Development Conference
10 October 2007
The North West Provincial Government held its Third Provincial Skills
Development Conference with focus on the theme "employability and sustainable
livelihoods through skills development" in Rustenburg from 8 to 10 October
2007.
Delegates deliberated on the lessons that the province has learnt on skills
development and they included representatives from government, government
agencies, various SETAs, organised business, organised labour, universities,
further education and training institutions, interest groups, non-governmental
organisations, community-based organisations, people with disabilities,
research communities and policymakers.
Following intense interaction and deliberations, it was resolved:
* to ensure that skills development receives high priority and reaches all
corners of the North West province
* to focus on addressing the critical and scarce skills' needs in the province
to build the capacity of the workforce and ensure the employability of
graduates
* to ensure that people with disability and women are given targeted skills
development and recruitment
* to ensure that partnerships amongst role players in skills development in the
North West province (NWP) are exploited to the advantage of all
stakeholders
* to report accordingly and timeously on skills development initiatives
undertaken by the different stakeholders
* to contribute to the efforts to address unemployment in the province by
endorsing and supporting interventions like Extended Public Works Programmes
(EPWP) and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs)
* to support EPWP, Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
(AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) projects
and contextualise them to the province in line with the Provincial Growth and
Development Strategy (PGDS)
* to collectively ensure that BathoâPele principles work for improved service
delivery
* to support the implementation of the Employment Equity Act in its wide
spectrum of ramifications namely, addressing racial inequalities, women
empowerment, people with disability, and youth as far as Human Resource
Development (HRD) is concerned in the province
* to contribute to the development of a Provincial HRD Strategy and monitor the
implementation thereof
* to facilitate the achievements of set targets for HRD, NSDS and the PGDS
through our individual and collective efforts in the NWP
* to actively engage in the various skills development interventions that are
currently implemented in order to address the shortage of skills in the
province, through the usage of media and other communication agencies
* to lobby funding agencies to support and fund research initiatives and
activities in the province
* to work with other government agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) to conduct research to determine the impact that skills development
interventions (for example, halving unemployment and poverty) are making,
monitor and evaluate each step towards suggesting improvements on a continuous
basis
* to consolidate research on sources of critical skills among other critical
areas of HRD in the province
* to put in place monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to monitor employability
of trained/skilled persons in the province
* to uphold the resolutions made in the previous two North West Provincial
Skills Development Conferences and monitor implementations of such resolutions
with feedback at all conferences
* to leverage efforts by all role players to address unemployment in the
province
* to target learning programmes/curricula to accommodate people with
disabilities
* to review skills development targets of interventions in line with the review
PGDS
* to set up mechanism of structure to expedite the development of approval of
the Provincial HR and strategy
* to engage or dialogue relevant role players on the role of Higher Education
and Training and Further Education and Training institutions in responding to
the needs of the Provincial Labour Market
* to engage relevant stakeholders expedite the availability of development of
relevant training providers in the province
* to encourage our youth to engage high grade mathematics to enable them enter
competitively other fields that were previously closed to black kids
* to create a communication network with various stakeholders to ensure proper
co-ordination of skills development efforts
* to facilitate implementation of such resolutions through the bi-monthly
Skills Development and Training Working Group meetings in the province
* to report progress on implementation of resolutions in annual
conferences
* to address, with a sense of urgency, the dissemination of information on
skills development to relevant/targeted audience in the province
* to intensify efforts amongst stakeholders (for example, the Office of the
Premier, Department of Labour, further education and training (FET) tertiary
institutions and other stakeholders) to produce the North West provincial quota
to the national target to train 50 000 artisans by 2014 in order to address the
skills shortage in this area
* to call with an urgent voice on those interested in becoming artisans to
enrol for training at appropriate institutions on the basis it is a scarce
skill in the province
* to facilitate the alignment of training curricula to scarce and critical
skills in the province in order to address skills shortages in the
province
* to undertake research projects and activities that pinpoint of key problems
and challenges which underscore skills development in the province
* to rapidly and continually increase skills development in the province to
make up on the loss of skilled people to other provinces and
* to debate strategies and legislations that would develop our communities into
cities/metros etc.
Furthermore, the conference realised that Human Capital Development and
Social Capital Development lead to Economic Capital Development thereby
achieving sustainable development, provincially and nationally.
The conference also adopted resolutions that are intended to improve the
quality of life of the people with more focus on persons with disabilities,
women and young people.
The North West Provincial Government is conscious of the fact that skills
interventions would have to relate to equity targets on both training and
employment especially for persons with disabilities.
The Conference further noted the efforts being made in addressing
unemployment through support and different interventions including the Expanded
Public Works Programme (EPWP), JIPSA and ASGISA projects being contextualised
within the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS).
The conference also noted the need to address critical and scarce skills
needs in the province with the intention of building the capacity of the
workforce and to also increase the employability of the people of the North
West.
Enquiries:
Tanana Monama
Tel: 018 387 3456
Cell: 082 578 4063
E-mail: cmonama@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: North West Provincial Government
10 October 2007
