|
PSD 05a
1) Which
strategies regarding skills are most effective in enabling poor people to
participate in growth and private sector development? Strategies should increase the capacity of people to move from consumptive to productive citizen becoming economic participants in the society by increasing their skills base using through
(a) Effective policies and incentives to stimulate the private sector to work with citizens at micro/small business levels e.g. affirmative action
(b) Developing programmes to build the skills capabilities of citizens in specific target industries with low capital entry points such as the service industry e.g. hairdressing, buying and selling fast moveable consumer goods e.g. crafts
(c) Developing infrastructure to enable increased capacity at the micro-small business enterprise level e.g. access to credit; land for agriculture; community savings schemes; affordable housing; access to health and storage facilities for goods and commodities, and where applicable reliable power supply
(d) Empowerment through the development of capacity building and
enhancing skills programmes, which are tailored and targeted "fit for purpose"
and accessible, examples include: · Vocational training · Entrepreneurial and management - diversification rather than duplication · Apprentice training · Knowledge Centres · Business support and advisory centres · Mentoring
2) What are DFID's strengths in supporting skills and technology development in developing countries? What are their weaknesses?
Increasing recognition that skills and technology play a key role in development and providing support in training.
Lack of coordination and joined up action by donors with national priorities and core competencies of developing countries
Addressing the weaknesses
(a) Lack of sustainability: Many projects are short term focused in particular in developing countries where programmes are developed around the public sector and prone to changes with new governments. Engaging with the private sector increases the opportunities for long-term development.
(b) Using skills and technology to enhance the productive capacity of the raw products developed in Africa enabling the products to move up the value chain in a very cost effective manner
(c) Lack of technological capacity and development to improve efficiency and effectiveness of producing and delivering goods and services reducing the overheads in business leading to increased competitiveness
(d) Effective Labour policies- implemented, monitor, review and regularly updated
(e) Integration - technological advancement based on national socio-economic projects
(f) Monitor, benchmarking global trends in commerce and industry
(g) Using IT to collate and
integrate information - knowledge management e.g. local, national and regional
labour forecast
(a) Creating transparent private sector through effective governance structures backed by legislation, regular training for executives and board members
(b) Increase the capacity of the private sector to streamline their human resources management process thereby increasing its efficiency and effectiveness as well as turnaround the time taken to complete the recruitment process
(c) Promote reforms that will make it attractive to pursue careers in Africa
(d) Reducing unemployment by training in line with identified source of growth
(e) Access to timely information on job opportunities by the Diaspora
(f) Work with Governments and private sector "industry" and the educational institutions to develop Regional Centres of Excellence for specific industries "Ivy League Schools of Africa". This will provide opportunities for career professional development retaining skills in Africa as well as attracting the Diaspora.
(g) Increasing trade and investment between hosting and sending countries translates into Diaspora from the host country of the new investor attracting skilled nationals back home- increased support by donors to private sector investment in the developing countries
(h) Work with national governments and private sector to create financial and non-financial measures that will enable attraction and retention of the Diaspora
(i) Donors can work with the private sector to develop the capacity to develop: · Volunteering · Internship · Mentorship for new executives · Sabbaticals · Secondment · Leadership and succession programme · Job placement
4) One of the primary aims of the
AfricaRecruit initiative is developing an African-wide skills strategy that brings
governments and employers together. Has such as strategy been successfully
developed?
(a) Effective labour policies interlinked with education, life long training and labour market needs by conducting skills audit (a recommendation from strategic skills seminar that took place in Kenya March 2004) as mirrored by the skills audit conducted by the South African Government which identified the need for engineering and project management skills
(b) The adoption of an effective human resource strategy by many more employers in Africa looking at processes such as development of job description based on identified needs, recruitment based on core competencies and skills and performance management of the workforce
(c) The growing recognition of skills development as an instrumental tool in development and competitiveness of a nation by all stakeholders resulting in an increase in the number of employers specifically targeting the Diaspora for job opportunities in areas of critical shortage. An increasing number of employers from both private and public sector embarking on recruitment drives in the Diaspora.
(d) Dual nationality granted by many African countries as an incentive to mobilise national abroad
(e) Identified areas of challenges: · The need for public sector reform and training programmes aimed at creating an efficient, effective and performance orientated public service · High level of unemployment or underemployment in particular with the youth in part due to many of the graduates being unemployable · The need to development of training and diversity programme · The lack of a transparent recruitment process dogged by legislative challenges such as recruitment based on cultural or ethnic tribe vs. recruitment based on core competencies. Moving from reactive to strategic recruitment. · Poor succession planning or clear career professional path at mid-executive level · Free labour movement within Africa · Lack of knowledge of where the appropriate skills are and how to they can be tapped into
Barriers:
· Unstable and weak or lack of transparent remittances corridors · Lack of incentives to use the formal channels at both policy and private sector levels · Poor /lack of integrative structures between the sending money transfer/financial organization and the recipients in another country · Lack of regulatory framework that may provide incentives to the flows from the Diaspora into the formal channels · Administrative and regulatory barriers in both host and sending countries
Ideas to overcome the barriers
· Creation of private sector packages linked into the Diaspora host countries to enable the seamless use and transfer of funds e.g. Health insurance schemes for extended family in Africa, mortgage packages etc as an example It is estimated that over 500 million US dollars per annum has been invested in the Nigeria Stock Exchange by the Nigerians in the Diaspora
· Tax free or matching grants in the sending and or developing countries for regular remitters who use a formal channel e.g. more recipients become users of the banks as result increasing the capacity to micro-credit facilities
· Creation of "Remittance Bank" driven by technology to reduce overheads
|