The EFE projects are funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), through the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) in three countries in Africa: Tanzania, Mozambique and Senegal. The program began in 2009, with current projects slated to end by October 2011.

The program aims to better align training to actual country and sector needs and links the Ministries and government organizations responsible for technical and vocational education and training (TVET), the labour market players (such as employers, associations and unions) and the education and training networks to work together towards a common vision of labour force development. The focus of the EFE approach is to support a more rapid adjustment of skills training to the rapidly-changing employment, social and economic realities.

The goal of the EFE is to contribute to poverty reduction by supporting private sector development focusing, on the one hand, on the needs of businesses in the targeted sectors for the stability, creation and maintenance of sustainable jobs and, on the other hand, on social integration by contributing to an expansion of continuing education for the labour force which is transferable and produces qualified graduates.

The purpose of the EFE is to create sustainable partnerships which contribute to the improvement and establishment of national policies to align training to employment needs, to the implementation of institutional services for the benefit of employers, their employees and the self-employed, and to increased employability of the general public.