Financing Vocational Training in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

Apprenticeship in England, United Kingdom

“…There is a large concentration of training levies in Latin America and Africa, while sectoral levies for enterprise training (see Box 4.1) are common in Europe (see CEDEFOP, 2008;Whalley and Ziderman, 1990;Ziderman, 2003). While occasionally training levies are used to fund apprenticeships, in most cases this is a relatively small part of their role.…”

“…They can foster a close relationship between training and employer-defined skills needs in the sector, but such levies tend to be concentrated in sectors where employers are well organised and have a strong commitment to training (such as construction and engineering), so the capacity of sectoral arrangements to address skills weaknesses in other areas -for example retail and other service industries, is weaker. Sectoral funding may also neglect common core skills which are transferable across industries, and may be ill-adapted to regional needs (Ziderman, 2003;CEDEFOP, 2008).…”

A Conceptual Model of National Skills Formation for Knowledge-Based Economic Development

“…Kurvilla (2008) , for example, finds that skills shortages and the inability of the skills formation system in India to produce higher level skills has stalled the growth of higher-value added, knowledge-based industries such as IT outsourcing. Wages offered for skills related to emergent industries may also not reflect the future social benefits that employment of skilled workers can have on economies (Ziderman 2003). As governments engage in proactively shaping the technological and industry structure of their countries they create a need for skills development that cannot be predicted by free market mechanisms.…”

“…The cost of such subsidies could be funded through taxation due to the societal benefits generated. While general education subsidies are justified in light of societal externalities, the case for subsidizing more tailored training and skills formation for particular occupations is less justified as societal benefits decline for such investments (Ziderman 2003).…”

“…Education and training systems are slow to adapt to changing needs suffering from centralized curriculum design and limited institutional autonomy. Such systems, referred to as supply-driven, find it difficult to respond to changing skills demand required by rapidly developing, competitive economies (Ziderman 2003). In many cases federal ministries are both providers and regulators of education and training systems, a situation where a lack of independent regulatory bodies leads to misalignment between the education and training system and industry needs to enable economic development.…”