Together with the UN agency UNIDO, USAID, and the OCP Foundation, the Volvo Group is starting a vocational training school for mechanics in Morocco. The school will be conducted in collaboration with local authorities and will train 150 students from Morocco, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal every year.

“Trained mechanics will have the opportunity to gain work in countries with high unemployment, while Volvo will gain access to the trained personnel that is required in order to expand in Africa. By training local manpower, we will contribute to sustainable growth in the countries in which Volvo operates,” said Niklas Gustavsson, Volvo Group executive vice president Corporate Sustainability & Public Affairs.

The Volvo Group’s presence in Morocco dates back to the 1950s. The Group’s high share of the truck market in combination with the country’s investments in infrastructure makes Morocco a country where the Volvo Group can grow, according to the automaker.

“The distinctive feature of this training academy lies within its ability to produce skills and expertise that can directly be employed in the economic sectors that use heavy duty equipment and that work on the big projects that are undertaken by Morocco,” Jamaleddine El Aloua, general secretary for the Moroccan Department of Vocational Training.

The trainee programs will commence in 2015 and the operation will be conducted on the same premises as the existing national vocational school Ecole des Métiers du Bâtiment et Travaux Publics, in the city of Settat.

Last year, the Volvo Group announced that vocational training schools for mechanics and drivers for trucks, buses, and construction equipment will be established in 10 African countries. In collaboration with national education authorities, the Volvo Group will develop and finance the programs based on the industry’s local competency requirements. The programs will be conducted in the countries that are strategically important in terms of business for the Volvo Group, and also within the strategies for aid from SIDA and USAID.

Volvo’s trainee programs in Africa constitute a further strategic development of a pilot project implemented by the Volvo Group through Volvo Construction Equipment in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO and SIDA in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, according to the automaker.

The establishment of the training schools in Morocco is the result of cooperation between the Volvo Group, the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID), The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the OCP Foundation and the Moroccan Ministry of national education and vocational training.