov
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Project Proponent Name 2 |
Not Applicable
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Job Title 2 |
Not Applicable
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Organization 2 |
Not Applicable
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Postal Address 2 |
Not Applicable
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Telephone 2 |
Not Applicable
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Fax 2 |
Not Applicable
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Email 2 |
Not Applicable
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Declaration |
Not Applicable
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Project Summary |
This project will examine the status of policies within APEC economies, particularly in developing economies, to adjust human resource development policies for sustainable, “green,” energy efficient growth and employment through a survey of member economies and a symposium in September 2011 during SOM3. Findings from the survey and project research reports will form the basis for detail-rich discussion and the development of recommendations at the September symposium. This symposium will include a special session on implications for developing economies. Outcomes of the symposium and the survey will be incorporated into a final reference report by the end of 2011 with a prominent chapter on implications of project key findings for developing economies.
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Relevance |
The transition toward a sustainable “green” and energy efficient economy is important in addressing high unemployment and the increasing environmental costs of current patterns of energy and resource utilization, as well as increasing productivity and labor force participation.. As the world seeks to replace unsustainable patterns of energy and resource utilization, efforts to put in place sustainable energy efficient technologies represents a broadly distributed set of opportunities for economic development and employment generation. To establish sustainable economic approaches as the next frontier for economic development, APEC economies will require supportive policies at many levels, in particular quality education and training policies. These policies will be critical in supplying a capable workforce in the energy sector able to maximize alternative and efficient uses of energy. In addition, the workforce in all other market sectors must also adapt their practices in using and optimizing energy efficiency in order to remain competitive by lowering energy costs and by meeting the demand for goods and services with a lower carbon footprint.
This project directly addresses three of the five pillars of the 2010 Leaders' Growth Strategy: sustainable growth, inclusive growth, and innovative growth. The Leaders' Growth Strategy states that “APEC economies should encourage new green industries and jobs, including by introducing market-based mechanisms as an important tool to achieve sustainable growth and address climate change.” The growth strategy also calls for “Promoting policies and programs that broaden access to opportunities and enable people to realize their full potential will lead to greater economic growth, [and] more productive employment opportunities….” This project focuses on education and training for all (including vulnerable groups) to participate in the emerging green economy sector. Lastly, the growth strategy also seeks “… to create an economic environment that promotes innovation and emerging economic sectors.” Indeed, environmental goods and services have been identified by many economists as an emerging economic sector. The project also responds to the APEC 2011 priority of strengthening regional economic integration and expanding trade, and the APEC New Strategy on Structural Reform—endorsed by leaders in Yokohama—which calls on HRDWG to assist economies in promoting labour market opportunities, training, and education.
The project will focus on the systems each economy has put in place to assure the efficient functioning of investments in education and training to assure that workforce needs are signaled and accommodated across the spectrum of education and training at all levels.
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Objectives |
The proposed project will:
1. Enhance understanding of policies within APEC economies to human resource development policies for sustainable, “green,” energy efficient growth and employment. To accomplish this objective, we will conduct an APEC-wide project survey that will provide the foundation for the other objectives and components of this project . The survey will include questions that support capacity building needs assessment issues.
2. Share “promising practices” and experiences from APEC economies in “green” human resource development policies and programs. To accomplish this objective, we will convene a symposium during SOM3, collect related documents such as case studies from participating economies, and prepare a final report based on the survey findings and symposium discussions.
3. Develop recommendations for APEC economies, with special emphasis on developing economies, to build capacity in training and education for the green and energy efficient economy. This objective will be accomplished through the symposium discussions and documents and the final report. Implications for developing economies will include empowering developing countries to create collaborative policies and practices to boost regionally based green growth and sustainable development. Moreover, this project will prioritize regional development of labor market effectiveness and capabilities through further development of green growth projects to assist in economic integration.
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Alignment |
This project aligns with APEC's rank 1 funding priority: projects related to environmental goods and services. This project also aligns with three pillars of the Leaders' Growth Strategy: 1) Sustainable Growth 2) Inclusive Growth, and 3) Innovative Growth.
This project aligns with sectoral ministerial priorities. In their 2010 declaration, the HRD Ministers charged the working group to “pay significant attention to the demand for new skills and ... strengthen education and training to prepare our workforce with new skills for new jobs, in particular opportunities presented by green growth.”
In addition, this project aligns with two of APEC’s 2011 priorities (promoting green growth, and strengthening regional economic integration and expanding trade), and supports all three objectives listed in the HRDWG work plan: 1) Develop 21st Century Knowledge and Skills for All, 2) Integrate HRD into the Global Economy, and 3) Address the social dimension of globalization. This project fosters the sharing of knowledge and skills for inclusive growth and sustainable economic development across the APEC region by supporting the goal of developing 21st skills and knowledge for all. This project also helps integrate HRD into the global economy by facilitating the exchange of knowledge and skills across the APEC region to enable economies to be more competitive in the global skilled labor market. Finally, this project addresses the social dimension of globalization by working toward environmentally sound and sustainable economic growth by promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
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TILF/ASF Justification |
The project symposium will include a special session on implications for developing economies to help build their capacity to prepare their workers for a “greening” global economy. The travel funds requested in this proposal will enable representatives from travel-eligible developing economies to participate in the symposium. The symposium will allow for collaborative regional and individual approaches for expanding sustainable green growth. Outcomes of the symposium and the survey will be incorporated into a final reference report with a prominent chapter on implications of the project’s key findings for developing economies.
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Beneficiaries and Outputs |
Stakeholders of the project are the community of human resource development policymakers, educators, training providers (including labor unions), public employment service staff, students, employers, and green goods and services providers. By mapping high-synthesis approaches to sustainable economic development within APEC economies APEC can help assure that best approaches to building the green economy are understood and shared, thus assuring that development, environment, and human capital policies and investments are effective and mutually supportive. Academics will benefit from the exchange of information, while students and the workforce will benefit from the creation of jobs thanks to the use of this data. Beneficiaries will have access to the project’s outputs (e.g. symposium presentations, research paper, survey results) through the APEC Knowledgebank Wiki.
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Dissemination |
This project will communicate project results and findings through the project symposium and by making information from the project available on the APEC publications database. In addition, project information will be made available on the APEC Knowledgebank Wiki. The target audience will be human resource development policymakers, educators, training providers (including labor unions), public employment service staff, students, employers, and green goods and services providers. Additionally, the project will attempt to leverage off the communication networks of other global networks operating in the area of green growth in the Asia Pacific region. There is no intention to sell outputs arising from this project.
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Gender |
Project outcomes will address several key research questions including the impact of human capital policies for green growth on women and vulnerable populations. The project will also seek promising practices for including these populations in green skills development programs. The Project Overseer will encourage participation in the project by both men and women through the nomination process for symposium participants. In addition, the project overseers have preliminarily identified a key NGO partner for this project. The implementing staff member from that partner organization, who would serve as the project consultant, is a female.
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Work Plan |
· Contracting activities: the project planning team will finalize contractor guidelines for the key project consultant. The guidelines will be formalized into an APEC contract which will clarify the consultant tasks and the standards of the consultant deliverables. Consultant tasks will include drafting a policy survey, nominating expert speakers and presenters, drafting the symposium agenda, and writing the final report. Related outputs for this work include the consultant contract, scheduled to be awarded and ratified by early July.
· Project survey activities: the project planning team intends to circulate the project policy survey. The policy survey will align with the project’s key research questions and understandings, as described in Appendix I. Related outputs for this work include the final version of the policy survey by late July 2011, and the final analysis of the survey’s results in mid September 2011.
· Identification of symposium participants and participant roles: the project planning team intends make the final selections of keynote presenters, active participants, and all other attendees. Related outputs for this step include travel arrangements for project funded participants, awarding contracts for keynote presentation papers, and circulated guidance documents clarifying the role of all participants by mid-August.
· Symposium logistics planning: the project planning team intends to finalize logistical aspects of the project symposium. Related outputs for this particular step include agreements with vendors on working lunches, audio-visual equipment set up, room rental, etc. by early September.
· Research activities: the project planning team will review substantive materials including keynote papers/presentations, survey analysis, individual economy case studies, etc. completed by the project consultant and other project participants. Related outputs for this particular step include final symposium papers and presentations by mid-September.
· Symposium implementation activities: the project symposium is tentatively scheduled for September 18-19, 2011 during SOM3 in San Francisco, California, USA. Related outputs for this particular step include summary notes for all substantive discussions at the symposium, the symposium feedback survey, and all substantive symposium documents posted to the APEC Knowledgebank Wiki, including the keynote presentation papers.
· Final Report: the project planning team will complete analysis of symposium and survey results. Related outputs for this step include the final report available on the APEC publications database.
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Risks |
One of the project risks/challenges will include the integration of education and labor aspects. This project will be primarily implemented by representatives from both the Education Network and the Labor and Social Protection Network of the APEC HRDWG. To manage this risk, the project planning team will consist of both education and labor ministry representatives. In addition, the planning team will pay special attention in crafting the agenda and presentation guidance documents so that they will have value to all audience members. In terms of active participation by travel eligible economies, the project planning team will invite two participants from each travel eligible economy so that both education and labor aspects can be covered by each economy.
Project risks also include low survey response. This risk will be managed by careful crafting of the project survey such that the response will not be too burdensome to complete while providing captivating policy questions that can drive meaningful policy discussions and analysis. The project planning team will depend on member representatives to delegate economy experts to complete the survey. In addition, the project planning team will consider ways to ensure that labor and education experts are asked to fill out only those questions related to their areas of expertise. (For example, separate survey instruments, one labor-focused and one education-focused, could be filled out in parallel by different experts). Further, appropriate response time will be provided to economies, in recognition of the particular difficulties faced by non-native English speaking economies. In addition to seeking feedback from APEC economies, the overseers of this project will reach out to the private sector for input on the survey and symposium.
Project risks may also include low attendance at the project symposium. To manage this risk, the project planning team intends on maximizing developing economy participation by inviting two participants from each travel eligible economy. In addition, the project planning team will schedule the project symposium on the margins of APEC SOM3 so that it will be easier for other working groups to attend.
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Monitoring and Evaluation |
The primary indicators used to evaluate the project’s success in meeting its objectives will be measured using a post-symposium survey for participating attendees. Specific indicators will include how well the papers and presentations addressed the key research questions of the project. In addition, symposium participants will be asked how they will use the information for follow-up activities, for policy changes, etc. after the symposium. In addition to collecting the post-symposium survey, the project overseers intend to collect information through a policy survey before the symposium. The policy survey will address key research questions of the project, which are summarized in Appendix I.
Project overseers will monitor contractor implementation of the project by reviewing all deliverables to make sure that they meet contract requirements. If contractor implementation does not meet contract requirements, then the project overseers will work with the contractor on subsequent drafts and will not approve any payments until all deliverables meet project requirements.
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Linkages |
This project will be implemented by multiple networks within the HRDWG, the Education Network and the Labor and Social Protection Network. In addition, a project symposium has been scheduled to facilitate engagement by other working groups like the Energy Working Group.
This project will build on past projects related to technical and vocational education, including the International Seminar on Sharing CTE/TVET Systems of Qualifications Frameworks, by further developing research related to competencies and qualifications frameworks. This project also builds on the series of technical and vocational projects related to the annual APEC Forum on Human Resources Development by furthering research related to training policies for vulnerable groups. This project expands those project outcomes into the green growth sector.
While the green growth content in this project is new to APEC and more particularly the HRDWG, there are a number of international organizations working on green growth related activities and capacity building. For example, this project can learn from projects conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). If possible, representatives from these organizations will be invited to attend the symposium and share their experiences working in the green growth area.
During SOM III, there will be three distinct events that may prove to be of interest to participants of the other separate but related events. Chronologically, the first event in September will be “Advancing Social Protection through Inclusive Growth, the second event will be a high-level summit on Women and the Economy, and the final event will be on Green Growth and Skills. Due to the expected overlap of social development related-issues in each event, participants in one of the three events may benefit from participating in the other two related events at SOM III. In sum, the project will coordinate with projects in groups who are also meeting during SOM3.
APEC has a comparative advantage in funding this project because several APEC members, including the United States and China, are leading the world in green technology investments. In addition, APEC is home to some of the highest performers in education as measured by international education benchmarking programs, like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). APEC also has a rich diversity of East-West perspectives and developed-developing perspectives which will make for a much richer discussion on human capital for green growth.
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Sustainability |
One of the expected outcomes of the project includes an APEC network of stakeholders and beneficiaries. This network begins with the project symposium participants and has the possibility of extending through the existing networks of the participants.
The project planning team expects to convene discussions during the project symposium on how to sustain project efforts and to include recommendations for future work in the final report.
In addition, project information will be made available on the APEC Knowledgebank Wiki where project experts will be encouraged to continue to make updates and add new information, even after the project has officially closed.
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Project Overseers |
The project consultant, who is under contract and will complete many of the project’s critical tasks, has been preliminarily identified as Mindy Feldbaum, the Senior Director for Workforce Development Programs at the National Institute for Work and Learning, which is part of the U.S. Education and Workforce Development Group at AED. (For a brief bio, see http://niwl.aed.org/staff/index.html.) The proposed contractor has extensive international experience in human resources development for green growth particularly with APEC members like the United States and Australia. She was a key player in implementing the 2010 Sustainability Education Summit in September 2010 in Washington DC.
Brian Fu and Gregory Henschel of the United States Department of Education will be the project overseers for this project. Brian Fu has extensive experience with APEC project policies and procedures having overseen several APEC projects. Gregory Henschel is a content expert on human capital policies for green growth and was a project coordinator of the 2010 Sustainability Education Summit.
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Cost Efficiency |
This project will leverage existing APEC investments, particularly resources supporting the APEC SOM3 meeting. Since the project symposium will be held during SOM3, this will maximize cost-efficient participation and collaboration with other APEC fora. In addition, utilizing the meeting space and logistical support already devoted to SOM3 minimizes the resources required to host the symposium.
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Drawdown Timetable |
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Direct Labour |
The primary APEC-funded contract will be awarded to the key project consultant in charge of drafting the project survey, identifying keynote paper presenters, drafting the symposium agenda, performing the survey analysis, and completing the final report. The expected contractor level of effort is roughly 250 hours. The contractor has been preliminarily identified as AED (more info here: http://www.aed.org/About/index.cfm) with Mindy Feldbaum (http://www.aed.org/Experts/feldbaum.cfm) as the lead contractor liaison.
The remaining APEC-funded direct labor will go to experts to be determined at a later time. These experts will conduct research to write key papers and will likely be from the academic and private sector.
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Waivers |
The per diem in the budget table specifies three days in San Francisco, USA even though the project symposium is scheduled to be only two days. This is because the symposium will start very early in the morning on the first day and project participants travelling to the symposium will need to stay at a nearby hotel the night prior to the start of the symposium.
This project requests a waiver to fund the Government Officials’ travel expenses (airfare & per diem).
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Are there any supporting document attached? |
No
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Attachments
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