In March 2006, the South African government decided to establish a short-term skills intervention initiative within the office of the Deputy President. The rationale for this decision was that the government recognised that education and skills development is key to driving socio-economic growth in order to substantially reduce poverty, inequality and unemployment.

The government recognised that while long-term improvement in HRD takes time, an urgent need existed to address priority skills areas immediately, grow the economy and improve labour absorption. The government also pointed out that, in order to be successful, this would require a collaborative effort on behalf of government and all its social partners.

In support of the above a Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) was established under the leadership of the then Deputy President as a high-level task team to accelerate human resources and skills development in priority skills areas to support the national growth initiative. JIPSA did not duplicate existing structures but rather set priorities, identified and resolved systems blockages and constraints, and monitored and reported on progress. It also sought to align the training and skills development efforts of the public and private sectors without undermining the development and implementation of longer-term HRD strategies.

The distinguishing feature of JIPSA was that it represented a specific joint venture by government, business and labour to make a critical difference to skills provision over the short and medium terms, in direct response to identified skills needs in the economy and to promote labour absorption. JIPSA focused the attention of key government departments and bodies – such as the SETAs and public education and training providers – on the achievement of core national objectives. It called upon business leadership to ensure that the private sector played an active and energetic role in the provision of priority skills, and it called upon organised labour to throw its weight behind a shared priority skills agenda.

JIPSA, in short, was a joint initiative of government, business and labour to fast-track the provision of priority skills required to support accelerated and shared growth in South Africa. JIPSA did not duplicate the roles of existing government departments, statutory bodies and institutions, but sought to establish mutually agreed priorities, improve communication and the flow of information between the relevant bodies, identify and address problems and bottlenecks, and monitor and report on progress against agreed targets.

JIPSA also provided information and practical experience that informed the establishment of the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa in March 2010, which is a much longer-term strategy that aims to meet the country’s social and economic development needs.

For access to the research reports developed by JIPSA click here:

The Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) was established in March 2010, under the leadership and stewardship of the Deputy President, and with the Minister of Higher Education and Training is responsible for the management of the strategy. The HRDC was to be the primary institution for HRD coordination among government, organised business, organised labour, community representatives, professional bodies, research and academic representatives and other relevant stakeholders.

In addition, at least the following government ministers will be members of the Council: Basic Education, Trade and Industry, Labour, Science and Technology, Public Service and Administration, Economic Development, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, National Planning Commission, Home Affairs and Co-operative and Traditional Affairs. A Technical Working Group (TWG), which mirrored members of Council was established to report directly to Council. Its role was to advice Council on strategic matters relating to HRD matters and to execute the decisions of Council. It was chaired by one of the Deputy Chairpersons of Council, as appointed by the Deputy President in consultation with the Minister of Higher Education and Training. The TWG would, establish Technical Task Teams to enlist expertise needed to execute the decisions of Council as and when necessary.

The composition of the Technical Task Teams was guided by the identified task/project to be undertaken. The Department of Higher Education and Training will provide the necessary strategic, management, administrative, technical and logistical support through an HRD Support Unit and Secretariat.

An HRD Secretariat was established with requisite capacity to implement the day to day activities arising from the stewardship, coordination, management and implementation of the HRDSA. The secretariat consisted of senior officials of the Presidency (one of whom chaired the Secretariat), Department of Higher Education and Training (as an alternate chair when required), the chairperson of the HRDC Technical Working Group and one additional member nominated by the Technical Working Group of the HRDC. The overarching recommendation for achieving integrated planning within government was to ensure that the HRD planning mechanisms were aligned to the existing architecture for government-wide planning, namely the National Planning Commission in the Presidency. This would ensure that the HRDSA was fully responsive to government’s strategic priorities. At the same time, it would ensure that HRD planning was able to benefit from the institutional mechanisms, policy frameworks and practices that constitute the thrust of government planning.

Integration extended beyond government to effectively marshal the current and potential contribution to HRD that originated from outside the public sector. This included working together with the Department of Economic Development, leads the process of articulation and integration of various policies to ensure coherence as these relate to the industrial policy and the IPAP; and (b) the creation of a single and comprehensive process for labour market analysis and the modelling of skills supply and demand for all sectors.

The Human Resource Development Council of South Africa (HRDC) was the primary institution for HRD coordination among government, organised business, organised labour, community representatives, professional bodies, research and academic representatives and other relevant stakeholders. The HRDC developed the Human Resource Development Strategy for South Africa (HRDSA) 2010-2030 within its first year of operation. This strategy