Companies and Professional Training: A New Approach to Special Training Contracts
18 April 2006
Read by 3632 persons
If previous procedures for Special Training Contracts (CSFs) failed to prevent some companies from using them fraudulently, the new procedure is a real incentive for the enhancement of the human resources of Morocco's economic operators. Simplified and rigorous eligibility procedure, access to reliable and secure information, rapid processing of funding applications, significant reduction in reimbursement times, these are some of the strengths of the reform of Special Training Contracts, the mechanisms and objectives of which Jalal Charaf, director of in-service training, analyzes and specifies.
For Jalal Charaf, director of in-service training (DFCE), the case is now closed. The procedure manual, which has just been developed, is both clear and rigorous, and has the advantage of clearing up all ambiguities and grey areas. Moreover, the simplicity of the new procedure for accessing CSFs is already attracting professionals. An overview of an announced reform.
OFPPT Infos: Previous procedures for accessing CSFs failed to prevent serious abuses. How does the reform, which has just been completed, aim to rehabilitate these privileged instruments of professional training that CSFs represent?
Jalal Charaf: I would spontaneously answer with the clarity, simplification and rigor of the procedures to be followed to access CSFs and benefit from their financial incentive. CSFs cover three types of offers. Funding from the Council through Interprofessional Advisory Groups (GIACs), encompassing diagnosis, strategy and training engineering. The OFPPT now supports these organizations in strengthening their structures so that they can analyze and process applications and develop their own procedure manuals. The second product is funding applications from individual businesses, including planned and unplanned training and functional literacy. Finally, the third area of application is group training, implemented by sectoral professional associations and, a major new development, industrial zones, which allows companies in the same field of activity or the same zone to "pool" their common training needs.
The financial incentive requires companies to obtain a certificate of access, stating their declarations to the CNSS. The year taken into account for eligibility runs from July 1 of year N-2 to June 30 of year N-1, where year N is the year the funding application is submitted. I specify that eligibility verification is directly accessible on the portal (http//csf.ofppt.org.ma), specifically dedicated to Special Training Contracts. After verifying their eligibility, the company submits an administrative file including, in particular, an identification sheet and model J of the extract from the commercial register. It is upon receipt of all the documents constituting this administrative file that the certificate of access to CSFs will be issued.
Next comes the application for funding training actions, materialized by a technical file which must obligatorily contain, among other required documents, a detailed description of the company's training plan, as well as the identification sheets of both the training actions and the training organizations. Once this file is duly completed and submitted, it will be up to the CSF Management Unit to approve the funding application based on the cost retained for each training action, the nomenclature of which has been established by the Regional CSF Committee (CRCSF) concerned, whose role has been increased. The approval of the funding application based on the technical file is materialized by a contract. The reimbursement request will be taken into account if the company submits a financial file including documents justifying the achievements, including the attendance list of the beneficiaries, ratified by the training organization, as well as the evaluation sheets of the training actions carried out.
As for reimbursement times, they will be considerably reduced.
OFPPT Infos: You also mentioned sectoral group training, referring to the major new development that is this training by industrial zones... What are the rules to follow for these particular configurations?
Jalal Charaf: Funding applications, made through professional associations, must obligatorily include the development and implementation of a group training plan, based on the needs identified by these associations. It is up to the Central CSF Committee (CCCSF) to study the relevance and appropriateness of these needs and to issue an estimated budget. After which, the training organizations will be identified according to the selected themes.
In this new version of group training, companies will only have to pay their share and benefit from the training organized by the professional association, whose role is primordial for the success of this training. It is this transparency of the rules to be applied, this precise definition of the nomenclature of training areas, reimbursement rates and the conditions to be met to claim this reimbursement that guarantee very high visibility of the new CSF system.
Finally, a fundamental element to avoid the abuses known in the past, the control system will be entrusted to an organization external to the OFPPT. In fact, the OFPPT's mission is not to repress fraud, but to disseminate as widely as possible initial and continuing training actions.
OFPPT Infos: Does this reform of the CSF system involve new tools and different partners?
Jalal Charaf: Apart from the IT portal I mentioned, which is a valuable working tool, two economical telephone numbers (022 62 25 19/30) are made available to our partners, and a widely accessible CSF agency will soon be created on the OFPPT premises in Ain Borja. Regarding the reception of this reform, I can confirm that the unions, CGEM and the supervising ministry have shown excellent responsiveness.
And I am sure that economic operators now have the certainty of benefiting, through CSFs, from reliable, efficient tools that perfectly meet their most specific needs. In any case, this reform will be the subject of a large communication campaign to explain its ins and outs.
Le Matin
15/04/2006
For Jalal Charaf, director of in-service training (DFCE), the case is now closed. The procedure manual, which has just been developed, is both clear and rigorous, and has the advantage of clearing up all ambiguities and grey areas. Moreover, the simplicity of the new procedure for accessing CSFs is already attracting professionals. An overview of an announced reform.
OFPPT Infos: Previous procedures for accessing CSFs failed to prevent serious abuses. How does the reform, which has just been completed, aim to rehabilitate these privileged instruments of professional training that CSFs represent?
Jalal Charaf: I would spontaneously answer with the clarity, simplification and rigor of the procedures to be followed to access CSFs and benefit from their financial incentive. CSFs cover three types of offers. Funding from the Council through Interprofessional Advisory Groups (GIACs), encompassing diagnosis, strategy and training engineering. The OFPPT now supports these organizations in strengthening their structures so that they can analyze and process applications and develop their own procedure manuals. The second product is funding applications from individual businesses, including planned and unplanned training and functional literacy. Finally, the third area of application is group training, implemented by sectoral professional associations and, a major new development, industrial zones, which allows companies in the same field of activity or the same zone to "pool" their common training needs.
The financial incentive requires companies to obtain a certificate of access, stating their declarations to the CNSS. The year taken into account for eligibility runs from July 1 of year N-2 to June 30 of year N-1, where year N is the year the funding application is submitted. I specify that eligibility verification is directly accessible on the portal (http//csf.ofppt.org.ma), specifically dedicated to Special Training Contracts. After verifying their eligibility, the company submits an administrative file including, in particular, an identification sheet and model J of the extract from the commercial register. It is upon receipt of all the documents constituting this administrative file that the certificate of access to CSFs will be issued.
Next comes the application for funding training actions, materialized by a technical file which must obligatorily contain, among other required documents, a detailed description of the company's training plan, as well as the identification sheets of both the training actions and the training organizations. Once this file is duly completed and submitted, it will be up to the CSF Management Unit to approve the funding application based on the cost retained for each training action, the nomenclature of which has been established by the Regional CSF Committee (CRCSF) concerned, whose role has been increased. The approval of the funding application based on the technical file is materialized by a contract. The reimbursement request will be taken into account if the company submits a financial file including documents justifying the achievements, including the attendance list of the beneficiaries, ratified by the training organization, as well as the evaluation sheets of the training actions carried out.
As for reimbursement times, they will be considerably reduced.
OFPPT Infos: You also mentioned sectoral group training, referring to the major new development that is this training by industrial zones... What are the rules to follow for these particular configurations?
Jalal Charaf: Funding applications, made through professional associations, must obligatorily include the development and implementation of a group training plan, based on the needs identified by these associations. It is up to the Central CSF Committee (CCCSF) to study the relevance and appropriateness of these needs and to issue an estimated budget. After which, the training organizations will be identified according to the selected themes.
In this new version of group training, companies will only have to pay their share and benefit from the training organized by the professional association, whose role is primordial for the success of this training. It is this transparency of the rules to be applied, this precise definition of the nomenclature of training areas, reimbursement rates and the conditions to be met to claim this reimbursement that guarantee very high visibility of the new CSF system.
Finally, a fundamental element to avoid the abuses known in the past, the control system will be entrusted to an organization external to the OFPPT. In fact, the OFPPT's mission is not to repress fraud, but to disseminate as widely as possible initial and continuing training actions.
OFPPT Infos: Does this reform of the CSF system involve new tools and different partners?
Jalal Charaf: Apart from the IT portal I mentioned, which is a valuable working tool, two economical telephone numbers (022 62 25 19/30) are made available to our partners, and a widely accessible CSF agency will soon be created on the OFPPT premises in Ain Borja. Regarding the reception of this reform, I can confirm that the unions, CGEM and the supervising ministry have shown excellent responsiveness.
And I am sure that economic operators now have the certainty of benefiting, through CSFs, from reliable, efficient tools that perfectly meet their most specific needs. In any case, this reform will be the subject of a large communication campaign to explain its ins and outs.
Le Matin
15/04/2006
