Effective Capacity Building for Sub-Saharan Africa: Targeting the Youth Bulge
Maximum effect in capacity building in Sub-Saharan Africa can be achieved by targeting skills development at the youth bulge, with conscious effort on involving girls.
Youth bulge and development
Ninety-eight percent of the countries with a low human development index are in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (Figure 1). The total population in this region in 2010 was 864 million, of which youth comprised 54%. 49.6% of these youth were female.
Figure 1: 98% of the countries with a low human development index are in Sub Saharan Africa (Source: UNDP, 2011)
Figure 2: Between 1980 and 2011 youth under the age of 20 comprised 56% of the total population in Sub-Saharan Africa. 49.6% of these youth were female. In 2010, youth comprised 54% of the total population. Again, 49.6% of these were female (Source: US Census Bureau IDB). Critical education level for skills development.
Considering that few students in SSA complete their secondary education and that access to tertiary education in SSA is generally <10%, the secondary education level is the most critical level for skills development. This is the level at which the majority of youth can quickly be introduced to a trade before their premature exit out of the education system.
The labour market consequence of the low secondary education completion rates and low tertiary enrolment rates is that a large percentage of the labour force in SSA does not have a high education attainment level. This has further consequences on the effectiveness, efficiency and productivity of the labour force and the economic output of their labour.
Focus on lower secondary school
Currently, most TVET investments by both national governments and donors alike are mainly focussed on the upper secondary and tertiary education levels. TVET in lower secondary school remains elementary, which, understandably, is in line with the developmental level of students at these levels. However, this model of skills development is largely appropriate for developed countries where premature exit of students out of the education system is less extreme.
For SSA, an appropriate model would be increasing the level of marketable skills training at the lower secondary school, where the drop-out rate is also highest. This also translates into increasing the share of TVET institutions to reach at least half the number of general secondary schools over the medium to long term.
However, increasing the number of TVET institutions will increase the number of students with access to vocational training, but will not solve the problem of students prematurely leaving school. Enhancement of education quality and relevance, career guidance and a reduction of other deterrent factors also need to be achieved for a higher student retention rate.
Figure 3: The total tertiary education level enrolment in Sub Saharan Africa in relation to the number of youth available in the age group typical for study at this level (2009) (Source: enrolment data = UNESCO UIS; youth population data = US Census Bureau IDB).
Gender focus
The fact that females make up approximately half of the youth and total population in SSA, requires a conscious focus on marketable skills development for girls too. Neglecting this potentially halves the economic effectiveness of the future available labour force, and slows down national development.
However, it is a universal fact that girls have other occupational interests than boys. As such it is an illusion to expect equal participation in all vocational disciples by boys and girls. Particularly the technical and engineering disciplines universally seem to appeal less to girls. Even in TVET institutions, enrolment figures show that most of the girls are concentrated in the softer subjects (e.g. commercial subjects, administration and management subjects).
This is where career guidance can play a major role, because girls are as academically competent as boys. And their occupational choice tendencies could be more society-modelled than physiological. In some cases, their preference for soft disciplines is due to lack of female role models in their immediate environment in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), or copy-cat behaviour imitating the choices made by friends and peers. And so societal tendencies are carried on from generation to generation. An unnecessary perpetuation of bias, especially considering the importance of the STEM fields in national development, innovativeness, self-reliance and achieving global competitiveness.