A/HRC/26/27 irrespective of the countries where they were acquired and whether acquired formally or informally. Moreover, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requires States in their reporting to indicate the measures taken to increase the availability of TVET programmes and whether they enable students to acquire knowledge and skills which contribute to their personal development, self-reliance and employability (HRI/GEN/2/Rev.6, section II, para. 60). A. Towards a new and unique approach 58. National assessment mechanisms for TVET programmes require a new and unique assessment mechanism to reflect how they differ from traditional academic programmes. TVET programmes involve private-public partnerships under the overall responsibility of Governments and institutionalized collaboration between TVET institutions and enterprises. A dual system of vocational training where students in vocational streams also undergo practical learning and training in enterprises is well organized in some developed countries and is a useful example for the developing world to draw upon for devising innovative policies and approaches. 59. Governments, enterprises and TVET institutions must thus be collectively involved in defining the vocational trades and in developing assessment mechanisms of the attainments of students as part of a tripartite system. This is indispensable for ensuring that TVET graduates are responsive to ever-changing national and private sector employment requirements, with the State also ensuring that TVET programmes and the assessments of them are supplemented by a broader human rights-based education. B. Qualification frameworks for skills and competencies, including recognition of skills in the informal sector 60. In an endeavour to transform technical and vocational education and training, novel approaches are emerging to assess TVET programmes. For example, countries in Latin America have adopted a competency-based approach, such as the Occupational Competency Standardization and Certification Council in Mexico and the National Service of Learning (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) in Colombia. Similarly, the National Programme for the integration between professional and basic education for young people and adults (PROEJA), established in 2006 in Brazil, is aimed at providing technical and vocational education and training at the basic and secondary education levels, as well as providing continuing technical education for young adults. 61. The emerging concept of technical and vocational skills development in Africa calls for novel mechanisms in the form of national qualification frameworks. In South Africa, the national qualifications framework provides a mechanism for awarding qualifications based on the attainment of specified learning skills prescribed by industry. It allows for the accumulation of credits and for the recognition of prior learning. Similarly, the Mauritius Education and Human Resource Strategy Plan 2008–2020 recognizes the need for creative learning – the acquisition of skills and competencies that unlock the human potential – as a paramount necessity since education is one of the cardinal drivers of economic growth, including a quality assurance system. Accordingly, a qualifications authority in the TVET sector has been established. 62. The Special Rapporteur considers that it is important for each country to develop a national framework of certification, recognizing and validating various modes of the acquisition of skills in a coherent and unified system. The recognition of prior learning, as expressed in ILO Recommendation No. 195, can help to bridge the divide between formal and informal technical and vocational skills development systems by providing mechanisms and opportunities for the recognition and validation of experiential learning. It 14