BUILD SA SKILLS FOR GROWTH

Summit to seek key

SOUTH Africa has grown substantially since 1994 and while progress has been made to reduce poverty and inequality, the country still has its shortcomings.

Millions of South Africans remain unemployed and unskilled, and as a result many households still live close to the poverty line.

Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey recently revealed that during the first quarter this year, the number of unemployed rose by 282 000, to 4,5million. And the recent Adcorp Employment Index highlights that permanent employment has fallen from 11million to 9,1million since 2000.

The fourth annual BHP Billiton Skills Development Summit taking place next month aims to address these issues and create a platform for business, government, skills education training authorities (Setas), trade councils and the public to discuss the issue of skills development.

According to Kekeletso Khena, director of the summit, the country’s high level of unemployment needs to be tackled by addressing the issue of skills development.

Khena says one way of doing this is to establish skills development programmes in both the private and public sectors.

“Employment creation and poverty eradication are both dependent on skills levels in South Africa. For the economy and business to grow and develop, the public and private sectors need to work together to assist with skills development.

“The National Development Plan for 2030 highlights that the key to national development, sustainable employment and economic growth is education and skills development,” says Khena.

Part of the summit are the 2012 Achiever Awards, which were developed three years ago to encourage, recognise and promote leading companies and departments from the public and private sectors that contribute to building skills.

“The Achiever Awards applaud the impact of skills development strategies and programmes from the private and the public sector that address the legacy of economic segregation and skills shortages, ” says Khena.

“The awards provide recognition to those who have demonstrated their commitment to the advancement of their employees ’ skills base, by implementing skills development and training programmes that are relevant, innovative and ef fective,” she says.

The awards cover 13 categories, including best training programme for small, medium and large companies, best public sector training programme and various sector categories such as engineering and tourism.

A new category this year is the CBO and NGO award, which applauds the invaluable role played by civil society organisations.