AMBITIONS, ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN SUPPORT OF BENIN'S EMERGENCE BY 2030

In Benin, the education system has long marginalized Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), with only 3% of learners enrolled in vocational pathways in 2018 and a youth graduate unemployment rate of 39.3%. This structural mismatch prompted the adoption of the National Strategy (2019-2025), aimed at repositioning vocational training as a key driver of economic development and youth employability by 2030. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach combining an extensive document review and 63 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, alongside an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) applied to coded qualitative data. The EFA, applied to coded ordinal scores derived from the interviews, reveals three structural dimensions of the TVET system: (1) institutional governance and coordination; (2) operational financing and quality of provision; (3) socio-cultural social perceptions and private sector involvement. These three factors account for 90.7% of the total variance. Major systemic challenges identified include insufficient funding (83% of respondents), uneven training quality (72%), gender stereotypes (68%), and institutional fragmentation (61%).