Together making National Skills Strategies that work for all With lessons from Australia, Singapore,

1
Together making National Skills Strategiesthat
work for all With lessons from Australia,
Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa

• Presentation to the
• 4th Seminar,1 GEFOP, Paris, 25 May 2007
• by Adrienne Bird
• (based on research done for ILO SKILLS-AP, Asian
  Regional Office,
• Bangkok, Thailand. Presentation preparation
  funded by GTZ.)

2
Common HRD problems

• Unclear or contested growth and development
  strategies which HRD is expected to support
  (ill-focused mandate)
• Contestations about priorities (me vs. you,
  not about us)
• Education and training delivery system rigidities
• Graduates unemployment together with persistent
  scarce skills
• Neglect of informal economy, rural / agricultural
  sectors
• Labour market rigidities
• Neglected areas weakly organised outside formal
  structures
• Poor information, quality promotion, migration
  issues etc
• Migration problems
• Brain drain at the top and immigration of low
  skills at the bottom.

3
How to address the problems?

• ILO HRD Recommendation 195, 2004
• Recognizing that
• Education, training and lifelong learning are
  fundamental and should form an integral part of,
  and should be consistent with, comprehensive
  economic, fiscal, social and labour market
  policies and programmes that are important for
  sustainable economic growth and employment
  creation and social development

4
ILO Global Employment Agenda
HRD Integral to and consistent with each of the
above
5
Four country case studies Human Development
Index, 2003 (cf MDGs)

• DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
• Australia
• 20 million people, Ave.()29,600 per person,
  Gini 35, unemployment 5.1
• Singapore
• 4 million people, Ave. ()24,400 per person,
  Gini 43, unemployment 3.5
• DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
• Malaysia
• 25 million people, Ave. ()9,500 per person,
  Gini 49, unemployment 3.5
• South Africa
• 47 million people, Ave. 10.300 per
  person, Gini 58, unemployment 26.7
• Ave Gross Domestic Product per capita
• GINI inequality O equal, 1
  unequal

6
Growth agendas

7
How should HRD be integrated into and aligned
with these broader growth agendas?

• ILO Recommendation II 5 (a)
• Member states should
• Define,
• with the involvement of the social partners,
• a national strategy
• for education and skills
• With the involvement of social partners?
• National? , Education Skills?, Strategy?

8
CAUTION STRATEGY VS STRUCTURE! COMPETING OR
COMPLIMENTARY STRATEGIES BETWEEN DIFFERENT
AGENCIES?
9
CAUTION STRATEGY VS STRUCTURE! COMPETING OR
COMPLIMENTARY STRATEGIES BETWEEN DIFFERENT
AGENCIES?
Clear scope / collaborative agreements
Strategy as elevated as possible
10
What does this mean in practice?

• Standard STRATEGY approaches
• can be applied to HRD at national level?
• First plan
• Research context, consider alternatives then
• Set priorities and targets against timeframes
• Devise plans to meet them
• Allocate people and resources
• Measure progress against targets
• Next plan improve the last one

11
(No Transcript)
12
Creating a shared strategy is no simple matter
everyone wants to come first!

• The ILO recommends a process of social
  dialogue.
• Australia took 18 months led by ANTA
• Singapore started June 1998, launched August
  1999.
• Malaysia (Chapter 11 of 5-year national plan )
• South Africa took over 18 months led National
  Skills Authority
• Involves
• Research, discussion in focus groups, regional
  forums, public submissions, targeted
  consultations, negotiation and finalisation,

13
Starting with a Shared Vision (5 yrs)

• A vision is a powerful motivating force that
  moves a system from its current position to a
  future position. The tension created through the
  difference between the current reality and the
  future vision provides the energy for players in
  the landscape.
• M. Ungerer, M. Pretorius, J. Herholdt Viable
  Business Strategies A systemic, People-Centric
  approach, Knowres Publishing, 2002, p.33.

14
Case study Vision examples

• Australia
• Vision Shaping our Future 2004-2010
• Singapore
• Vision Talent Capital
• South Africa
• Vision Skills for sustainable growth,
  development and equity
• Malaysia
• Vision Developed Nation 2020 (with HRD a sub-set
  of this)

15
HRD results Balancing competing claims
16
What must one do to achieve these results?

• Human energy flows, much like water, along the
  path of least resistance. The role of strategy is
  to create a landscape that will allow this energy
  to flow towards desired goals and end results
• Ungerer M, Pretorius M, Herholdt J Viable
  Business Strategies A systemic, people-centred
  approach, p. 10

17
Creating a landscape that will enable energy to
flow to the desired results

• Landscape critical areas of activity
• Governance and Finance (clear lines of authority
  and accountability)
• Information research (basic, monitoring and
  evaluation), distribution to users (recruitment,
  guidance, placement)
• Quality and relevance of training programmes
• Migration issues (drain brain, immigration..)

18
1. Governance and Financing

• Who decides who must do what by when?
• Mandates and authority clear
• How should responsibility be cascaded?
• Clear lines of accountability and reporting.
• Who gets how much? Who is accountable?
• How should the funds be collected tax, levy,
  both?
• How should the funds be allocated? To whom, for
  what?
• Who is accountable for what?
• Issue of under-funding (e.g. informal / rural
  economy) highlighted through this process

19
GOVERNANCE AND FUNDING IN AUSTRALIA FOR
VET (Driving national Vision and Results through
Funding)
20
(No Transcript)
21
Levy grant systems Directed / controlled by
social partners

• Singapore
• Collected below a certain threshold
• Disbursed against criteria derived from Strategy
  (e.g. job re-design grant)
• Managed by Workforce Development Agency, firms
  claim vs criteria
• Malaysia
• Collected above a certain threshold
• Disbursed against criteria derived from Strategy
  (e.g. grants for individuals)
• Managed by PSBM Corporation , firms and
  individuals claim vs criteria
• South Africa
• Collected above a certain threshold
• Disbursed against criteria derived from Strategy
  (e.g. Adult Basic Educ.)
• 80 managed by Sectoral bodies and 20 by Dept of
  Labour, guided overseen by NSA. Firms and
  community bodies claim against criteria.

22
South Africa Alignment of Strategy and levy
grant funding

• Vision
• Results (Success Indicators)
• Activities
• Levers grants
• Similar in Singapore and Malaysia but different
  activities funded derived from their strategies
  e.g. HR function, individual learning etc.

23
2. Information research and publication
24
3. Quality and relevance (NQFs) Most have 3
School, HE and VET
25
4. Migration

• Australia Active recruitment abroad plus
  significant overseas development aid programme.
• Singapore Recruitment centres in developed
  countries (USA, Canada, Australia, UK )
  foreigners work up value chain locals
  supported at lower levels foreign companies
  subsidised to train Singaporeans in partnership
  at home.
• Malaysia and South Africa Attempt to retain
  qualified nationals, attract those living abroad
  home, immigration policies refined South Africa
  has entered agreement with UK re. health
  professionals.

26
The people who make it all happen Trainers and
mentors in institutions and workplacesILO
Recommendation 195 stresses this group they,
more than any group, have the ability to derail
the Strategy if they do not support it or are not
equipped to implement!
27

• Lessons on national skills strategies
• Social dialogue
• As high level, inclusive, with necessary time for
  max. agreement ..
• Vision (the impact)
• As integrated into overall growth strategies as
  possible
• As impact focused and measurable as possible
• Governance and Finance must derive from strategy
  not reverse
• Results (the beneficiaries)
• As aligned to broader agenda as possible
• Mobilise down as well as impact up
• Activities (the system and its performance)
• Targets as clear and monitor-able as possible
• Cascaded to performance measures, incentives and
  penalties for sub-ordinate agencies and managers.
• NQF and Information responsive, accessible and
  user-friendly

28
How well have the different strategies worked?
(How do we know?)

• How to measure Increases in HDI?
• ILO Recommendation 195 calls for benchmarks (R.
  7)
• International Benchmarks of good HRD practice?
• HDI etc?
• Occupational density / unemployment measures
  (ILO)?
• World Bank Adult Learning Index?
• European Human Capital Index employment
  productivity demographic change?
• (Peer Ederer, Zeppelin University,
  Friedrichshafen, Germany).

29
Benchmarking Project?

• Would it be helpful to explore the launching of a
  collaborative research initiative to explore the
  possibility of developing a benchmarking
  framework with three purposes
• Stimulating discussion on national strategies
  between social partners as well as governments?
• A framework within which to hold together the
  sub-systems of governance/financing quality
  information migration etc. for aggregate, agreed
  national growth and development goals (which
  bring into focus informal and rural/agricultural
  beneficiaries as well as other groups?
• The development of a menu of indicators which
  become suggestive areas for intervention to those
  negotiating and driving strategies nationally
  which need to be balanced to local needs?
• The ILO (AP) and GTZ (SA) would need to be
  invited to participate as they have supported
  this work to date would other agencies (AFT,
  EU, GTZ, ..) be interested to explore
  collaboration on this?

30
Thank you