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Despite strong recent economic growth, Sub-Saharan Africa has levels of economic transformation, poverty reduction, and skill development far below those of other regions. Smart investments in developing skills—aligned with the policy goals of productivity growth, inclusion, and adaptability—can help to accelerate the region’s economic transformation in the 21st century. Sub-Saharan Africa’s growing working-age population presents a major opportunity to increase shared prosperity. Countries in the region have invested heavily in building skills; public expenditure on education increased sevenfold over the past 30 years, and more children are in school today than ever before. Yet, systems for building skills in this population have fallen short, and these shortcomings significantly impede economic prospects. In half of the countries, fewer than two in every three children complete primary school; even fewer reach and complete higher levels of education. Learning outcomes have been persistently poor, leading to substantial gaps in basic cognitive skills—literacy and numeracy—among children, young people, and adults. The literacy rate of the adult population is below 50 percent in many countries; functional literacy and numeracy rates are even lower. Systemwide change is required to achieve significant progress. Multiple agencies at the central and local levels are involved in skills development strategies, making skills “everyone’s problem but no one’s responsibility.†? Policies and reforms need to build capacity for evidence-based policies and create incentives to align the behaviors of all stakeholders with the pursuit of national skills development goals. The Skills Balancing Act in Sub-Saharan Africa: Investing in Skills for Productivity, Inclusivity, and Adaptability lays out evidence to inform the policy choices that countries will make in skill investments. Each chapter addresses a set of specific questions, drawing on original analysis and synthesis of existing studies to explore key areas: • How the skills appropriate to each stage of the life cycle are acquired and what market and institutional failures affect skills formation • What systems are needed for individuals to access these skills, including family investments, private sector institutions, schools, and other public programs • How those systems can be strengthened • How the most vulnerable individuals—those who fall outside the standard systems and have missed critical building blocks in skills acquisition—can be supported. Countries will face trade-offs—often stark ones—that will have distributional impacts and a bearing on their development path. Committed leaders, reform coalitions, and well-coordinated policies are essential for taking on the skills balancing act in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite a spectacular expansion of the higher education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, the supply of tertiary education has generally failed to keep pace with demand and the region continues to lag all other regions in terms of access to tertiary education. This is in part a consequence of deeply entrenched patterns of inequitable access to higher education, and the perpetuation of what researchers refer to as “elite systems†?. To date, access to tertiary education in Sub-Saharan Africa has unduly benefitted students drawn from the region’s wealthiest households, and overall enrollment remains disproportionately male, and metropolitan. These factors stifle the catalytic potential of higher education, corroding its potential for driving economic growth and sustaining poverty reduction. Instead, patterns of access to tertiary education have generally reinforced and reproduced social inequality, instead of eroding its pernicious social and economic effects. This report aims to inform an improved understanding of equity in tertiary enrollment in Sub-Saharan African countries, and to examine the extent to which inequity functions as a bottleneck inhibiting the ability of African universities to effectively drive improvements in overall quality of life and economic competitiveness. In our survey of the evidence, we also aim to identify which policies most effectively address the challenge of promoting equity of access in SSA tertiary education systems. In order to achieve these objectives, the report collects, generates and analyzes empirical evidence on patterns of equity, examines the underlying causes of inequity, and evaluates government policies for addressing inequity.
Industrialization drives the sustained growth in jobs and productivity that marks the developmental take-off of most developed economies. Yet, academics and policy makers have questioned the role of manufacturing in development for late industrializers, especially ith more job creation. Industrialization drives the sustained growth in jobs and productivity that marks the developmental take-off of most developed economies. Yet, academics and policy makers have questioned the role of manufacturing in development for late industrializers, especially in view of rapid advancements in technologies and restructuring of international trade.Concurrently, industrialization and structural transformation are integral to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the development strategies of several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Given this renewed interest in industrialization across the region, a central question is not whether SSA countries should pursue industrialization as a potential path to sustainable growth but how to promote the prospects of industrialization. Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Seizing Opportunities in Global Value Chains addresses this question by reassessing the prospects for industrialization in SSA countries through integration into global value chains. It also examines the role of policy in enhancing these prospects. The main findings indicate that • SSA has not experienced premature deindustrialization; the region has witnessed substantial growth in manufacturing jobs despite a lack of improvement in the contribution of manufacturing value-added to GDP. • The region’s integration into manufacturing global value chains is reasonably high but it is dominated by exports of primary products and engagement in low-skill tasks. • Global value chain integration has led to job growth, and backward integration is associated with more job creation. The report emphasizes the role of policy in maintaining a competitive market environment, promoting productivity growth, and investing in skills development and enabling sectors such as infrastructure and finance. Policy makers can strengthen the global value chain linkages by (1) increasing the value-added content of current exports, (2) upgrading into high-skill tasks, and (3) creating comparative advantages in knowledge-intensive industries.
"The series is sponsored by the Agence Francaise de Developpement and the World Bank."
The Future of Work in Africa focuses on the key themes of creating productive jobs and addressing the needs of those left behind. It highlights how global trends, especially the adoption of digital technologies, may change the nature of work in Sub-Saharan Africa by creating new opportunities and challenges. It argues that, contrary to global fears of worker displacement by new technologies, African countries can develop an inclusive future of work, with opportunities for lower-skilled workers. Harnessing these opportunities is, however, contingent on implementing policies and making productive investments in four main areas. These are enabling inclusive digital technologies; building human capital for a young, rapidly growing, and largely low-skilled labor force; increasing the productivity of informal workers and enterprises; and extending social protection coverage to mitigate the risks associated with disruptions to labor markets. This companion report to the World Bank’s World Development Report 2019 concludes with important policy questions that should guide future research, whose findings could lead to more inclusive growth for African nations.
This book examines the role for natural resource wealth in driving Africa’s economic transformation and the implications of the low-carbon transition for resource-rich economies. Resource wealth remains central to most Sub-Saharan African economies, and significant untapped potential is in the ground. Subsoil assets—such as metals, minerals, oil, and gas—are key sources of government revenues, export earnings, and development potential in most countries in the Africa region. Despite large reserves, success in converting subsoil wealth into aboveground sustainable prosperity has been limited. Since the decline in commodity prices in 2014, resource-rich Africa has grown more slowly than the region’s average growth rate. Finding ways to more effectively harness natural resource wealth to drive economic transformation will be central to Africa’s economic future. As the world moves away from fossil fuels in alignment with commitments under the Paris Agreement, Africa’s resource-rich countries face new risks and opportunities. Recent estimates suggest that 80 percent of the world’s proven fossil fuel reserves must remain underground to meet the Paris targets, and much of these stranded reserves may be in Africa. This issue of stranded assets and, relatedly, “stranded nations,†? has major implications for the many African economies that are dependent on petroleum extraction and export. On the other hand, the energy transition will increase demand for raw material inputs involved in clean energy technologies. The transition from fossil fuels to clean energy may create demand by 2050 for 3 billion tons of minerals and metals that are needed to deploy solar, wind, and geothermal energy. How can African economies tap into these opportunities while managing the downside risk to their fossil fuel wealth? Africa’s Resource Future explores these themes and offers policy makers insights to help them navigate the coming years of uncertainty.
To enter the sports, events, and hospitality industry, it is necessary to develop and hone certain skills to ensure competitiveness. These skills must be studied further to educate those interested in pursuing a career in these fields on what it takes to begin this long process and enhance their employability. Employability and Skills Development in the Sports, Events, and Hospitality Industry provides insight into current professionals working in the sports, events, tourism, and hospitality industry and considers the skills and qualifications necessary to work within or enter the industries. Covering key topics such as hard skills, volunteerism, virtual events, and educational institutions, this reference work is ideal for event managers, coaches, property owners, entrepreneurs, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, scholars, educators, and students.
Research on migration and urban development in Africa has primarily focused on larger cities and rural-to-urban migration. However, 97 percent of Africa’s urban centers have fewer than 300,000 inhabitants, and a sizable share of urban migrants come from other urban areas. A more holistic and dynamic perspective, incorporating migration flows along the full urban hierarchy, as well as urban-urban migrants, is needed to better understand and leverage migration for urban development. Migrants, Markets, and Mayors: Rising above the Employment Challenge in Africa’s Secondary Cities draws on demographic data, research literature, key informant interviews, and empirical research to better understand how migrants in Africa’s secondary cities fare in urban labor markets, how they affect aggregate urban productivity, and how mayors can leverage migrants’ potential to the benefit of all. It explores these questions across countries and four urban case settings: Jijiga in Ethiopia, Jinja in Uganda, and Jendouba and Kairouan in Tunisia. Although mayors in secondary cities often see migrants as a burden to their cities’ labor markets and a threat to development, the report finds that migrants contribute increasingly less to urban population growth and that they usually strengthen the resident labor force. The report also finds that labor market outcomes for migrants are at least as good as those for nonmigrants. Africa’s secondary cities are well placed to leverage migration, but evidence-based policies are needed to manage the growth and development of land and labor markets. The report reviews policy options that mayors can take to strengthen the financial, technical, and planning capacity of secondary cities and better leverage migration to benefit migrants and nonmigrants alike. ----------- "Much of the literature on migration to cities examines migration in a nonspatial fashion or focuses on rural-urban migration to the largest, most visible cities. This volume fills a gap by focusing on migration to secondary cities, coming up with a compelling set of facts. Overall, the volume is very well done and sets a benchmark for future research." †“ J. Vernon Henderson, School Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics
L‘avenir du travail en Afrique se penche sur deux questions fondamentales : comment créer des emplois productifs et comment subvenir aux besoins des laissés-pour-compte. Le rapport met en lumière comment l’adoption des technologies numériques, conjuguée à d’autres phénomènes mondiaux, transforme la nature du travail en Afrique subsaharienne et pose un défi en même temps qu’elle crée de nouvelles possibilités. Les auteurs montrent que les nouvelles technologies ne sont pas simplement synonymes de destruction d’emplois, comme on le craint généralement, mais qu’elles peuvent permettre aux pays africains de construire un monde du travail inclusif et offrir des opportunités aux travailleurs les moins qualifiés. Pour exploiter ces opportunités, cependant, il est indispensable de mettre en place des politiques publiques et de réaliser des investissements productifs dans quatre domaines principaux. Il faudra notamment promouvoir des technologies numériques inclusives, développer le capital humain d’une main-d’oeuvre jeune, globalement peu qualifiée et qui s’accroît rapidement, augmenter la productivité des entreprises et des travailleurs du secteur informel et élargir la couverture de la protection sociale pour atténuer les risques liés aux bouleversements du marché du travail. Le présent rapport, prolongement du Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2019 de la Banque mondiale, aborde en conclusion d’importantes questions de politique publique qui viendront alimenter de futurs travaux de recherche permettant de guider les pays africains sur la voie d’une croissance plus inclusive.