Within the framework of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-VET) and SESRIC’s Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tourism-CaB), the Centre, in collaboration with the Gambia OIC-Secretariat, organised a Training Course on “Tourism and Hospitality Services” on 14-16 March 2022 through an online video conferencing platform. This training course is the second activity out of three identified and agreed upon by SESRIC and the Gambia OIC-Secretariat in line with the “Projects for the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women and Youth” in The Gambia.

The training course was provided by a competent expert from the General Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education under the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Türkiye for the benefit of 35 participants from public and private tourism authorities as well as TVET institutions in the Gambia.

This training course aimed to develop and enhance the technical capacities of the participants in the field of tourism and hospitality services in accordance with the latest global standards, practices and trends. Over the course of three days, the training course also gave insights into various topics, including hotel departments, front office, housekeeping, and food & beverage departments, processes in guest relations, types of hotel rooms, and office works.

The training course started with the opening statement by H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, Director General of SESRIC, who highlighted the importance of developing effective strategies towards upgrading the quality of tourism services through learning and exchanging experience and best practices in the OIC Member Countries with a view to matching the global standards and increasing their competitiveness in the global tourism market. These efforts would, no doubt, help the Member Countries during the recovery period and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic to compete with their international counterparts through leveraging on their existing diverse natural, historical, cultural, and religious tourism potential, he added. Before concluding, H.E. Mr. DABUR assured that SESRIC will continue furthering its collaboration with the General Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education under the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Türkiye towards enhancing the technical skills and capacities of tourism professionals and trainers from national tourism and TVET authorities in the OIC Member Countries.

In his opening statement, H.E. Mr. Yankuba DIBBA, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Gambia-OIC Secretariat, expressed his gratitude to SESRIC for organising this second activity in collaboration with the Gambia-OIC Secretariat within the framework of its projects for the “Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women and Youth in the Gambia”. He also stressed the importance of developing the capacities of the youth of the Gambia, which constitutes a significant portion of the population, in different domains, including tourism. In his conclusion, H.E. Mr. DIBBA expressed his hope that participating professionals and trainers will benefit from this training course at the utmost level and then transfer their accumulated knowledge and experience.

Delivering the opening remarks on behalf of H.E. Mrs. Nazan ŞENER, Director General of the General Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education under the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Türkiye, Mr. Korkut KOÇAK, Head of Social Partners and Projects Department, highlighted the benefit of developing effective vocational education systems based on the economy and reality of each country. He also underlined the readiness and willingness of the General Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education to share its experience and knowledge in various fields and areas of the TVET with the other OIC member countries.

The OIC-VET is an initiative of SESRIC officially launched at the COMCEC Economic Summit held in Istanbul, Türkiye, on 09 November 2009. The Centre developed and designed this Programme to support and contribute to the efforts of the OIC Member Countries towards addressing the challenges and limitations faced in the area of TVET. The Programme aims to enhance the quality of TVET systems in the OIC Member Countries, which in turn contributes to the development and competitiveness of their economies. SESRIC, in its capacity as the Executing OIC Organ of the Programme, monitors the implementation of the “OIC-TVET Strategic Roadmap 2020-2025” and regularly submits the progress reports towards the implementation of the Roadmap to the COMCEC Sessions and the Follow-up Committee Meetings.

For more details about the OIC-VET Programme as well as SESRIC’s Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tourism-CaB) and their activities, please visit, respectively, https://www.oicvet.org and https://www.sesric.org/cbp-oic-tourism.php.

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