Christian Brändli, Head of Private Sector Development, SECO & Daniel Uribe, Executive Director, Fundación Corona, Colombia

In this episode of EWF Conversations, EWF Programme Director Fabrizio Trifirò talks to Christian Brändli Head of Private Sector Development at the Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs (SECO), and Daniel Uribe, Director at Fundación Corona Colombia,. This is the second in a series of 4 episodes sponsored by EOF to explore how innovative financing is reshaping education and skills systems at a time of fiscal constraints. This second episode focuses on linking financing to employment outcomes, specifically looking at how governments can ensure skills development translates into real-world jobs as labor markets evolve. Christian and Daniel discuss the mismatch between private sector demand and current education supply, the necessity of building internal government capacity to transition from paying for inputs to paying for verified employment results, and share examples of success from impactful programs in Colombia, South Africa, and Morocco. They also reflect on the challenge of using data to track job placement and retention while simultaneously advocating for flexible, micro-credentialed learning pathways to better align with the rapid pace of the modern market