By Kebba AF Touray
Mr. Ousman Sillah, the Secretary General of the sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET) and former Member of the National Assembly, said the existing continental strategy for technical and vocational education and training (TVET 2015-24) to foster youth employment was developed to address the growing problems of youth unemployment and underemployment in Africa.
Mr. Sillah made the above remarks while speaking at the drafting of a revised Africa Continental Technical and Vocational Education Training Strategy 2025-2034, held recently at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from the 6th-8th of August 2024. The said convergence was for participants to develop a Revised Continental TVET Strategy for the next ten years.
As part of a small multidisciplinary group of technical experts in education, skills development and employment policy formulation, management and governance, Mr. Sillah was invited by the education division of the African Union Commission (AUC) to serve as a member of the drafting team for the development of the revised continental strategy (TVET 2025-34).
The drafting team comprising representatives from the AUC, AUDA-NEPAD, ILO, UNESCO, UNHCR, GIZ, AfDB, the private sector, education and skills development experts and practitioners; legal and policy specialists; and communications and advocacy specialists, converged at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa to develop the revised strategy for the next ten years.
According to Mr. Sillah, the drafting team was given the task of translating the findings and recommendations of a task force into a revised continental TVET strategy to serve as the main working document from which other stakeholders shall debate and improve. He said the specific objectives of the drafting team are to synthesize and consider the findings and recommendations from the TVET review process and articulate a comprehensive framework for TVET development across Africa, to encompass strategic objectives, key priorities, and implementation mechanisms. He added that it was also aimed at facilitating the validation and adoption of the revised continental TVET strategy 2025-34 by the relevant AU organs and bodies. He said it aims to provide a comprehensive framework for the design and development of national policies and strategies that will enhance skills development and employability, and that the main thrust is a paradigm shift through the development of TVET systems that prepare young people to be job creators rather than job seekers.
“It is because of the changing economic and social landscape that a review of this Strategy became necessary to be undertaken to assess the extent of the progress made in terms of the current CTVET Strategy 2015-24 meeting, the set goals, objectives, and priorities and to also identify the revised strategy and concrete options and strategies for improving TVET policies and systems in Africa,” Mr. Sillah said. He said the review is meant to provide recommendations of actions that would seek to realign the next phase of implementation that will emerge from the continental and global skills development trends and priorities.
In her remarks during the closing ceremony, Sabine Claus, Head of the GIZ Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA) program, described the exercise as very productive in bringing together a team with diverse expertise that passionately worked as a family with a common purpose and sense of mission. She thanked members of the drafting team for coming and for supporting the strategy. She said the next step is getting all stakeholders on board to support the process and make the youth benefit from TVET with the creation of job opportunities in Africa and even in Europe, which has an aging population and needs skilled workers.
In delivering the closing statement, Sophia Ashipala, head of the education division of the AU Commission, thanked the GIZ for its support in bringing together the team of experts and practitioners of the drafting team in a very short time and said this is a demonstration of its strong partnership with the Commission. She also expressed appreciation to all the members of the team for accepting their invitation, considering their busy schedules and the quality time and work they have given to the task at hand.
She added that they will still be coming back to members of the team for further information before the finalisation of the document, and said they are looking forward to the road map that will define the next steps for the adoption and implementation of the revised CTVET Strategy. Speaking earlier, Mr. Nicholas Ouma, senior youth advisor at the AUC and coordinator of the session, outlined the next steps and said the drafting team will complete its work within two weeks. He said a detailed work plan with specific timelines for each activity will be developed by the drafting team in consultation with the AU Commission, adding that after this, the revised draft continental TVET strategy document will be submitted for technical review by the Member States of the African Union in October 2024, and adoption by the relevant AU policy organs including the Heads of State Summit.
Mr. Sillah served as the rapporteur who presented the recommendations or report of one of the four working groups reviewing and drafting the revised TVET strategy 2025-34.
