Since the dawn of democracy, there has been an emphasis in South Africa for creation of an inclusive economy in order to reduce poverty and unemployment using skills – human development as a catalyst or game changer. In the 23rd year of democracy, after development of several policies including ASGISA, Skills Development Act, IPAP, and recently the NDP and the HRD Strategy amongst others, there is still an evident shortage of both technical and high level skills to achieve the desired economic growth.
There is a national call for radical- socio economic transformation which translates to corrective projects for the skewed nature of ownership and leadership in the country as well as sustainable economic development.This highlights the importance of emerging and growing collaboration and partnerships on skills and human resource development. South Africa needs the commitment of all social partners in creating opportunities for young peoplebusiness, government and labour must contribute to meaningful interventions and projects on skills development. The HRD Council has been working towards responding to this call for collaborations and partnershipsrce since 2010.
The Human Resou Development Council (HRDC) is chaired by the Deputy President and administered by the Minister of Higher Education and Training. Its core mandate is to advise government on issues of human resource development. This includes the realisation of the full human potential of all South Africans and it is a centre of a skills revolution that will result in the national radical economic transformation.
In 2016, Council hosted its 2nd HRDC Summit which encouraged dialogue, inclusion, consensus building and collaboration amongst all social partners – a new social compact.
The theme for the 2nd HRDC Summit was “Partnerships for skills- A call to Action”. The partnerships cut across the HRD value chain from foundational learning to skills development. In 2018, the Council is continuing with a similar strategy of encouraging collaboration and partnerships in skills development.
Council will thus be hosting the third HRDC Summit 2018 which intends to provide feedback on post school education institutions and industry partnerships facilitated by the HRD Council and to launch the Revised HRD Strategy towards 2030.