The Learning and Knowledge Development Facility (LKDF) is a platform that promotes industrial skills development among young people in emerging economies. Working with the private sector through Public Private Development Partnerships, the LKDF supports the establishment and upgrading of local industrial training academies to help meet the labour market’s increasing demand for skilled employees, ultimately contributing to inclusive and sustainable industrial development. The long-term success of local industrial academies that partner with the LKDF is ensured through constant monitoring of economic, environmental and social impact. UNIDO manages the facility, on behalf of the LKDF's donors and private sector partners.

The LKDF has 3 core functions: 1. Results-based Learning and development to capture best practices and summarize and share lessons learned from PPDPs. 2. Management training to provide support and guidance to training managers and decision makers within the host country’s educational training system. 3. Project development to support the development of new PPDPs and ensure the Facility’s long-term success. The LKDF aims to learn in a systematic way about PPDPs, as this kind of collaboration is an effective and increasingly used means to achieve international development goals. PPDPs are ventures where partners from the private, public and development sectors come together to design and implement a project with a wider development impact. They share cost, risks, rewards and responsibilities.

A key objective of LKDF is to disseminate the gathered knowledge for the greater public good by using face-to-face and virtual learning spaces such as meetings, publications, web portal, curricula and explanatory videos. The learning is shared in order to strengthen the existing and new PPDPs and the partnership, share with new PPDPs and partners for more efficiency and effectiveness, and to share with external organizations so their initiatives benefit from our learning.

Sida, together with UNIDO, is a founding partner of the LKDF and have pursued its implementation in response to initial successes in Sida’s PPDP projects. With a serious lack of publicly available knowledge on the use of PPP’s in development projects, Sida are keen to provide a service that develops such knowledge and best practice in this field. The LKDF is subject to the governance of a Project Steering Committee which is made up of representatives from the PPDP projects. UNIDO is the secretary of the Project Steering Committee and together with donors on the governing board, they assure the development of the LKDF is aligned with the established objectives. The LKDF also manages an Annual Partners Learning Workshop which brings together all stakeholders to share knowledge and lessons learned.

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Komatsu, Festo, Scania, The Volvo Group, Aikagroup, Government of Finland, Government of Japan, Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA-KRG), Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (Morocco), Office of Vocational Training and Employment Promotion (OFPPT), Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Minerals (Uruguay), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Industry (Ethiopia), Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MOE) (Zambia), Technical Education and Vocational Training networks in Ethiopia, Iraq, Liberia, Morocco, Uruguay, Zambia, South Africa