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Skills development is attracting heightened interest in many countries, and Zimbabwe is no exception.

Human capital development is an indispensable aspect in the industrialisation and modernisation agenda of our country. The process of developing the required human capital should be informed by existing and forecast critical skills that drive key economic sectors.

For our nation to attain the vision of a middle-income economy by 2030, there is a need for a holistic skills development plan aimed at empowering our workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge to attain that goal.

Our country’s greatest asset is its people, who are renowned for their hard work and unquenchable zeal for education. An organised system of skills development will enable Zimbabweans to have the opportunity to master new skills, contribute their full talents to our economy, and be rewarded for it.

Zimbabwe is increasingly recognising that a well-defined national skills development policy is vital for sustainable and balanced growth.

Most importantly, it provides direction and focus to the skills system. By implementing a national skills policy, a country can, among others, bring coherence to the system, facilitate coordinated reforms, and clarify institutional arrangements.

The Zimbabwean education system is revered around the world. Education in every sense is one of the fundamental factors of development, because it raises people’s productivity and creativity, promotes entrepreneurship and technological advances.

In addition, it plays a crucial role in securing economic and social progress as well as improving income distribution.

Universities and colleges must align their curricula with corporates’ needs. We cannot continue to send students to institutions that cannot produce market expected outcomes. Private institutions are the major culprits as they are in more for the money than educational purposes.

Creating a re-skilling revolution in Zimbabwe will require investment, and this should not be left to the Government alone. There is a need for business collaboration, Government investment and public-private collaboration to lower costs and achieve expected outcomes.

In order to attain the middle or higher-income status as a country, we must produce the higher value added, higher quality goods and services that can yield higher wages and profits.

To do that we need a skilled workforce and an education and training system that adequately prepares young people to enter the labour market.

This imperative runs alongside current rethinking on the pattern of economic development, which seeks, not only rapid, but inclusive growth.

The Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe is concerned about and committed to achieving social equity, social inclusion, poverty alleviation and peace.

The policy framework that grows out of this increased interest in skills development as an important means of addressing economic, social and developmental concerns is firmly rooted in the National Development Strategy 1.

There is a case for Zimbabwe to integrate skills development in national economic development strategies

The NDS1 has made it clear that to engender accelerated growth in the economy, the demand for skilled manpower in the country becomes imperative.

Zimbabwe has a young population, and we must harness this “demographic dividend” with a coordinated and streamlined skills development process.

Why skills development plan?

The arguments for formulating a national skills development policy, as opposed to merely improving programmes of skills development are compelling.

A well formulated skills development plan will bring coherence to the system. A national policy presents a common vision of the skills system that a country is aiming to build, and facilitate coordinated and planned actions and reforms.

The policy disseminates a set of required changes to be pursued in order to achieve the vision of the skills system in a coordinated manner.

A national policy is conducive to a more holistic response to human resources planning that draws together the various Government agencies and providers of education and training.

Any model to be successful needs a lot of support from stakeholders too.

In the absence of a buy-in from the corporate sector the progress of such initiatives is reduced. Skills development has been a priority of the Government of Zimbabwe, and this is demonstrated by the emphasis placed in the NDS1.

Skills development is key to the economic growth of the country. It needs a coordinated effort from all agencies, stakeholders and students to make it successful.

Covid-19 and new skills set

Another skill that will be essential as our global economy rebuilds from the damage done by Covid-19 is critical thinking.

During the pandemic, we have seen a spike in fake news and misrepresentations of data and studies, as leaders, businesses, and governments are trying to shift blame and divert attention and proper scrutiny.

Those who can objectively evaluate information from diverse sources to determine what is credible will be valued. Not all information should be trusted. Organisations will need to rely on critical thinking to understand what information should inform decision-making.

One of the changes in a world that is heavily augmented by the support of machines and where social physical distancing and home-working might continue for the foreseeable future, is that more people at all levels of an organisation will be in a position to lead others.

The gig economy is only going to grow post-coronavirus, and people will be working in more fluent teams where they will be taking the lead at different times.

Professionals with strong skills in leadership, including how to bring out the best and inspire teams as well as encourage collaboration, will be in demand.

Data is a critical asset for every company. With the right data, companies are able to better predict the impact of future business disruptions. They are better able to serve customers with the right products and services during or after any pandemic.

Companies that understand business trends and shifting customer needs are better able to respond in the right way should a future pandemic come along.

However, the data is useless to a company, unless there is data literate-people equipped with skills to understand it, and make better decisions because of it.

Professionals with data literacy will be even more appealing to prospective employers than ever before.

Challenges

The country has a huge responsibility to transition with its corporates for meaningful collaboration that will prioritise skills development and re-skilling employees affected by the fast-changing environment.

We must instil an attitude of excellence and passion for work as that will add value to productivity-driven Zimbabwe.

Skills obtained through training and those required by the job often do not match, resulting in skills shortages in some areas, and simultaneously, a surplus of workers with skills that are not in demand, contributing to unemployment.

Also, there is limited involvement of social partners. There is a perceived lack of active participation of employers’ and workers’ organisations which is essential to ensure the provision of relevant and appropriate training.

Weak quality assurance, too few or poorly qualified trainers, poor working conditions for trainers, and outdated qualifications, curricula, training materials and methods all inhibit the quality of training.

Limited labour market information and inability to translate such information into improved training undermines relevance.

The other issue is limited access to training opportunities.

Women and disadvantaged groups often face additional barriers in accessing training. We also need to harness the sprawling informal sector and how such skills can also be developed.

There may be a weak coordination in the system as well.

A large number of actors and providers (ministries, agencies, central and regional governments, none-governmental organisations, employers and workers) are involved in skills development.

Their efforts often overlap and are not well coordinated, especially in developing countries.

Weakness in linking skills supply and demand also limits positive impact on employment and productivity.

Measures for effective implementation

Zimbabwe has a national skills development policy in place, but the crucial question is: what are the key measures to ensure effective implementation?

However comprehensive and good it may be, a policy is only as good as its implementation.

Experience suggests that the following elements are essential to effective policy implementation: setting achievement targets and milestones within a fixed timeframe;  identification of a lead agency, or ministry, for implementation with clearly defined responsibilities;  clear implementation plans at multiple levels (e.g. national, state/province and institutional); assessment and, if necessary, improvement of the fit between existing institutions and mandates and the policy, and, if applicable, their capacity building in implementing the policy;  identification of a key institution for monitoring progress; allocation of adequate budgetary and other resources, and a plan for resource mobilisation;  institutionalisation of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; and sustained political commitment and leadership.

Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms

Monitoring and evaluation enables policy implementation and the impact of the policy to be objectively assessed.

To this end, the policy should include provision for mid-term review, final review, and an impact assessment (normally a few years after the final year of the policy) to capture long-term effects.

South Africa adopted a model of using numerical indicators to monitor progress and achievements. South Africa is unique in its strong focus on redressing racial inequality in accessing and obtaining skills.

Zimbabwe could also learn from South Africa’s experiences on this use of quantitative measures.

Examples of the proposed indicators are: progress on promoting equity (on the basis of class, race, gender, age, disability and HIV/AIDS status); broad targets of numbers to be trained by occupational level; proportion of young learners and the employed to be trained. In addition, specific targets are to be set for large, medium and small firms in developing and submitting workforce skills plans.

Vocational training programmes should be included at primary and secondary school level. This model has been successfully implemented in China. Public private partnerships play a key role in the development and enhancement of skills.

It is important to recognise the changing nature of work in what is becoming a global knowledge economy, within which Zimbabwean enterprises are operating.

The extent to which employers and workers benefit from the knowledge economy will be determined by our capacity to conduct innovative research and apply new knowledge in the workplace.

This requires the development of research capacity, particularly research related to building new knowledge linked to sector and national industrial plans.

For our country to achieve high levels of economic growth and address social challenges of poverty and inequality, we must work together to invest in training and skills development.

This will enable us to achieve our vision of a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path in line with  the targets of NDS1.

The key driving force of a national skills plan is improving the effectiveness and efficiency of development systems.

The NDS1 emphasizes skills development, which represents an explicit commitment by the Government of Zimbabwe to encourage the linking of skills growth to career paths, thus promoting sustainable employment and in-work progression.