VTRM continues where Eden valley school left off. It provides course of study for High School graduates. The program aims to enhance the self-reliance and quality of life for the population in seven refugee camps along the Thai - Myanmar border and surrounding communities. The program offers training in Vocational skills for camp residents aged between 15 and 55 years through a standardization in line with Thai and international standards.

The prolonged encampment of refugees from Myanmar in the refugee camps along the Thai - Myanmar border has led to a broad range of social and economic issues that have impacted negatively on the quality of life of refugees. Feelings of frustration and anxiety due to the lack of meaningful activity has resulted in a rise in mental illness, gender based violence and alcohol and drug abuse. The lack of meaningful activity and livelihood opportunities for refugees has resulted in refugees becoming almost completely dependent on aid to meet their basic daily needs.

Through the provision of quality vocational training, refugees will have an avenue through which to break the cycle of aid-dependence. By providing refugees with the necessary vocational skills to access livelihood opportunities, the ptogram aims to build the self-reliance and enhance the quality of life of refugees and villagers in the surrounding Thai communities.

By providing quality vocational training, the program aims to prepare trainees to take advantage of livelihood opportunities in a broad range of contexts. Vocational skills relevant to the current context of encampment, to the Thai labour market and to resettlement countries (as well as voluntary / safe repatriation to Myanmar when it becomes possible) will be explored and introduced. In this way, the VT courses offered will prepare trainees to move towards self-reliance in whatever context they find themselves.

The program provides 6.000 persons from seven refugee camps and surrounding Thai communities with quality vocational training. Through cooperation with the Ministry of Education the program ensures that at least ten VT courses meet Thai educational standards. These VT courses adhere to the Thai training institution or Vocational Training College (VTC) curriculum and trainees are awarded Thai certification upon completion of the course. Where this is not possible, due, for instance, to the course being outside the scope of the Thai curriculum, VT courses are developed in line with international standards. These courses are designed to develop internationally recognized core technical competencies and trainees are awarded a certificate upon completion of the course that identifies the core competencies achieved. This allows employers, whether they are in Thailand or another country, to readily understand the skill level that trainees have acquired.

The program aims to improve the self-reliance and quality of life for 75% of trainees within six months of completing a VT course. While the self-reliance of trainees can, in part, be measured in terms of access to financial capital, the action also aims to improve trainees’ non-material resources. These resources include, among other things, a trainees’ sense of self-esteem, control and inclusion and influence in community decision-making. A survey will be designed at the start of the action in order to capture and measure the action’s impact on the self-reliance and quality of life of trainees.