African Union Commission’s (AUC’s) Education Science and Technology (AUC ESTI) directorate (Education division) assures the political leadership of the project and is technically supported by the European Union’s (EU’s) ‘Skills for Youth Employability Programme’, a contribution to the wider AU’s Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA). The EU Agency European Training Foundation (ETF) assures thematic and technical steering and coordination of the ACQF component.

Main milestones of the ACQF development project

2019

• Launch workshop and first meeting of ACQF Advisory Group (ACQF AG) - (09/2019)
• ACQF Mapping study – continental survey

2020

• ACQF mapping study – technical visits to 10 countries, 3 Regional Economic Communities, analysis, consultation, publication of ACQF Mapping Study Collection
• Capacity development programme – 7 Peer Learning Webinars, ACQF network
• Start of reflection on ACQF scenarios

2021

• 3 meetings of ACQF Advisory Group (April, July, December)
• ACQF scenarios and Feasibility analysis presented to ACQF AG
• Start development ACQF Policy and technical document
• Start development ACQF governance based on African network of NQF agencies
• 10 Guidelines and Training Modules for the ACQF
• ACQF Website
• Capacity development programme: 5 Peer Learning Webinars; start of Support to Countries’ NQF; conference; series of thematic briefs
• Review, updates ACQF Mapping Study reports
• Partnership with African Qualifications Verification Network (AQVN) - 5 webinars 2021

2022

• Test selected Guidelines, feedback loop, completion
• Consultation on ACQF policy and technical document and completion.
• Capacity development programme: launch E-Learning Platform; complete Support to countries; carry out ACQF Training Programme; create pool of trained experts.
• Validation by ACQF AG