Chapter Overview
This chapter provides an in-depth review of pertinent issues affecting sustainability of TVET reforms in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). It first highlights why TVET reforms are widespread in SSA. The study further evaluates stakeholder (public sector, private sector, donor agencies etc.) commitment to skills training and development in the region. Various views on stakeholder roles and responsibilities are provided and how those roles are being shifted from one stakeholder to the other within the last three decades.
Training authorities and training funds / levies are usually the by-products of TVET reforms.
An in-depth assessment of the origins and objectives of these institutions and structures are outlined. An assessment of the sustainability challenges these structures faced are carefully discussed in detail.
Finally, the study reviews Ziderman’s (2001) insightful contribution to this sector through a World Bank Consultancy. In that study, he outlined the critical success factors for a training levy / fund. These success factors are used in this research as the independent variables for the motivational and de-motivating factors.
Background to TVET Reforms in SSA
Charles (2006) observed that vocational education and training is a key policy tool which the pioneer Tigers realised and applied very early. Responding to emergent economic opportunities or social challenges, such as unemployment; required that a special place should be given to vocational education and training. For example, Taiwan responded by building more than 80 vocational schools. All of the Asian Tigers realised that a strong education system, especially at the lower level should be ‘holistic and integrated’ and should link formal and informal learning as a part of the national strategy for economic well-being.
Recently, reforms to TVET in most SSA countries came as a result of economic, social and political realities affecting our countries and peoples which include high unemployment rates,
escalating rural and urban poverty, increasing HIV/Aids in communities etc. It is a generally held belief that investing in technical and vocational education and training contributes to the formation of human capital, which supposedly facilitates technological change and international competitiveness (UNEVOC, 1996). This might have motivated most governments to develop strategies targeted to improve skills development for self-employment and economic growth as in the case of the Gambia “Vision 2020”.
Green (1997) noted that in most high income western countries, the nation-state remains the main locus of decision making over areas of social policy, including education. However, in low income countries where the influence of multilateral and donor agencies has been increasing since the 1980’s through the mechanism of conditional lending (Tikly, 2001), decisions on policy issues has mainly been internationally directed.
At the second International Congress on Technical Vocational Education in Seoul, Korea in 1999, it was agreed that TVET must be the master key that can alleviate poverty, promote peace, conserve the environment, improve the quality of life for all and help achieve sustainable development. Bhuwanee, (2004) reporting on a study across four SSA countries (Ghana, Tanzania, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe) concluded that there is no doubt that TVET is one of the major keys to national development in the whole of SSA.
Skills Development
According to McGrath (2002), skills development has undergone a major shift in theory, practice and policy since the 1990, noting that there are two broad elements to this shift. First, the translation of ‘international best practice’ has brought about significant understandings for those involved in training in the SSA. Secondly, the training agenda in SSA has been dramatically changed at the same time by the direct and indirect impacts of new economic policies and trends affecting SSA.
Skills are now seen as an important part of education’s role in labour force/market preparation. This has resulted to the emphasis in problem-solving, communication, teamwork and other core skills. Even in technical areas there has been growing attention to the softer elements of design. According to Held et al. (1999), skills development has been identified as one of the few elements of public policy that can form part of a strategy for responding to
globalisation. Greenhalgh (2001) highlighted that growth, trade performance and unemployment history can be improved by policies to promote skill acquisition. In the Gambia, there has been an attempt to structure technical vocational education and training under a skills qualifications framework as a direct response to labour force development and globalisation.
Factors Influencing Financing Schemes for Skills Development
National training systems and their financing systems are contingent of the historical and political development of every individual state. Therefore the appropriate mixture of instruments for financing skills development will not be the same at all times and all places. These mixtures of instruments are dependent of several factors including governance culture, political, cultural and economical circumstances. Below is a revisit to the six factors affecting the financing of skills development as outlined by UNEVOC in 1996:
The structure and the size of the economy
The extent to which the state can share the cost of training with other partners is directly linked to the structure of the economy. In a low-income economy, the potential benefits of the levy-based system (payroll levy) are limited due primarily to the impossibility of initiating an accumulation process unlike in middle-income and high-income states. This reality might have led to the initiation of an annual turnover levy in the Gambia. Although the percentage contribution imposed might have negative effect on businesses particularly during periods of economic meltdown. If a business is not making profits but rather experiencing losses, levying such a business on turnover could result to drastic circumstances.
The economic policy
The role of the State in the economy has an influence on financing policies. In many countries, financial diversification forms part of a broader response to an unprecedented fiscal crisis. Taxation becomes a sensitive issue in a process of economic liberalization, when resource allocation is increasingly meant to be driven by market signals. Currently in the Gambia, the use of levy-based financing system for skills development is being questioned as another form of taxation.
The maturity of social partners’ involved in training
The performance of a given financing system will very much depend on the attitude of individuals and employers regarding training (UNEVOC, 1996). The reform of the financing system requires, as much as possible, a wide consensus between all of the partners involved:
government, employers, workers, students, parents, public training institutions and the public at large. Making social partners aware of the associated incentives and the potential impact of training on labour productivity may call for intensive and long periods of consultation.
Reforming the financing principles can also be part of a proactive long-term government strategy.
The state of relationships between the partners involved
It is obviously difficult to manage a training system under a highly conflicting situation.
Such situations are hardly conducive to positive dialogue and are more likely to lead to hostile confrontation. Approach to this type of situations can be very tricky, but an extreme option according to UNEVOC (1996) will be to exclude certain parties from the governing body of the funds. The draw backs for excluding key partners could be very costly to the training system thus requiring a thorough examination. The lack of communication and consultation between providers and firms as highlighted by Bennett (2002) is a serious cause for concern in the Gambia.
Institutional capacity to enforce, manage and control the system
To ensure effectiveness, financial diversification policies must benefit from a strong institutional framework. This is especially the case for levy systems that require a reliable administrative machinery to ensure that tax recovery is effective. In the Gambia, the turnover levy is annually collected by the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), whose main mandate are to collect taxes and revenue for the government under the Department of State for Finance and Economic Affairs (DoSFEA). Until now, it is not known whether appropriate assessment instruments required to smoothen the assessment process are in place. However, a list of businesses contributing to the levy over the last three (3) years obtained from the GRA compared to other business databases (e.g. MSI 2008), showed a big gap between the two databases i.e.
businesses that have not paid into the levy for one reason or the other over the last three years.
The objectives of the financing system
The objective can be either to raise funds for training or to change attitudes. In some cases, objectives go beyond the training issue to affect further dimensions, such as the choice of technology as in Singapore. There are basically two broad approaches to financing system namely: compulsory and incentive instruments. Compulsory instruments usually take the form of a payroll tax (annual turnover levy in the Gambia) whilst the incentive structures are based on a tax rebate (Mauritius) or training grant (Ivory Coast).
Also, training systems and their financing can be considered within a macro-economic and educational perspective. Financing training can be part of a public policy aimed at reducing investor’s risks. It is notably the case in export-oriented countries operating with a long-term vision, such as Singapore or Mauritius. In such cases, training serves broader industrial policy goals involving, besides incentive instruments, substantial state financing to develop certain skills and establish powerful publicly financed training institutions.
It can also be initiated to reduce poverty and raise the social status of its citizenry by creating employment through the acquisition of employable skills. This is typically the situation in the Gambia and most other SSA countries. Calloids (1994) noted that the overall management and co-ordination of national training systems is quite varied, ranging from centralized planning to market-oriented regulation.
Financing Skills Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
As noted earlier, different countries in SSA undertaking reforms to TVET have taken different approaches to financing skills development. Generally the trend has been the establishment of payroll levy systems that are charged on employers at varying rates. Bhuwanee (2004) reported on the funding strategies of four SSA countries namely: Ghana; Zimbabwe;
Tanzania and Mauritius.
Ghana without providing any specific way of providing funds to the TVET, suggests that government should show commitment by allocating adequate resources for TVET funding. It is further noted that all stakeholders including employers and beneficiary trainees are asked to contribute to the funding of TVET. Also there is the recognition that TVET in Ghana should be
supported by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and that other sources should be explored to find sources for adequate funding for TVET.
Tanzania talks about the need to establish a unified funding mechanism and the concept of cost sharing whereby employers, trainees and others meet the cost as seen necessary (Bhuwanee, 2004). It was proposed that the source of funding be a unitary levy system.
The recommendation concerning funding of TVET in Zimbabwe is that the bulk of the funding for TVET should come from the government and the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF). Presently the ZIMDEF collects from companies 1% of their annual salary bill as levy to the ZIMDEF to support TVET programmes.
In Mauritius, the financing is based on the principle of partnership between the public and private sectors. Industry is one of the principle partners in the financing of training activities.
Employers contribute a compulsory levy at a flat rate of 1% of the total basic salary of their employees though the overall responsibility for TVET has been the responsibility of government.
It can be seen from the above four countries as reported by Bhuwanee that financing TVET is generally prescribed by government for companies to finance, where possible little or nothing comes from government. Students, parents and sponsors share a large chunk of the training budget but this is generally hard to evaluate in real terms particularly for SSA countries struggling with very weak TVET and educational budgeting system (Penrose, 1993).
In the Gambia, the financing of skills development is mainly the responsibility of the private sector through compulsory contribution to the National Education and Technical Training Levy (NETTL). The levy was designed to collect 0.25% of annual turnover of companies employing five (5) or more employees. However, the NETTL was only operational for a period of less than 2 months and is now replaced with a tariff (band) system, prescribed by the government.
Other forms of funding recommended were a subvention from government and support from donors agencies. The government subvention to support skills development was removed once the levy was enforced. Since the beginning of reforms to TVET in the Gambia in 2006, there are yet not any donor agencies that have shown keen interest to support the continuation of such TVET reforms in the Gambia.
The UNESCO and ILO Recommendations of 2002 on financing of TVET for the Twenty-first Century stresses that TVET funding should be a shared responsibility between government, the private sector, voluntary organisations, and the students themselves. Generally, this has been
the intentions for most countries but with increasing budgetary constraints and economic hardship, financing TVET usually end up in the hands of only a few and possibly the employers alone.
Public Sector Commitment to Skills Training and Development
Penrose (1993) highlighted that many attempts to undertake reforms have not succeeded because they have been limited to interventions in the education sector ministries and as a result, TVET must be considered as an integral part of the entire educational system for human resource development and not a separate entity from the general education system (Bhuwanee, 2004).
Lall (1989) insists that the state should not play a direct part in providing finance for training, but experience from Asian countries suggests that there is a case for the state doing so (Griffin and Knight, 1990). In the four country case study (Bhuwanee, 2004), it was generally agreed that governments must be committed by allocating adequate resources for TVET reforms, but should not be the sole provider. It is therefore apparent that reforms should take full account of the need to strengthen a potentially beneficial relationship between the state and other relevant stakeholders.
Private Sector Participation in Skills Training and Development
In SSA, reforms to TVET has witnessed a major paradigm shift, where the private sectors are encouraged by government to takeover skills development not only the financing aspect but as well as management of skills development as in the case of the Gambia (NTA, 2006a).
However, from existing literature there is yet to be a major breakthrough for a successful private sector participation in the education and training in SSA. Although Johanson (2001) and Danida (2002) indicated that some systems (e.g. Mauritius) appear to be developing positively. There has been widespread criticism of the attempt to develop both training authorities and levies in Africa.
According to Emunemu (2008), private sector involvement in Nigeria is on a graduating scale from arms length donations, to partnerships with educational institutions right through to
the active participation in the provision of educational services – for profit. He noted that all the activities along this scale can be enhanced to improve the quality and access to education and skills development opportunities.
Private sector participation in the education and training remains a major challenge for SSA, although financing mechanisms for TVET are mainly supported by the private sector through mainly levy systems (legislated and enforced by government), the formula for which varies from country to country. However, the private sector views the training levy as yet another form of tax (Johanson, 2001). In some countries, this perspective is exacerbated by highly bureaucratic and centralized levy management structures and systems. It is also reported that the private sector is apprehensive of the predominance of government control on the management and disbursement of the training levy (Durango, 2002).
Donor Support to Skills Training and Development
Since the start of development cooperation in the 1950s through to the 1980s, one of the most important elements of support to economic development was the promotion of skills development (McGrath, 2002). This was as a result of the fact that there was recognition of the need to develop a cadre of technically capable workers to support modernization and industrialization in SSA. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) was an important element of development agency strategy during those periods.
The late 1990’s has witnessed a shift in development agency support to skills development for developing countries. The major catalyst in the shift of approach was a 1996 report of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (McGrath, 2002). The report, “Shaping the Twenty-First Century” (OECD-DAC, 1996), sought to build on the series of world conferences of the early 1990s produced a priority list of International Development Targets (IDTs), which were claimed to have summarized the conclusions of those conferences.
Donor shift of approach to skills development is further worsen by the recent trend towards sector programmes and has resulted in development agencies and countries concentrating in fewer sectors in a few countries (e.g. Luxemburg concentrating in a few West African States and EU focusing mainly in governance and communication in the Gambia). This furthers the
likelihood of skills development receiving reduced attention. According to (McGrath, 2002), skills development is by its nature cross-sectoral and this makes it harder to organize into sectoral programmes than education or health (WGICSD, 1999). Danida (2002) highlights the need for a skills development perspective to be included within all sectoral programmes.
Funding Strategy for TVET
The key to TVET success in SSA countries depends largely on the sustainability of the funding mechanisms that are put in place. In most countries, there is no adequate strategic planning to facilitate the transparent definition and prioritization of areas for funding (Durango, 2002).
Funding TVET is more expensive than general academic education due to cost of equipment, tools and consumables required for practical skills training. Presently the state of training facilities in the SSA and in particular the Gambia (NTA, 2006c) is highly undesirable and requires huge investment capital to rehabilitate and establish additional training institutions. The inadequacy of government and local funding to meet the demands of TVET capital investment means that external funding will be highly desirable to support TVET investment (Durango, 2002) on infrastructure, equipment and human resources.
In the Gambia, the main public TVET institution, the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) suffers from under investment (Johanson, 2008). Currently, there is acute lack of teaching equipment and materials. This is evident by the presence of World Bank donated items as far back as when the institution was established in early 1980’s. Workshops are literally empty with no basic teaching aids and materials.
The GTTI is located close to the capital city Banjul and is currently the only public TVET centre in the Gambia. Without hesitation, the need to build additional training centres along the length and breadth of the country cannot be overemphasised. It is therefore important that a solid strategic framework for sustainable complimentary funding mechanisms be device and agreed to by all stakeholders. The recent ICDF Funding Agreement (2008) to finance the establishment of a TVET skills centre in a rural setting is indeed a viable investment for the Gambia.
Training Authorities
To respond to the developing skills needs of the economy and to be in a position to be proactive, rather than just responsive, in relation to ongoing technological and industrial change, public training systems need a greater degree of independence than is forthcoming from line ministries (Ziderman, 2001). So where institutionally possible, fully fledged, autonomous
To respond to the developing skills needs of the economy and to be in a position to be proactive, rather than just responsive, in relation to ongoing technological and industrial change, public training systems need a greater degree of independence than is forthcoming from line ministries (Ziderman, 2001). So where institutionally possible, fully fledged, autonomous