The HRDC Secretariat participated at the Commonwealth Association of Technical Universities and Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA) 2017 International Conference in Cape Town, on the 25 and 26 April 2017. The Head of the HRDC Secretariat, Ms B Ntombela presented the revised HRD Strategy towards 2030 to an audience that included participants from across the African continent. Delegates included participants from Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania as well as from outside of the continent from both the United Kingdom and Jamaica. The conference was hosted by CAPA in conjunction with the Education Industry Exchange, South Africa.

CAPA’s mandate is to provide ‘a dynamic forum for the gathering, and sharing of innovative ideas in technical and vocational education and training, promotion of partnerships in favour of skills/human development for wealth creation, specifically, in the Commonwealth African countries.

The theme for the CAPA 2017 conference was “Issues and strategies for achieving accelerated industrialization in Africa: The role of TVET”. The outcome of the conference is expected to lead to the development of a blueprint towards the harmonization of a competency based continental education and training qualifications framework. The various members of CAPA were expected to share best practice from their various countries, learn from each other and where possible share solutions to common challenges.

“As the HRD Council our mandate is to ensure production of high quality skills for economic growth. The partnership approach that is used by CAPA resonates with Council’s approach to achieving its mandate.” Said Ms Happy Sibande, a Council member, Principal of the Ekurhuleni East TVET College and one of the delegates at the conference. “Benchmarking ourselves against other African countries and learning from each other is an excellent way of ensuring quality outcomes from the education, training and skills development system.”

The current focus of the HRDC for the next five years is ensuring partnerships between social partners in order to ensure quality education outcomes, especially in the TVET sector. A focus which will be strengthened by lessons from other countries that participated in the conference. Getting all partners to take ownership of the success of the education system and taking responsibility for the various aspects of that system, is a critical success factor for quality education and training outcomes.

Ms Ntombela was among key note speakers at the conference, who all contributed strategies and models from research studies and key projects from their various countries on how the college sector could be used as a tool for improving and positively affecting economic growth, first, in individual countries and secondly in the continent as a whole. Her presentation served two purposes; as information sharing with other delegates, so that where possible they can learn how South Africa is improving its human capacity to implement after the conference and secondly, as part of advocacy for the Revised Human Resource Development Strategy Towards 2030 and the work of Council in general.

The HRDC presentation was very well received by delegates, many of whom had never heard of the HRDC or the HRDSA before and who have very different institutional arrangements to South Africa for implementation of their human resource development policies.

Enquiries: Ms B Ntombela Head of HRDC Secretariat at Ntombela.b@dhet.gov.za or 012 943 3187