The inaugural Africa Skills Week (ASW) is underway in Accra, Ghana, from October 14 to 18, 2024. This landmark event brings together stakeholders to address the critical issue of skills development in Africa.
The continent’s growing working-age population is projected to triple by 2050, making it essential to equip them with the necessary skills to thrive in the 21st-century workforce.
Ghana’s Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, emphasized the importance of investing in STEM skills alongside technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
He noted that the intersection of TVET and STEM is driving the transformation of Ghana’s education sector.
The country has made significant strides in achieving gender parity and opportunity in education, including making secondary schooling free for all and investing in teacher training and infrastructure.
UNESCO estimates that African countries need an additional $77 billion annually to reach their Sustainable Development Goal 4 (education) targets by 2030.
Prof. Mohammed Belhocine, the AU’s Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, stressed the need for private sector and development partner investment to bridge this funding gap.
Symerre Grey-Johnson, Director of Human Capital and Institutional Development at AUDA-NEPAD, highlighted the need for a skills revolution in Africa.
This can be achieved by investing in small, medium, and micro-enterprises, equipping them with digital and financial literacy skills to thrive in the formal and informal economies.
Panellists from various AU Member States shared transformative skills development policies, including creating TVET centres of excellence, offering free tuition at technical schools, converting polytechnics into technical universities, attracting skilled professionals to teach technical subjects, and conducting labour market surveys to gauge private sector needs.
The ASW features high-level opening sessions, policy dialogues, thematic workshops, skills exhibitions, youth summits, and study tours.
The event aims to strengthen TVET systems, promote private sector engagement, and showcase best practices in skills development.
The ASW seeks to strengthen TVET systems across Africa, promote private sector engagement, highlight green skills, sustainability, and innovation, showcase best practices and success stories, and facilitate policy dialogues on shaping Africa’s workforce.
By investing in STEM skills and TVET, Africa can leapfrog inequality and equip its growing workforce to meet the demands of the 21st-century economy. The ASW is a crucial step towards achieving this goal.
The Africa Skills Week is hosted by the Government of Ghana in partnership with the African Union, and supported by Germany through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the International Labour Organization, UNESCO, the World Bank, Ghana’s Commission for TVET, and Ghana’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
The event is part of the African Union’s Year of Education in 2024 and aligns with the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2016-2025) and the Continental Strategy for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
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