Tag: skills

Need for Technical and Vocational Skill Development in Africa

CADD CENTRE

The term Technical and Vocational skills Development follow the 1997 UNESCO International Standard Classification of Education definition, which is education and training to “acquire the practical skills, know-how and understanding necessary for employment in a particular occupation, trade or group of occupations or trades.” Africa has roughly 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 that are required to be trained to develop skills so that they are either employable or can start their own enterprises. In order to train and modernize their technical labour pool for rapid industrialization and national development, African countries need to embrace Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). The skills shortage is a priority that the Africa’s leadership in various sectors will need to address urgently, otherwise the country would be forced to ease restrictions for foreign workers to be able to meet the human resource requirements. Education and skills can open doors for economically and socially rewarding jobs and can seek growth for small-scale unofficial enterprise. The development of job-related skills therefore, should be a part of Africa’s human resource strategies and its poverty-reduction strategies.

 

Characteristics of Technical and Vocational skills Development systems:

TVET delivery systems are placed to train the skilled and efficient entrepreneurs that Africa needs to create wealth and thus emerge out of poverty. It can respond, not only to the requirements of different types of industries, but also caters to the needs of the learners from different sections of the society, and prepare them for a meaningful and supportable life while giving them employment.

 

The Impact of Technical and Vocational Training in Africa at present:

With the turn of the century, a fresh awareness of the analytical role played by TVET in economic growth and national development has been perceived by policy makers in many African countries and within the international contributing community. In its poverty reduction strategy document, Cameroon for example intends to develop vocational and professional training to promote union into the labour market; Cote d’Ivoire talks about strengthening vocational training; Ghana has associated vocational education and training with education of the youth and the development of technical and business management skills; Lesotho and Rwanda focus on linking TVET to businesses while Malawi emphasizes that it is required to promote self-employment through skills development. Other countries that have prioritized TVET initiatives in their national development policy documents including Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia. Below is a graph showing the decrease in unemployment rate from January, 2014 to January,2015 from the data collected by Federal Reserve Bank.

The Education minister of Rwanda in Africa, Musafiri stated that expanding the training for technical and vocational skills development will bring innovative solutions to various challenges in the country which is its top priority requirement. The growing youth population of Africa comes with high energy, creativity and talents and the time has come to be able to utilize it by the development of their technical and vocational skills.

How Employability skills are essential for African Youth

CADD CENTRE

Need for Employability Skills for African Youth:

“Employability Skills can be defined as the transferable skills needed by an individual to make them ’employable’.” The future economic growth of any nation is determined by the potential skills of its youth, and not by its capital or material resources. In Africa, the number of highly qualified, skilled yet unemployed youth is increasing to one of the greatest populations in the world. “The current trend indicates that this figure will double by 2045”, according to the 2012 African Economic Outlook report prepared by experts from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the industrialized countries’ Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), among others. The Youth accounts for 60% of all Africans that are unemployed, according to the World Bank. In North Africa, the youth unemployment rate is 30% which is even worse in Botswana, the Republic of the Congo, Senegal, South Africa and several other countries. South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world (29.8 percent) approximating to roughly 4.5 million unemployed people, of whom the majorities are young people (Census 2011). According to the African Economic Outlook, “on average, more than 70% of Africa’s youth live on less than US$2 per day, the internationally defined poverty threshold.” Despite the complex and unclear relationship between education and employment, post-basic education in employment skills development programs have been identified as potential solutions for the African youth that is facing employability challenges. If youth skills are accessed with the purpose of empowerment, the youth would be able discover new domains while getting employment. CADD Centre is the prime solution provider for the industries in Africa giving them a strong base to be able to compete in the global marketplace. This results in the development of the economy of Africa as well as employability skills in individuals.

Impact of Employability Skills in African Youth:

They are extremely important as jobs today require individuals to undertake multiple tasks at once and these skills develop broader range of job-specific competencies in individuals. Education and skills can open doors for economically and socially rewarding jobs and can seek growth for small-scale unofficial enterprise. With the establishment of various government entities and SETAs, the opportunities of youth employability have been improved through their skills development process .Youth employment challenges will be handled and economic growth will be promoted through the construction of these skills. Thus, it is imperative to teach youth employability skills in order for them to sustain and progress in an information economy and thus eradicate unemployment and poverty.

Since drafting is not a preferred job by other elite countries, it gives them ample scope to get into professional career. In the words of Zambia’s Prime Minister, “Youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb,” which now appears to be perilously close to exploding thus Africa’s education curricula should include skills and enterprise development.