Skill Development for a 21st Century Africa

1
www.centumlearning.com
www.centumlearning.com
Skill Development for a 21st Century Africa
African Development Conference at Harvard
Sanjeev Duggal
Centum 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 tertiary
education in Advanced economies ;
• Shortage of 45 mn medium-skilled workers (i.e with
secondary education & vocational training) in Developing
economies;
• Oversupply of 90-95 mn low-skill workers than employers
will need …… Younger developing economies can have 58
mn 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

8
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 Mobile
penetration 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

10
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 labour
productivity 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 of
skilling 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 Skill
Development
&
Entrepreneurship
NSDC, NSDA,
Sector Skill
Councils
Schools,
Colleges, Private
Training
Providers, ITIs
Marginalized
societies,
Unemployed
youth
20 Govt
Ministries
Viz 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
Industry
Government
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 Infrastructure
especially for technical courses.
Optimal usage of existing
national infrastructure is still not
happening.

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

NSDC has 187 Private
Training Partners & has
skilled 3.7 mn youth since
its inception
1
Sectors such as BPO, Retail,
Sales, Beauty, Hospitality,
Security have benefitted
especially for their
Frontline, Customer-facing
roles-holders
2
31 Sector Skills Councils in
place, that play a vital role
in bridging the gap between
industry requirements and
skilling curriculum
3
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.
5
Skill Development Framework in place with defined roles & responsibilities for all stakeholders
Skill Development - Achievements

Thank you
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