The American energy company Anadarko has signed a memorandum of understanding with Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) to implement a program for the promotion and development of vocational training in Mozambique.

According to a CICan press release, the memorandum was signed by John Peffer, Chief Executive Office of Anadarko-Mozambique, and Denise Amyot, President of CICan, in the presence of Shawn Barber, High Commissioner of Canada to Mozambique and Edmundo Jossefa, Secretary General of the Mozambican government's Commission for the Reform of Professional Education (COREP).

Entitled Skills Training for Employment in Mozambique (STEM/CTEM), this project will support the development of a skilled workforce in Mozambique, the CICan release says. “It will strengthen the professional capacity of Mozambican women and men in order to meet the demands of the country's new emerging sectors. The objective is to improve the employment rate of graduates as well as the economic prospects offered to them and their communities”, declared the Canadian organisation.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Anadarko in order to help train a qualified workforce that will contribute to Mozambique's economic growth”, said Amyot. “This collaborative approach between post-secondary establishments and industry has always been very successful in Canada and I am confident that it will allow Mozambique's youth to acquire the skills they need to succeed in the booming oil and gas sector.”

A dozen Canadian education bodies will be involved in this project which intends to train some 4,000 new Mozambican learners in the area of natural resources.

It will be carried out in partnership with Mozambique vocational and technical training institutions.

“Canada's investment in the STEM project seeks to increase employment opportunities for young Mozambican women and men through skills training”, said Barber. “By partnering with companies such as Anadarko, CICan can ensure that the training provided is relevant and takes into account the perspectives of the private sector.”

The programme receives 18 million Canadian dollars (13.6 million US dollars) in funding from Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) and is managed by CICan in collaboration with the Government of Mozambique.

It is scheduled to run for six years, and will operate in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where Anadarko and the Italian company ENI have discovered enormous offshore reserves of natural gas, and the coal rich western province of Tete.