Promoting Skills Development in Africa Jürgen Schwettmann Deputy Regional Director ILO Regional Office for Africa, Addis Ababa

1.Why skills development? 2.The ILO and skills development in Africa 3.How to meet the skills and job gaps – What’s the strategy? 4.Approaches: Rural community-based training and upgrading informal apprenticeship 5.Key features: Challenge fund and public-private partnerships Empowering women Building up sub-regional cooperation Meeting immediate economic and environmental crises More Jobs for Africa’s Young Women and Men

increases the employability and earning potential of young men and women, improves the competitiveness and productivity of enterprises and economic sectors, expands the inclusiveness of growth. Skills Development

From a vicious to a virtuous circle Without skills the working poor remain trapped in low-skilled, low productive, low-wage jobs; Workers without the right skills from cannot participate in economic growth – especially those in rural areas and the informal economy. But: skills development makes it easier to: innovate adopt new technologies attract investment compete in new markets diversify the economy, and respond to external shocks ….thus boosting job growth and improving productivity, quality and income

The ILO and Skills Development in Africa One Regional Office (Addis), six sub-regional offices with technical teams, eight field offices; TC portfolio in Africa exceeds regular budget allocations; 90% of all TC projects are decentralized to field offices; regional priorities focus on informal economy workers, rural producers and the youths; The Decent Work Agenda for Africa and the “Decent Work Crisis Portfolio for Africa” both recognize the centrality of skills development for the continent.

How we set priorities in Africa Global/regional priorities; MDGs; DaO; donors ILO mandate; Decent Work Agenda Standards PRSPs, tripartite priorities Decent Work Country Programmes constitute the best possible intersection between ILO mandate, country characteristics and global priorities DWCPDWCP

Africa: Skills Development as a Top Priority Closing the skills gap in Africa: Target set at the 11th African Regional Meeting, Addis Ababa, April 2007: by 2015, Three-quarters of all African member States will critically review their national policies and strategies for education and training with the target of providing free universal primary education and (re)training opportunities for the working poor, especially young people and women and implement So that half of Africa’s workforce has obtained new or improved skills by 2015 Policy reviews and strategies to be based on the involvement of the social partners – employers associations and trade unions.

ILO Support towards these targets Advocacy based on international labour standards and social dialogue Technical assistance delivered through pilot projects –Inter-ministerial steering committees that include local government and social partners –Emphasis on impact assessment and learning lessons –Linking project experience to national policy and regional cooperation Research and tool development – globally and country-specific application Accountability to member States as a member-based organization, at regional and global levels Cooperation at international levels and through bilateral and regional donors… such as agreements undertaken through the Africa Commission

1.Take skills development to where people are: rural areas and the informal economy. 2.Match training to employers’ needs and to self- employment opportunities. 3.Upgrade the technical capacity of trainers. 4.Make training available to disadvantaged groups. 5.Ease the transition for youth from training into wage and self-employment. Our Strategy

Preparing for the future Help communities identify growth potential sectors and their skill needs Make training available in new skills and occupations and avoid skill gaps Develop clear pathways from basic education to vocational training to the labour market Integrate skills into national and sector development strategies, and Include skills development into national responses to global drivers of change – technology, trade, global warming, financial crisis

Developed from the principles of community-based training Expanded on the basis of learning from experience in West Africa and elsewhere: Link training to employment Focuses on providing training to the poor, underemployed and disadvantaged Proven effective as part of crisis-response rebuilding and in improving livelihoods of women and young people Builds on partnership: local and national government, local business, local training providers, community groups Approach 1: Training for Rural Economic Empowerment

Identify potential income generating activities before beginning training Work with local groups to assess the policy environment Build up self-sustaining cycle of identifying opportunities and training for them Approach 1: TREE – Key Factors of Success

Institutional organization and planning – local ownership and management Identify economic opportunities and assess training needs Assess ability of local trainers – master crafts persons, institutions, mobile training – and enable them to improve training Deliver the training Provide post-training support for micro-enterprise development and access to wage employment Facilitate a system of ongoing monitoring and tracer studies that help both young people and local businesses Approach 1: TREE Methodology

Approach 1: TREE - Results About 75% of training graduates use their skills in wage or self-employment (compared to 30-40% in conventional vocational training) Tracer studies confirm improved incomes after TREE training Effective in creating opportunities for persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and communities emerging from conflict or natural disaster TREE has been mainstreamed into national rural development policies Local training institutions continue to use training tools they developed through the programme

Approach 2: Apprenticeship Upgrading Apprenticeship is a widely used approach to training – it is the best training opportunity for most young Africans today; Apprenticeship is a system which provides training in productive skills and a financing scheme that enables young people to afford training The challenge is to improve the results

Apprenticeship: meeting the challenges Working…. Master crafts persons and apprentices expect mutual benefits that justify the costs. Business incentives are good. … but well? Relevance and quality of skills? Equity of Access? Employability of apprentices? Productivity and competitiveness of enterprises Traditional outcome Development outcome

Apprenticeship: policies and institutions Ways found to upgrade informal apprenticeship: control the quality of skills (standard setting) Support recognition of skills in labor markets (certification) ensure dissemination of new skills and technologies improve access for girls and expand occupational choice provide access to the very poor (microfinance) respect the rights of workers

Key Features: Challenge Funds Challenge funds for master crafts persons –Upgrade their own skills –Expand apprenticeships within clusters and invest in greater safety and health and social protection for apprentices Challenge funds for TREE –Mobile training units for rural areas –Training for trainers in new technologies –Improve working conditions to keep teachers in teaching –Incentives for community planning that feature sustained local involvement and ownership

Key Features: Women Empowerment How these approaches promote equal opportunity and target women’s skill development needs: Through cooperatives and challenge funds, women’s groups can identify opportunities and fill skill gaps Both kinds of training must help break down barriers to non-traditional occupations, but TREE and apprenticeship can make training available in women’s own communities and cultural traditions Post-training access to micro-credit, employers’ organizations, employment services help overcome barriers women face in using training to access better employment

Key Features: Sub-regional Cooperation ILO works with regional economic commissions, such as ECOWAS, ECA and SADC, connecting ministries, employers groups and workers groups across countries Foster a learning environment, based on impact assessment and lessons from pilot projects Connects joint efforts in skills development to sub-regional policies on trade and migration

Key Features: Crisis Response Global Climate Change: TREE programmes can be launched where communities need to adapt to changing weather patterns – new crops, new infrastructure, new markets all offer opportunities if we prepare for them Global Financial Crisis: TREE can help communities create more productive work for returning migrant workers and replace their remittances Better apprenticeships can help young people prepare for tighter labour markets

Coordination is critical through strategies and tools such as: Social dialogue – role of employers and workers; Skills forecasting and labour market information systems; Local economic development agencies; Value chain analysis; Industrial clusters; National development frameworks for inter-ministerial coordination and linking donor support to national priorities.

Asante Sana Jürgen Schwettmann Deputy Regional Director ILO Regional Office for Africa Christine Evans-Klock Director Skills and Employability Department ILO, Geneva