The vast majority of today’s citizens survive by working in the “informal” – unregulated economy: 92% of people in India, and 28m migrant workers in the developing world alone. Meanwhile, unequal trade liberalisation favours manufactured goods rather
than primary commodities and trade barriers cost developing countries $100bn a year, twice as much as they receive in aid. This makes it hard for developing Commonwealth countries to overcome debt.
TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) has emerged as an important strategy for changing this picture to produce a workforce that can break out of the poverty trap. A 1999 study of nearly 100 countries suggests that Sub-Saharan Africa could have added several percentage points to its growth rates, had it invested more in girl’s education and women’s formal sector employment. There are 30m children outside school and in the workforce worldwide (two thirds of them girls). So what are the most promising approaches to TVET delivery, particularly for women and girls? What curriculum innovations have worked? How can TVET institutions make globalisation work for them?
Team TVET
These were some of the questions tackled in December 2008 by CAPA, the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa, at their conference in Banjul, The Gambia. Seventy participants from eight African countries took part. A grant from the Commonwealth Foundation ensured the participation of seven international delegates, five of them women.
Multiplier
CAPA has a membership of 120 institutions; it impacts 10,000 teachers and in turn a student body of 250,000. This makes it a major player alongside the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Commonwealth of Learning and the 28 providers of the Commonwealth Diploma in Youth Development Work. All of these networks are using information and communications technology to embrace Open and Distance Learning (ODL).
Tertiary education institutions are recognised as key partners in the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality; and the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment. The Commonwealth stresses the importance of women’s technical
education not only for employment, but also for enabling women to shape political and economic policy. Governments make promises, but to deliver they must turn to skilled technicians.