Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

Chinese Government provides a grant for the Djibouti Luban Workshop

Funder	Unspecified Chinese Government Institution
Recipient Organization	Djibouti Industrial and Commercial School (LIC)
Country	Djibouti
Start Date	Sep 03, 2018
End Date	Sep 17, 2026
Duration	2,936 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`85643`

Grant Description

In April 2017, Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College proposed that a Luban Workshop be constructed in Djibouti.

Luban Workshops are, in a vein similar to Confucius Institutes, Chinese Government-financed vocational training institutes.

In March 2018, the Tianjin Municipal Government included the Djibouti Luban Workshop in its list of construction projects.

Then, in early April 2018, Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College signed a memorandum of cooperation with Djiboutian Ministry of National and Higher Education for the Luban Workshop.

In May 2018, Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College set up a working group to plan and eventually construct the Luban Workshop.

Then, on September 3, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to build 10 Luban Workshops in Africa to provide vocational skills training to local youths.

Soon thereafter, the Chinese Government provided a grant to finance for the Djibouti Luban Workshop, the first Luban Workshop in Africa. The monetary value of this grant is unknown.

The Djibouti Luban Workshop was located at Djibouti Industrial and Commercial School (French: Lycée Industriel et Commercial de Djibouti (LIC)). The workshop was divided into two parts, one covering rail transit and the other covering logistics and trade. There were seven training rooms over a total of 1,000 square meters.

The educational model of the Luban Workshop, such as the teaching concepts, models, courses, as well as the teaching equipment and materials, all originated from Tianjin.

The workshop included a railway operation teaching area, a locomotive driving simulation teaching area, a model railway display area, research areas, a panoramic perception training area, a cognitive training operation area, and a logistics warehouse simulation area.

The workshop also featured auxiliary spaces at the Djibouti International Free Trade Zone (DIFTZ) and the Nagad Railway Station to allow for practical and pre-job training of students. The workshop offered diplomas for students and worked closely with companies.

The Luban Workshop was expected to help Djibouti become a regional shipping and commercial center by 2035, and specifically improve Djibouti's modern railway system (which was constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Group, which expected the workshop would train future employees).

China Civil Engineering Construction Group was responsible for the construction of the school, while Tianjin The First Commercial School and Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College provided academic support, with Tianjin First College of Commerce specifically supporting the school's international trade and logistics course and Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College specifically supporting teaching in railway engineering and railway operation and management, two new majors at Djibouti Industrial and Commercial School.

The Tianjin Municipal Government and Djibouti's Ministry of National and Higher Education were also involved in project implementation.

The opening ceremony of Djibouti Luban Workshop was held on March 28, 2019 in a ceremony attended by President of Djibouti Ismaïl Omar Guelle.

📋 Staff Comments

The Chinese project title is 吉布提鲁班工坊. The French project title is Atelier Luban de Djibouti.
In late 2017, the Chinese Government and the Government of Djibouti signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) in which the Chinese Government committed grant funding to Djibouti for a vocational training center in the Djibouti International Free Trade Zone (DIFTZ) and the construction of 500 social housing units (see linked project ID#85711 and source 'Le Président Guelleh et xi jinping réteirènt leur volanté d'intensifier les échanges économiques et commerciaux entre les deux pays'). It is unclear whether this ETCA committed financing to the Djibouti Luban Workshop, as it was not located (primarily) in DIFTZ. Similarly, it is unclear when the Chinese Government formally committed to financing this project; a memorandum was signed in April 2018, and it seems by Xi's September 2018 announced that the project had been committed to. In the absence of more information, AidData has coded the announcement date of the Luban Workshops in Africa as the commitment date, September 3, 2018, and checked the committment_date_estimated? field.
While no sources explicitly name this as grant, it was eventually such and has been coded accordingly.
Luban Workshop (鲁班工坊) is a technical assistance program started by Tianjin's Vocational Institute in BRI countries. While it is an important Chinese foreign policy objective, the workshop is not funded through a specific fund or a government entity. Instead, it is heavily dependent on each project. While the Chinese government may directly fund some projects, Chinese SOEs or the specific vocational schools in Tianjin may fund others. As a result, AidData assumes an unspecified Chinese government agency has funded the project. For more information, please consult: https://www.tj.gov.cn/zwgk/szfwj/tjsrmzfbgt/202005/t20200519_2370529.html?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template and http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s5147/202112/t20211202_584025.html

📚 Sources & References

驻吉布提大使卓瑞生出席吉布提鲁班工坊启动运营揭牌仪式
在非洲建设的吉布提鲁班工坊揭牌
Africa's first Luban Workshop opens in Djibouti
Le Président Guelleh et xi jinping réteirènt leur volanté d'intensifier les échanges économiques et commerciaux entre les deux pays
非洲首家鲁班工坊在吉布提揭牌
我市在海外建成17个鲁班工坊打造“一带一路”上的技术驿站
Le Président de la République procède à l’inauguration d’importants locaux dédiés à l’apprentissage des métiers ferroviaires.
铁道职业技术学院吉布提鲁班工坊建设背后故事
Winning friends by training workers is China’s new gambit
China is educating engineers around the world
Luban Workshop——China’s vocational education going global
Luban Workshop
Carrying out various vocational trainings to help cultivate professional talents and take China-Africa capacity building cooperation to a new level Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.