Green Jobs and Workforce Development Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Employment Policy Managers, Climate and Energy Programme Officers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PP-033

Before you join: Participants should have professional experience in public policy, employment services, skills development, climate programmes, economic development, infrastructure delivery or employer engagement.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Governments, development agencies and major employers are under pressure to convert climate, energy, infrastructure and industrial commitments into decent employment. This requires more than forecasting job numbers. Policy teams must identify occupational demand, assess local skills supply, work with employers and training providers, remove barriers faced by underrepresented groups, and measure whether people obtain sustained, quality work. Poorly designed programmes can fund training for roles with limited demand, exclude communities most affected by transition, or fail to connect graduates to employers.

This course provides a practical method for designing green jobs and workforce development programmes. Participants examine green job definitions, just-transition principles, labour market assessment, occupational and skills taxonomy, employer engagement, inclusive programme design, competency-based training, financing, procurement and performance measurement. They use frameworks including the ILO Guidelines for a Just Transition, ESCO concepts, Theory of Change and results frameworks to turn climate and economic priorities into credible workforce interventions. The course also addresses sectors commonly central to public investment, including renewable energy, building retrofits, sustainable transport, circular economy activities, agriculture and climate adaptation.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings, public-sector cases, labour market data interpretation, group design work and decision simulations. Participants work through realistic choices on targeting, curriculum, employer commitments, funding and outcome verification. They leave with a structured green workforce strategy pack, including a labour market diagnostic, skills pathway model, stakeholder plan, results framework and 90-day implementation plan. The five-day instructor-led course is available in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online and awards a certificate of completion.

The course suits professionals responsible for employment policy, climate programmes, economic development, skills systems, public investment and employer partnerships. It is particularly relevant where institutions need to coordinate action across ministries, local authorities, industry, unions, training providers and community organisations.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess green employment opportunities using labour market, vacancy and occupational data
  • Apply just-transition principles to workforce policy and programme design
  • Build occupational skills pathways using task analysis and ESCO concepts
  • Design employer-led training partnerships with documented hiring commitments
  • Develop inclusive targeting and participant-support models for priority groups
  • Prepare costed workforce interventions using unit-cost and procurement methods
  • Construct results frameworks, indicator reference sheets and tracer-study plans
  • Produce a 90-day green workforce implementation plan with ownership and milestones

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible green jobs proposals supported by labour-market evidence
  • Lead cross-agency discussions using a shared just-transition vocabulary
  • Translate climate investment pipelines into occupational and skills requirements
  • Specify employer partnership terms that lead to placements and retention
  • Report workforce outcomes using credible indicators and verification methods

For your organisation

  • Improves alignment between climate investment, employment policy and training provision
  • Reduces funding for courses unsupported by employer demand
  • Creates clearer routes into green employment for affected workers and communities
  • Strengthens procurement and contracting requirements for local workforce outcomes
  • Provides comparable data for programme oversight, budget decisions and public reporting

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define green jobs and apply just-transition principles to workforce policy choices.

  • Green jobs definitions: direct, indirect, induced and decent-work dimensions
  • ILO just-transition principles and their implications for workforce policy
  • Distinguishing environmental sectors, green tasks and green occupations
  • Climate mitigation, adaptation and circular economy employment channels
  • Decent work indicators: wages, safety, security, rights and social dialogue
  • Distributional risks from transition policies affecting workers and places

Participants can prepare an evidence-based baseline of local green workforce demand and supply.

  • Labour market information systems: administrative data, surveys and vacancy analytics
  • Occupational demand analysis using employment, wage, vacancy and retirement data
  • Sector value-chain mapping from inputs through installation, operations and maintenance
  • Location quotients and shift-share analysis for regional employment concentration
  • Skills-gap analysis comparing occupational profiles with employer demand evidence
  • Disaggregating baseline data by gender, age, disability and location

Participants can formulate coordinated policy interventions for green workforce development.

  • Theory of Change linking climate investments, outputs, outcomes and employment impacts
  • Problem-tree analysis of barriers to training, hiring and retention
  • Policy mixes spanning regulation, incentives, services and public investment
  • Just-transition measures for affected workers, suppliers and fossil-fuel communities
  • Inter-ministerial governance roles, mandates, decision rights and escalation routes
  • Policy coherence checks against climate plans, industrial strategy and social protection

Participants can map green occupations, tasks and transferable skills into workforce pathways.

  • ESCO occupation and skills concepts for consistent demand and supply analysis
  • Task-based analysis separating green-enhanced, green-new and conventional work
  • Transferable skills mapping between declining and expanding occupational pathways
  • Competency profiles for solar technicians, energy auditors and retrofit installers
  • Recognition of prior learning for experienced workers entering green roles
  • Skills taxonomy governance, version control and evidence-refresh cycles

Participants can establish employer partnerships that inform training and support recruitment outcomes.

  • Employer segmentation by hiring volume, skills needs and partnership readiness
  • Structured employer interviews using vacancy evidence and workforce plans
  • Sector skills councils: mandates, membership, decision rules and secretariat functions
  • Demand-led curriculum validation with employers, unions and training providers
  • Memoranda of understanding covering placements, data-sharing and recruitment commitments
  • Social dialogue mechanisms for transition planning and workplace training

Participants can design equitable access, support and safeguarding measures for green jobs programmes.

  • Gender-responsive labour market analysis identifying occupational segregation and care constraints
  • Universal Design for Learning principles in technical training provision
  • Targeting criteria balancing vulnerability, aptitude, local demand and programme fairness
  • Wraparound supports: transport, childcare, stipends, assistive technology and counselling
  • Safeguarding protocols for harassment prevention, grievance handling and referral
  • Disability-inclusive recruitment standards and reasonable accommodation planning

Participants can specify demand-led training models with clear quality and placement requirements.

  • Competency-based curriculum design using occupational standards and performance criteria
  • Training needs assessment distinguishing entry, upskilling, reskilling and supervisor needs
  • Work-based learning models: apprenticeships, internships, job shadowing and dual training
  • Assessment blueprints combining knowledge tests, demonstrations and workplace observation
  • Trainer qualification criteria, equipment specifications and provider quality assurance
  • Completion, placement and retention definitions for provider performance management

Participants can prepare costed workforce interventions and manage delivery risks.

  • Costed workforce plans covering outreach, training, supports, placement and monitoring
  • Unit-cost analysis by participant, completer, placement and sustained employment
  • Public procurement clauses for local hiring, apprenticeships and supplier development
  • Outcome-based contracting with verification rules and payment milestones
  • Blended finance roles for public budgets, employers, donors and development banks
  • Risk registers covering demand shortfalls, provider failure, exclusion and fraud

Participants can measure workforce programme performance and use evidence for management decisions.

  • Results frameworks connecting inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts
  • Indicator reference sheets specifying definitions, sources, frequency and disaggregation
  • Baseline, target and counterfactual considerations for employment impact evaluation
  • Tracer studies measuring placement quality, earnings, retention and progression
  • Data governance: consent, minimisation, access controls and retention schedules
  • Adaptive management decisions triggered by dashboard thresholds and evaluation evidence

Participants can assemble a practical implementation plan for a priority green workforce intervention.

  • Green workforce strategy structure: vision, targets, interventions, ownership and budget
  • Prioritisation matrices scoring occupations by demand, inclusion potential and feasibility
  • 90-day implementation plans with milestones, dependencies, risks and named owners
  • Stakeholder engagement maps identifying influence, interests, commitments and communication methods
  • Ministerial briefing notes presenting choices, costs, risks and recommended decisions
  • Personal application plans translating course methods into workplace deliverables

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Green labour market diagnostic template
  2. Just-transition policy design checklist
  3. Occupational skills pathway model
  4. Employer partnership memorandum template
  5. Workforce results framework and indicator reference sheet
  6. 90-day green workforce implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Employment Policy Managers — need to align labour-market measures with climate and industrial priorities
  • Climate and Energy Programme Officers — need workforce plans that support project delivery and decent work
  • Economic Development Officials — need evidence-based approaches to regional green employment growth
  • TVET and Skills System Leaders — need demand-led occupational pathways and provider performance measures
  • Development Programme Managers — need implementable green jobs interventions with measurable outcomes
  • Employer Partnership and CSR Managers — need structured routes to recruit, train and retain green talent

Skills and tools covered

Green labour analysisJust-transition planningSkills pathway designEmployer partnership buildingInclusive programme designWorkforce results measurement

Tools and standards

ILO Guidelines for a Just Transition, ESCO classification, Theory of Change, Results Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish core methods, followed by sector-based cases from energy, construction, transport and local economic development. Participants interpret labour-market evidence, compare policy options, develop programme components in groups and test decisions through stakeholder simulations. Facilitated discussions examine trade-offs between speed, inclusion, cost, employer demand and outcome quality. Individual application planning helps participants adapt course materials to their own ministry, municipality, agency, employer or development programme.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have professional experience in public policy, employment services, skills development, climate programmes, economic development, infrastructure delivery or employer engagement. Familiarity with basic labour market concepts, government programme design or project management is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading tables, charts and short policy documents. No prior qualification in environmental science, economics, data analysis or instructional design is required. The course explains the relevant climate, labour market and workforce-development terminology before applying it to policy and programme decisions.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need experience in a relevant policy, workforce, climate, economic development or programme role. The course does not require prior study of environmental science, advanced economics or statistical software.

Bring a laptop for reviewing course materials and developing planning outputs. If possible, bring a current workforce strategy, climate plan, employment data extract or programme concept from your organisation.

It is designed for public officials, development practitioners, skills-system leaders and employer partnership managers. It is most useful for professionals who must connect climate investment or industrial policy to employment, training and inclusion outcomes.

This course focuses on the link between green economic activity and workforce systems. It addresses labour-market evidence, skills pathways, training delivery, employer commitments, public procurement and employment outcome measurement rather than general climate policy or internal HR management.

Participants can use the templates to assess a priority sector, define occupational demand, structure employer engagement and specify programme indicators. The final implementation plan provides a starting point for a ministry, municipality, donor-funded programme or employer partnership.

The course runs for five instructor-led days, normally 08:30-16:30, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Time is divided between instructor briefings, case analysis, group work, decision simulations and preparation of an individual application plan.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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