Building skills for employability– Skills Acceleration Program (SAP)
Global Transformers and Innovators for Development Ltd (GTID Ltd)
Country/ies of implementation: Rwanda and other African countries
Overview
In Rwanda, as in other African countries, there is a large gap between the knowledge gained by graduates from schools, colleges, universities and other higher learning institutions on the one hand, and the skills and knowledge required by employers, and to create jobs on the other. As a result, large numbers of graduates do not meet the requirements of the job market, and lack the innovative skills needed to create jobs. This disconnect is among the leading causes of unemployment in Africa.
GTID aims to empower individuals with skills and create a culture of hard work through its Skills Acceleration Programs (SAP). Skills include soft and digital skills, business and career development, community skills and environmental management. It does so through various activities that bring about change and transformation, thereby equipping and transforming lives of participants.
Through SAP, GTID provides an opportunity for community individuals to increase their skill and potential. Graduates, as well as people who understand English, are SAP’s biggest target market. GTID’s Skills Extension Program (SEP) enables the training programme to reach local communities in their preferred language.
GTID Ltd is registered with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and certified to provide education and educational support. GTID intends to form partnerships with career centres of universities, colleges, schools and higher learning institutions, training institutions as well as local leaders to reach local communities.
SAP and SEP are well-established projects that plan to continue for as long as the need exists. Its vision is to bring about long-term change and transformation through providing innovative skills.
Good practice approach
Training is implemented through the Skills Acceleration Program (SAP) and Skills Extension Program (SEP). The program are open to interested individuals and are currently provided online and not only the young generation but we believe with the hard work and gaining the capacity that we will also be able to deliver physical trainings to the community including both youths and adults with skills and knowledge they are in need for capacity building.
Participants joining Skills Acceleration Program (SAP) are of different level are of different levels of education and the first step is to assess them to identify their particular challenges and establish their level of education and expectations of the program. This is followed by an orientation week to give them more details on training program. This program takes four weeks to complete the training, and one cohort is trained every month. Training procedures are as easy as possible to enable everyone to access them. Training is designed to be easily accessible via mobile devices , three hours daily in the period of four weeks. Apart from virtual training sessions, SAP also provides a platform from which participants have access to teaching materials. WhatsApp and Telegram mobile apps are also used to deliver training sessions. A website (www.gtidac.com) which is being in developing phase that will also be used in providing training sessions and where supporting materials will also be available on the web platform.
The technique of storytelling has been successfully used by the training program. By allowing learners to interact in sessions, they become more fully engaged than if they passively watch information presented to them. Audio and video tools are also used to allow learners an opportunity to interact and engage with one another while learning. A major shift in the success and retention of training occurred when graduates were used to attract the next cohort of trainees to join the program.
Formative and summative assessments given to the trainees provide many benefits. A formative assessment presents testing points as touch stones for learners along the way and during training sessions, making them more likely to self-assess and review information to prepare for their final evaluation. A summative assessment lets stakeholders and community know how their learners are progressing and gives the organization an opportunity to adjust its training.
Both types of assessments provide valuable end-user data that helps to understand the effectiveness of training, as well as how learners are progressing. At the end of each training period, participants assess their experience in both text and video format.
Key results
Since June 2020, 1 050 participants have completed SAP training. Participants testify that the training equips them with skills, knowledge and work readiness, and the skills gained is helping them in their ways towards self-reliance and their daily occupation.
And 650 graduates are registered on the alumni platforms (WhatsApp and Telegram) where they act as senior ambassadors of the programme.
Graduates testify the training has changed their mindsets. Others testify that their attitudes toward career development and business have improved.
Graduates also testify that the quality of their work has improved.
Lessons learnt
Success factors
An important element of success is that training is geared to help participants in their daily occupation with package of both digital and soft skills. The sets of skills delivered through the training sessions and from teaching materials are organized in the way that everyone from either occupation or education background will benefit from the courses. Another success factor is the committed and fully engaged GTID Ltd team that covers all expenses since there is currently no funding support. The team has the common aims and goals which we are targeting, where impacting changes and transformation among the communities is our aim and we will keep our momentum towards achieving our goals. To sustain the program we are trying to increase the capacity of online channels that will be used when delivering the session, maintaining and building the strong team, partnering with other organisation that will help us to keep growing, working with the schools, colleges and universities where we have ambassadors to be connected easily to the youths. As also needs financial capabilities, beyond our capacity we will also try to find s supports from different institutions which provide support or funds.
Challenges/barriers
Only online training is currently being offered, while the organisation would like to introduce physical trainings, the costs of infrastructure, fees for trainers, and lack of funding, are barriers to doing so.
Moving forward
The program anticipates continuously bringing about change and transformation through providing educational support for African communities. The organisation will work to increase the number of its beneficiaries in different parts of the country and in other countries. It will also introduce campus ambassadors as well as ambassadors in different countries.
Resources
www.gtidac.com
Updates on training cohorts on Facebook: https://bit.ly/353g6l1
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3kRYzRx
Contact details: - Tel: +250 781 898 163
Email: jadosdodos1@gmail.com
