By Tamara Johnson
22 July 2012
On 11 July 2012, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a panel discussion, “Mobilizing partnerships for development, including in the field of education.” Vice-President of the Council, H.E. Mr. Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil (Egypt) chaired the panel, which was moderated by Ms. Sigrid Kaag, Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, United Nations Development Programme.
In his opening statement, Mr. Ahadein Khalil called to attention the fact that about 50% of the world’s 1.2 billion youth are unemployed.
H.E. Dr. Amr Ezzat Salama, Counsellor, American University in Cairo, and former Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt, continued the panel, pointing out that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is home to 90 million youths. This demographic category is increasing at a rate of 2% per year. In Egypt, he said, there are currently 790,000 graduates competing for 200,000 jobs. Training and education centers are supply-driven, rather than demand-driven, which must be addressed. Approximately 60% of surveyed employers reported poor matches between the skills sets needed to perform available jobs and the skills sets possessed by graduate job applicants. Dr. Salama suggested the labor market be analyzed to inform the creation education institutions that meet students’ and the labor market’s demands. Such demand-driven could be accomplished through on-site training, internship programs, and loans and grants for vocational training.
Dr. Andreas Koenig, Head of Section, Technical and Vocational Education and Training and Labour Markets, German Society?for International Corporation, Germany, asserted, “youth unemployment threatens the stability of many societies,” and offered some directional lessons from Germany’s experience. In Germany, he said, the youth unemployment rate is 5.4%, while the youth unemployment rates of most other countries are in double digits. Dr. Koenig attributed some of Germany’s success to its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program. In Germany, TVET is based on public-private partnerships, wherein companies are involved in the design of curricula, as well as the provision of financing and training. 50% of school board memberships are comprised of private sector representatives in order to ensure the relevance of education programs to future labor market participation. Dr. Koenig admitted TVET can be cost-intensive and can sometimes lead to expensive brain drain.
Mr. Ron Bruder, Founder and Chair, Education for Employment Foundation, offered instructional examples from the Education for Employment experience in the MENA region. He cited the MENA average youth unemployment rate of 26%. In some country-specific cases the rate is as high as 65%. In order to maintain that rate, 25 million new jobs would have to be created in the next year. However, in surveys conducted by Education for Employment, 87% of CEOs considered the match between necessary skills and the skills of graduates entering the labor market poor. Mr. Bruder claimed that addressing this gap is the greatest challenge of education development. Education for Employment has had some success in addressing this gap through the provision of soft skills education, for instance training in resume writing, professional dress, and work ethics.
Mr. Abdalla Hamdok, Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, cited that 10 million young Africans arrive in the job market each year. He said there is policy tension between the need for mass versus quality education, which must be resolved. The last 30 years of African education development have focused on primary education, but there is a grave need for expansion into technical and tertiary education, as well as research and development, for sustainable social and economic development. Mr. Hamdok said the nature of unemployment—structural or cyclical—ought to dictate policy formulation. While economic growth is clearly crucial for job creation, there must also be public work programs, skills training, job search assistance, and support for self-employed entrepreneurs. Efficiency problems can be mitigated, he said, by availing of and encouraging further public-private partnerships.
In the follow-up discussion, five main topics prevailed: gender issues, structural obstacles, coordination challenges, the challenge of public-private partnerships where micro and Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are concerned, and the necessity of human rights-based education. There was also discussion of whether the informal sector ought to be involved or considered in technical and vocational training. While Mr. Bruder believed it should be taken into account and taken advantage of, Mr. Hamdok opined that policies should be instituted to guide economies increasingly into the formal sector. Mr. Bruder added that, in Egypt, the most frequent complaint of the recent graduates with whom his organization works is the difficulty of registering with the government. The complication and cost of corporatizing is a powerful deterrent to joining the formal economy, in addition to the threat of grave repercussions, including imprisonment, for venture failure. Cost-benefit analysis for most would-be formal entrepreneurs discourages participation in the formal economy. This should be addressed with policy reform, such as bankruptcy measures.
Addressing the question of coordination, Dr. Koenig suggested a single agency be created in each country to align missions and communication between various education-related government ministries and the private sector. Further, he said, training centers can communicate with micro enterprises and SMEs to link employers with trainers. Micro enterprises and SMEs can be beneficially involved by advising on curricula design.
Concluding, Mr. Bruder pointed out the importance of evidence-based analysis of education programs, and the allocation of funds to programs that will actually develop youth employability.