ASEAN
Lighthouse Project - Gender Transformative Coaching for TVET stakeholders in ASEAN
Description
Just before the Lighthouse casts its glow: Lighthouse project - Gender Transformative Coaching for TVET Stakeholders in ASEAN
Author: Veena Cute-ngarmpring, Sebastian Maerz | Editor: Thu Nguyen
We often imagine…
A TVET classroom where every student feels safe, supported, and truly belongs—where they are encouraged and empowered to grow with confidence.
A STEM learning space that engages every student equally, including those with disabilities.
What if this vision didn’t remain wishful thinking, but became a movement where everyone has the chance to thrive?
Towards an Inclusive TVET System — A Story in Motion
An inclusive TVET system starts from within, but it doesn’t happen on its own. It begins with individuals feeling seen and valued for their diverse identities and strengths. As relationships evolve, spaces become more intentional—welcoming diversity, encouraging different perspectives, and upholding zero tolerance for discrimination and gender-based violence.
Over time, this shapes a culture that sees difference as a driver of innovation and fosters shared responsibility for inclusion. Systems and structures then align to support these values, embedding equity and inclusion into policies, practices, and the broader world of work.
Photo: TVET students at Politeknik Negeri Bandung, Indonesia (© D.Chandra/GIZ 2024)
About The Lighthouse Project - "Gender Transformative Coaching for TVET stakeholders in ASEAN"
The project is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für lnternationale Zusammenarbeit (GlZ) GmbH. The project aims to support positive transformation of TVET institutions and TVET-related SEAMEO centres towards gender equality to encouraging and empowering female students and prospect students on Green and Technology skills. Project activities build gender-transformative mindsets and skills among TVET stakeholders, enabling TVET college and SEAMEO personnel to identify key gender and inclusion challenges and implement solutions toward modern, inclusive, exemplary institutions.
At the Heart of our Project
The people who shape learning are at the heart of our project. TVET managers ensure schools are safe and welcoming for all, especially girls and women, while teachers will be able to adapt curricula and methods to foster gender inclusion. Together, they embark on a transformative journey to make TVET institutions more equitable.
Staff across four regional centres of Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) also join this journey to exchange their experience and fostering an inter-centre collaboration, guided by experts from GIZ. With one coach supporting a small group of participants, the project sparks collaboration and innovation, creating solutions that advance gender and social inclusion in TVET.
Photo: TVET students at Politeknik Industri Furnitur dan Pengolahan Kayu, Indonesia (© D.Chandra/GIZ 2024)
Exploring Our Power to Change: Coaching on Gender-Transformative Approaches (GTA)
Through one-on-one and group coaching sessions, Gender-Transformative Approaches (GTA) unfolded not as a lecture, but as a reflective journey—an exploration of power and the roots of inequality. Participants questioned norms, shared stories, and reimagined what equity could look like. This work was not just about empowering women and girls, but about transforming systems together, with men stepping forward as allies.
At the heart of these sessions was a quiet but powerful realization: change does not begin in policies or structures—it begins within people.
Through reflection, dialogue, and shared experiences, assumptions were challenged, and long-held beliefs were gently—and sometimes uncomfortably—reexamined.
Planning for action: Design Thinking methodology
In the coaching sessions, participants were empowered to take the lead, with guidance that supported rather than instructed their path. The sessions encouraged them to explore and uncover their own insights. Using a Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion framework along with practical tools, they gained deeper clarity and confidence in navigating the challenges they encountered.
Photo: Design Thinking Bootcamp, Malaysia (©People&Pixel/GIZ 2025)
This is where Design Thinking came in as a human-centered approach to problem-solving. It invited participants to look closely at people’s lived experiences, to design solutions rooted in real needs, and to adapt those ideas to their own contexts.
As the process unfolded, ideas for a more inclusive TVET system began to take shape.
Participants explored the idea of working together with diverse stakeholders—TVET institutions and industry partners—to create an innovative learning hub that empowers girls and women in STEM. They reflected on what it takes to build classrooms where every student feels safe and a true sense of belonging with spaces where diversity is respected, different needs are supported, and discrimination has no place, allowing all learners to thrive.
What began as a method evolved into a mindset—one in which inclusion, empathy, and innovation guide the way forward.
Photo: SEAMEO and GIZ changemakers at the Design Thinking Bootcamp, Malaysia (©People&Pixel/GIZ 2025)
Shaping Ideas into Action plans
What began as ideas soon took shape into activity plan for their organization. Participants from four participated SEAMEO centres pitched their visions to leaders and colleagues, each project reflecting creativity, human-centered thinking, and a real commitment to change. The project ideas include making the gender responsive organization, promoting gender-transformative in STEM and TVET perspective and practices within the region, raising awareness on inclusive practices and designing a support mechanism to empower girls in TVET.
As the community of practice took shape, two Indonesian TVET institutions were invited to share their project ideas. Their initiatives engage teachers, school managers, and students in raising awareness of often unspoken gender biases and barriers within education.
They have begun exploring new approaches to adjust their teaching methods and are planning to pilot more inclusive practical learning labs that encourage active participation and improve learning outcomes. Looking ahead, they aim to expand these efforts by building the capacity of fellow lecturers and integrating inclusive best practices into their curricula.
These ideas were no longer just abstract concepts; they had become clear pathways forward, ready to be put into implementation and action.
The lighthouse now stands ready to shine, illuminating what was once in shadow. And each of us can be that light—you can be one too.
Photo: Lighthouse Project participants from SEAMEO SEN and SEAMEO VOCTECH (©People&Pixel/GIZ 2025)
Photos: SEAMEO inter-centre group work with GIZ coach (©People&Pixel/GIZ 2025)
The Lighthouse Project “Gender transformative coaching for TVET stakeholders in ASEAN”
SEAMEO Centres Stream
The individual coaching and group coaching sessions took place virtually during March – July, 2025. While the design thinking boot camp took place during 25-29 August 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The idea pitching session organized virtually on 26 February 2026.
Explore the Lighthouse Pitching Projects
Practical Support for Girls in Five General and Technical High Schools
in Cambodia through Mentoring, Coaching, and Counselling
Promoting Gender and Disability-Inclusive Practices in TVET through Regional Learning and Educator Recognition
Photo: Lighthouse Project participants from Politeknik Industri Furnitur dan Pengolahan Kayu, Indonesia (© D.Chandra/GIZ 2024)
Photo: Gender expert & coach Dr. Hani Yulindrasari and the Lighthouse Project participants from Politeknik Negeri Bandung, Indonesia (© Iriana/GIZ 2024)