Continental Virtual Conference: Skills Anticipation And Matching / Africa

24 Oct 2021
Aspyee Admin
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Continental Virtual Conference: Skills Anticipation And Matching / Africa
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Continental Virtual Conference: Skills Anticipation And Matching / Africa

CONTINENTAL VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

SKILLS ANTICIPATION AND MATCHING / AFRICA

Raising awareness about the importance of anticipating labour market skills needs

Under the auspices of the Skills Initiative for Africa, (SIFA) the Africa Union Commission, and African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NPEAD), with the technical support of the International Labour Organization will be holding an Africa wide conference on Skills Anticipation.

The Conference, a three-day virtual event will take place on 15, 16 and 17 September 2021 and will bring together policy makers, labour market actors to discuss challenges that African countries face in addressing the persistent imbalance between the demand and the supply of skill on the African continent.

The overall objective of the conference is to raise awareness about the strategic role that skills anticipation and matching can play in guiding labour market actors to systematically identify and address future skills needs to avoid potential skills gaps.  

Her Excellencies, Commissioner Professor Sarah Anyang of the African Union, Ambassador Birgitte Markussen of the European Union and the ILO Assistant Director-General and the Regional Director for Africa, Ms. Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon will jointly open the proceedings of the conference.

The highlights of the conference include a scene setting talk by Mr. Srinivas Reddy, ILO’s Chief of Skills and Employability Branch, and keynote address on skills anticipation by Ms. Olga Strietska-Ilina, ILO’s Lead on skills strategies for future labour markets. While a context-setting discussion, featuring high profile discussants from African member states will explore pathways for Africa’s future skill needs.

Two thematic discussions on the skill implications of the impact of COVID 19 on African labour markets and on how African countries can strengthen their skills anticipation systems will form part of the programme of events.

A virtual fair where countries, programmes and organizations will show case skills development related good, practice and knowledge products will start as a pre-conference event on 15 September 2021 and will run until the 6 September 2021. The virtual fair will also be an opportunity for practitioners to network and share experiences.

The ultimate objective of the conference is to help African Member States to position structured skills anticipation and matching as one of the tools for achieving the Agenda 2063 aspiration for an “Africa whose development is people-driven, and which relies on the potential of its people”.

The Continental Conference, and the overall capacity building work under  the ILO supported skills anticipation component of the SIFA Programme is a stepping stone toward the much needed systems strengthening efforts aimed at improving evidence based skills policy and strategies development and implementation in Africa.

The conference will conclude with the presentation of recommendations on how Africa Union member states can enhance the responsiveness of skills development systems through improved skills anticipation measures.

Ms. Jennifer Chiriga, the Chief of Staff of the African Union Development Agency – NEPAD, Dr. Joni Musabayana, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Mr. Ernst Hustaedt, the Program Manager for the SIFA Programme Technical Cooperation Component will preside over the closing of the conference.

Are you interested to attend the conference? Register for participation through the link below

Conference Registration link: https://www.itcilo.org/events/continental-virtual-conference-skills-anticipation-and-matching