Human Capital Development eStrategy for Africa: The Need for Public Private Partnerships

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Human Capital Development e-Strategy for Africa
The Need for Public Private Partnerships

• A Presentation by LTA Facilitators
•  (Delivered by Mr. Tunde Ezichi, FNCS, CITP)
• _at_
• LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES AFRICA 2008 Conference
  Abuja Sheraton Hotels Towers, Nigeria
• 8 10 September 2008

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INTRODUCTION - 1

• STIMULATING AFRICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH
• ATTAIN DESIRED LEVEL OF COMPETITIVE K-BASED
  ECONOMY
• REQUIRES HUMAN CAPACITY WITH NECESSARY E-SKILLS
• NEED COORDINATION OF NATL INTL POLICIES
• ALSO ACTIVE PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN
• PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
• PRIVATE COMPANIES
• OTHER SOCIAL PARTNERS

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INTRODUCTION - 2

• KEY ISSUES
• PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (PPPs)
• MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS (MSPs)

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CHARACTERISTICS OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOCIETY

• INNOVATE OR FALL BEHIND!!
• SOUND WARNING IN INCREASINGLY COMPETITIVE GLOBAL,
  KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY (K-ECONOMY)
• GROWING AFRICAS ECONOMY DEPENDS ON
• GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS OF BUSINESSES
• QUALITY OF K-HUMAN CAPACITY
• FIRMS INDIVIDUALS MUST BE COMMITTED TO
  LIFE-LONG LEARNING
• ACQUIRING, GENERATING EXPLOITING KNOWLEDGE ARE
  KEY FOR INDIVIDUALS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

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EDUCATION/TRAINING PARADIGM SHIFT

• MONOPOLY OF FORMAL LEARNING INSTITUTIONS GIVING
  WAY AROUND THE WORLD
• CHANGING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC POLITICAL REALITIES
  NOW BLUR DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN TRADITIONALLY
  SEGREGATED SYSTEMS OF
• GENERAL EDUCATION (PRIMARY/SECONDARY)
• HIGHER/TERTIARY EDUCATION
• VOCATIONAL TRAINING
• EDUCATION TRAINING SYSTEMS NOW BASED ON
• NEW LEARNING PHILOSOPHIES, APPROACHES CONTEXTS
• CATERING FOR NEW LEARNER PROFILES NEEDS

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PARALLEL UNIVERSES

• DISTINCTIVE REALMS OF LEARNING NOW EVOLVING INTO
  PARALLEL UNIVERSES PARTICULARLY IN ICT
  EDUCATION BETWEEN
• INFORMAL
• INDUSTRY-BASED
• FORMAL GOVERNMENT SUPPORTED
• RISE OF AUTONOMOUS STANDARDS EMBODIED IN
  INDUSTRY-BASED TRAINING CERTIFICATION GIVES
  RISE TO SUBSTANTIAL UNCERTAINTY ABOUT
  STANDARDS
• WHAT TO SET
• HOW TO VALIDATE SUCH
• HOW TO STRENGTHEN COHERENCE BETWEEN DIFFERENT
  APPROACHES
• MSPs FOR EDUCATION TRAINING OFFER POTENTIAL TO
  BRIDGE PARALLEL UNIVERSES

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THE CHALLENGE AHEAD

• TO MEET NEPAD INTIATIVE, AU CHALLENGE IS TO
  ENHANCE EFFORTS FOR HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION
  TRAINING PROVISION FOR
• LIFE-LONG LIFE-WIDE BASIS LEARNING SATISFYING
  THE FOLLOWING
• INCREASING ACCESS IMPROVING QUALITY
• maintaining positive diversity and ensuring
  coherency, flexibility and stability
• REQUIRING state regulation and institutional
  autonomy
• Meeting individual needs while responding to
  those of society and the economy
• Question How can the government, industries and
  educational
• institutions create innovative partnerships
  that reinvent
• ways to provide people the capabilities they
  need to
• actively and continuously participate as
  partners of
• economic growth in a knowledge-economy?

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Partners of economic growth

• MSPs to bridge the parallel universes
• Partnership must carry message that workforce
  development is economic growth
• To provide individuals the knowledge they need to
  participate as partners of economic growth in a
• k-economy, a potential partnership must also
  find impact-laden, effective, and efficient ways
  to enable knowledge flow between industry and
  educational institutions
• By utilising and combining the respective
  strengths and resources of the different actors,
  and compensating for each others respective
  weaknesses, partnerships represent an important
  new strand of public policy development

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PARTNERSHIP DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY INITIATIVE

• FOR NATIONAL, REGIONAL OR SECTOR LEVEL ICT
  BENEFITS, MUST CREATE NEW COLLABORATION FORM
  INVOLVING PUBLIC/PRIVATE SECTOR ACTORS IN MANNER
  THAT IS
• INCLUSIVE
• OPEN
• PARTICIPATORY
• MSP STRATEGIES VARY BETWEEN COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF
  different circumstances, priorities and financial
  means
• COUNTRIES should therefore
• adopt different strategies accordingly
• HAVE COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK TO DETERMINE
  STRATEGY
• HAVE COORDINATED ACTION TO YIELD MORE EFFECTIVE
  RESULTS

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BENEFITS OF MSPs OR PPPs

• MSPs OR PPPs
• ARE NOT AN END IN THEMSELVES BUT IMPORTANT NEW
  STRATEGY FOR IMPROVED SERVICES DELIVERY
• DO NOT OCCUR BY CHANCE
• INVOLVE STAKEHOLDERS SUBSTANTIAL COMMITMENT WITH
  PROSPECT OF MAJOR BENEFITS IN e-SKILLS
  DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION

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BENEFITS OF MSPs OR PPPs FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR

• More widespread provision of computer literacy
  plus professional e-skills, ensuring wider
  productive participation and co-operation of
  citizens in the knowledge-based society
• Enhancement of existing curricula to fit modern
  needs. Students can leave formal education
  channels with workplace ready-skills
• Future-proof education by providing a mechanism
  to constantly update curricula in response to
  actual industry needs and societal requirements
• Provide students of a knowledge-based society
  with new alternative channels of educational
  achievement
• Closer alignment of supply and demand in skills,
  reducing wastage and increasing employment rates
• Increased regional development through workforce
  mobility across Africa and beyond
• New approaches to delivering e-skills to SMEs
  without the need for extensive public investment
  in the learning infrastructure and content
• Multiplication of training centres and training
  environments giving citizens maximum access to
  training opportunities, whatever their current
  status

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BENEFITS OF MSPs OR PPPs FOR THE STUDENTS

• Enhancement of just-in-time learning and
  life-long learning opportunities
• Updated curricula mean acquisition of current,
• real-valued e-skills
• Public funding for recognised e-skills
  qualifications through certifications means lower
  barrier to meet real e-skills needs
• Greater employment chances as new workplace
• e-skills can be acquired outside of the actual
  workplace.

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BENEFITS OF MSPs OR PPPs FOR INDUSTRY

• Workplace-ready employees
• Closer match of supply and demand reduces need
  for costly re-training on the job
• Supply of workforce no longer dependent on
  national boundaries
• Reassurance that, in an age of workforce
  mobility, personal training investment will not
  be handing an advantage to a competitor.
• Greater visibility and promotion of
  industry-based e-skills certifications

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WHAT IS PUBLIC, WHAT IS PRIVATE?

• PUBLIC SECTOR
• VARIOUS MDAs _at_ NATIONAL, REGIONAL LOCAL LEVELS
• DEPENDING ON COUNTRY LEVEL OF DECENTRALIZATION,
  ENTITIES ENJOY MORE OR LESS AUTONOMY
• STATE TRADITIONALLY BOTH FUNDS PROVIDES
  EDUCATION
• SHOULD BE CAREFUL TO CREATE LEGAL/REGULATORY
  FRAMEWORK FOR PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN DIFFERENT
  STAKEHOLDERS
• PRIVATE SECTOR
• ORGANIZATIONS (FOR-PROFIT/NOT-FOR-PROFIT)
• PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS INDIVIDUALS
• VOLUNTARY GROUPS NGOs
• HAVE BECOME, LIKE THE STATE, PAYERS PROVIDERS
  OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION CHANNELS
• SHOULD BE MINDFUL OF ITS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

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BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH INDUSTRY-BASEDe-SKILL
CERTIFICATIONS

• Credential portability
• Knowledge and e-skill transferability 
• Economic development growth
• Worker mobility
• Education and training congruence

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EXAMPLES OF MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PPPs FOR e-SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT

• Recognition of vendor certifications in the UK
• The Qualification and Curriculum Authority
  (QCA) is responsible for accrediting all these
  qualifications, which thus become eligible for
  government funding
• Recognition of vendor certifications in the
  Netherlands
• ECABO (Dutch National Body for Vocational
  Education) is charged with developing and
  maintaining a qualifications framework in the
  Netherlands
• The Cisco Networking Academy Programme (CNAP)
• The CNAP is a PPP between governments,
  educational institutions, social partners and
  industry, in particular Cisco, created to teach
  students how to design, build and maintain
  computer networks

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EXAMPLES OF MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PPPs FOR e-SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT II

• The European/International Computer Driving
  Licence (ECDL/ICDL)
• The European/International Computer Driving
  Licence (ECDL/ICDL) is an internationally-recogni
  sed, vendor-neutral, end-user computer skills
  certification. It has more than 3.5 million
  participants and is currently available in 135
  countries.
• National Skills Standards Voluntary Partnership
  (US)
• An interesting industry-led example for a
  successful multi-stakeholder partnership is the
  US National Skills Standards Voluntary
  Partnership. In this case, CompTIA was chosen by
  the US National Skill Standards Board to lead
  the research and development of skill standards
  for use by the industry, the public workforce
  system and education.

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The Way Forward

• The Certification Consortium
• The establishment of a multi-stakeholder
  partnership of government, industry, and
  education stakeholders to develop a framework for
  African countries is recommended. This will allow
  the recognition of industry and other non-formal
  certifications within formal national educational
  and vocational training systems across Africa.
• This will permit mutual recognition within the
  African Union (AU) of public qualifications and
  vendor certifications gained within the workplace
  across different national education systems, all
  the time respecting national differences and
  preferences in the organisation and operation of
  the education system.

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The Way Forward - 2

• Three major options can be identified for the
  implementation mechanism
• Public sector review an agency is established
  with a mandate to map, review and formally
  approve private sector courses. Once
  rubber-stamped in this way, institutions
  providing the course would be eligible for public
  sector promotion.
• Industry self-regulation - ICT training channels
  agree to design courses in line with prior set
  educational guidelines and priorities laid down
  by governments.
• De-facto recognition a formula allowing ICT
  training courses developed by industry in
  response to specific skills and performance gaps
  to receive instant public sector recognition. 
• A further step will be an AU Framework to
  facilitate Pan-African recognition of
  certifications in support of employee mobility,
  and to promote exchange of best practices between
  stakeholders in the field of e-skills.

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9. Strategic Objective Build Human Capacity and
Sustained Awareness for ICT Utilization
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Conclusions - 1

• Given the complexity of the operating environment
  for multi-stakeholder PPPs in education, it is
  important to state that there is no single
  ideal-type multi-stakeholder PPP for e-skills
  development. The right relationship is the one
  that best meets the needs of the partners in the
  local context, in developing regions or others.
  One size does not fit all. The AU, AU Member
  States, and sub-regional provinces or other local
  entities should beware of attempting to define
  too rigidly any contractual structure or
  mandatory or other preferences in the pursuit of
  a sustainable and replicable delivery model for
  the provision of e-skills.

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Conclusions - 2

• Substantial political support is needed to
  explain the changes implied by PPPs potential for
  the AU and AU Member States in the e-skills
  content.
• Comprehensive and integrative partnership
  projects, such as projects for African ICT
  Career Development System and ICT Career Portal,
  could serve best to deliver the applied economics
  of multi-stakeholder partnerships for e-skills
  development in Europe and beyond.

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Conclusions - 3

• A major initiative preferably through a
  multi-stakeholder forum on International e-skills
  is needed in view of the Tunis World Summit on
  the Information Society in 2005 given the
  importance of non-discriminatory funding and
  support for education and knowledge for
  development and competitiveness and the weight
  put on capacity building in the previous Geneva
  summit in 2003.

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Thank You.