skill development for a 21st century africa
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www.centumlearning.com
www.centumlearning.com
Skill Development for a 21st Century Africa
African Development Conference at Harvard
Sanjeev DuggalCentum Learning
Why do Developing Economies need Skill Development?
As per a report by McKinsey Global Institute, by 2020 the global economy could face -
• Shortage of 38-40 mn high-skilled workers i.e with tertiaryeducation in Advanced economies ;
• Shortage of 45 mn medium-skilled workers (i.e withsecondary education & vocational training) in Developingeconomies;
• Oversupply of 90-95 mn low-skill workers than employerswill need …… Younger developing economies can have 58mn surplus unskilled/low-skilled workers
Developing economies will have too few medium-skilled workers for growth of labour-intensive
sectors and too many workers who lack the vocational training to escape low-productivity, low-income work
Employers cite shortage of Skilled employees as a constraint, but are unwilling to pay a premium for one
Skill Development space is still evolving with different agencies handling same agenda, absence of standards, lack of training capacity etc
For Governments, there are huge gaps between good intent & policy announcements on one end and on- ground implementation on the other
A large % of target segment cannot afford to pay for Skilling.
For Implementing agencies, paradox exists between evangelizing the process of skilling and achieving operational efficiency
Skill Development - Challenges
Low intrinsic ‘aspiration quotient’ leading to low demand for Vocational Skilling programmes
Sources: Africa at work: Job creation & inclusive growth – A report by McKinsey Global Institute – August 2012
Why is Skill Development critical for Africa?
With almost 200 mn people aged between 15 and 24, Africa has the youngest population in the world
17 mn African youth enter the job market every year. Africa’s labour force will be largest in the world by 2035
Only 51% of 15-24 year olds participate in wage-earning jobs. Underemployment, Vulnerable Employment and Working Poverty are widespread
The lack of a growing skilled-labour force in turn reduces national competitiveness
and opportunities to attract investment
As the history of conflicts in Africa amply demonstrates, unemployed youth are more likely to be recruited into armed movements, criminal gangs & illicit activities
Youth Unemployment & its cascading effects is a major concern for most African Governments
Legacy Issues - Education systems inherited at independence have for a long time marginalized technical and vocational education
Formal TVET delivery systems are largely school-based and driven by a rigid ‘supply-side’ curriculum. Focus on expectations of employers is missing
Skills mismatch - Curriculum comprising mainly of theory lessons, examinations etc, rather than the acquisition of the practical skills required for work.
The informal skills training sectors are poorly equipped, only marginally linked to the formal sector and lack channels for upward mobility and professional development
Majority of workers in micro and small enterprises learn their trade ‘On the Job’ in the informal sector rather than in the formal TVET sector.
Many African governments are dependent on external sources of funding for skill development programmes, while the Enterprise Training market is still evolving
Skill Development in Africa – Challenges
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Need Of The Hour -Government + Enterprise Confluence
Mission Driven Approach Corporate Value Driven Approach
Alignment with Enterprises’ Growth Strategy
Government’s Skill Development goal should be connecting with ‘Creating shared value’ aspirations of Corporate/ private sector not
just CSR
Strategic Levers
Focus on Sectors where most jobs will be created –Agriculture, Retail, Manufacturing, Construction.
Africa’s
Agricultural revenues could
reach $1 trillion $ by 2030, creating 8
million new jobs
Multi-partnership mechanism to assure
training quality
Capacity building of
trainers.
Usage of National Infrastructure
Robust skills evaluation mechanism
A blended learning approach using
Instructor-led training with methodologies that make training more effective.
Content should be
relevant &
interactive-learning based, incorporating
popular culture
Essential for scaling-up with Mobilepenetration more than 80%.
Hybrid Model is the answer today.
Telecom provides the disruptive opportunity to reach out millions of young people destroying the digital divide.
• Listening & Understanding
• Negotiating responsibly
• Empathizing• Establishing &
Using Networks• Being Assertive• Persuading
effectively
User Centric Training
Approach
Ecosystem Capability Building
Imparting Employability
Skills
Sectoral Focus
Key Focus Areas
Leverage Technology
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Roadmap Ahead
Diversified Economies
• Africa’s Growth engines –Egypt, Morocco, South Africa etc
• Significant Manufacturing & Service industries
• Have higher unit labour costs (i.e. low labour productivity) & must move towards competing in higher-value industries
• Have to create Skilled manpower for advanced industries
Oil Exporters
• Algeria, Angola, Nigeria etc
• Highest GDP per capita but least diversified economies –Manufacturing & Services are relatively small (1/3rd
of GDP)
• Need to finance the broader development of their economies including Skill development for Manufacturing & Service industries
Transition Economies
• Ghana , Kenya, Senegal etc
• Lower GDP per capita than 1st 2 groups but growing rapidly
• Export manufactured goods like processed foods, chemicals, apparel, to other African countries. Need to improve their labourproductivity to compete globally
• Lot of unmet demand fuelling growth of Sectors such as Telecom, Banking, formal Retail, that need Skilling solutions
Pre-Transition Economies
• Low GDP per capita but some of them are growing very rapidly –DRC, Ethiopia & Mali
• Lack of strong, stable public institutions, good macroeconomic indicators and sustainable agricultural development
• Vocational skilling can be a key enabler in reducing unemployment & poverty in these regions
India is poised to become the world’s youngest country by 2020,
with 64% of population to be in the 15-59 years age
bracket by 2026
Around 12 million people are expected to join the workforce
every year, over the next decade
In contrast, it has training capacity of around 4.3 mn
Around 93% of the Indian workforce is employed in the
unorganized sector, which lacks any kind of formal skill
development system
The % of formally skilled workforce in India is 2%
A large labour force and an industry grappling with a dearth of suitable manpower is a paradox that defines India’s demographic profile
1. Reaping India’s promised demographic dividend – Report by E&Y , July 2013
India’s Story
India’s Skills Architecture – How Has It Evolved Over Years
Realizing the huge opportunity that India’s demography offers, Govt of India has rolled-out an ambitious plan ofskilling 500 mn youth by 2022, to meet the nation’s skilling requirements and usher it into an era of high growth
ITIs
• Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) were the mainstay for vocational training for 5 decades
• There are more than 10,000 ITIs with 15 lakh capacity
Apprenticeship Act, 1961
• To ensure that trainees get optimum access to On-the-job training.
• Amendment in place now, to increase number of trainees & employer’s participation
National Skills Policy
• Formulated in 2009, this was the 1st step towards Skill Development involving all stakeholders
National Skills Qualification Framework
• To standardize academic delivery
• Developing the framework at each level with involvement of industry
India now has a separate Ministry for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, that is conceived to integrate
the efforts & streamline the functioning of different stakeholders working for Skill Development and set common standards
Current Skills Stakeholder Ecosystem
National Skills Qualification Framework
Ministry of SkillDevelopment
& Entrepreneurship
NSDC, NSDA, Sector Skill
Councils
Schools, Colleges, Private
Training Providers, ITIs
Marginalized societies,
Unemployed youth
20 GovtMinistriesViz Rural
Development, Labour,
Education etc
Low Income Group, Schools & College Students
Financial Institutions,
Apprenticeship Act
Captive Training by Employers,
Assessment Agencies
Key Bodies Enablers Implementing Bodies
Beneficiaries
Major Role-Holders
• Align with Government’s vision & implement training programmes
• Connect with industry for Demand analysis , Curriculum development, Placements
• Implement the entire value chain from candidate mobilization to placement & settlement
Skilling Partners like Centum Learning
• Plan & scale-up to skill a large populace and bring them into the workforce
• Provide finance for skilling of underprivileged candidates
Government
• Drive demand of skilled employees• Provide inputs for course curriculum & assessment
standards, aligned to the industry• On-The-Job training
IndustryGovernment
Industry
Skilling Partners
Mismatch between youth aspirations & jobs available –This hampers the entire value chain from mobilization to placements
Candidate Mobilization is an arduous task, considering that ‘Youth@Risk’ segment is being targeted where there is little motivation to get skilled
Candidate Retention during training is a challenge due to socio-economic constraints as well as low motivation to complete the course.
Content has to be relevant & interesting for the target profile & should be customized in terms of language, methodology etc
Low willingness to migrate from rural areas to cities where most jobs are. Attrition after joining is high.
Lack of Training Infrastructureespecially for technical courses. Optimal usage of existing national infrastructure is still not happening.
Skill Development - Challenges
As employers are not ready to pay a premium for Skills, candidates have low motivation to get skilled.
Strong preference for a ‘White-collared’ job results in Vocational education being treated as poorer cousin of Formal education.
Standards for Assessment & Certification are still being put in place.
Methodology of assessing & certifying skills attained on the job (i.e. Recognition of Prior Learning) still being formalized. This is specially important for Unorganised sector
Scalability – With the market still disaggregated with 20 different ministries handling 73 schemes with disparate guidelines, scaling up is an issue
In the Skills ecosystem, industry participation is still limited, which leads to gap in employers’ expectations & and results achieved in a vocational skilling course
Skill Development - Challenges
NSDC has 187 Private Training Partners & has skilled 3.7 mn youth since its inception
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Sectors such as BPO, Retail, Sales, Beauty, Hospitality, Security have benefitted especially for their Frontline, Customer-facing roles-holders
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31 Sector Skills Councils in place, that play a vital role in bridging the gap between industry requirements and skilling curriculum
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NOS (National Occupation Standards) have been developed for job-roles across sectors for curriculum standardization & focus on outcomes
4 Already 900 Government schools across 10 states have enrolled for programmes under National Skills Qualification framework.
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Skill Development Framework in place with defined roles & responsibilities for all stakeholders
Skill Development - Achievements
Thank you
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