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TVET can mitigate the climate crisis in Africa. Therefore, developing a skilled workforce to combat environmental degradation is a priority.
The Africa Environmental Education and Training Action Plan 2015-2024 notes that developing skills to facilitate Africa’s transition to a green economy can be a strong vehicle for poverty reduction and decent job creation, while fostering sustainable economic development and mitigating the risks associated with climate change. It can also unlock new employment opportunities that are emerging in and through the green economy and support green entrepreneurship as a means of tackling youth unemployment. (UNEP 2017)
Decarbonization-fuelled growth is expected to create a net 3.8 million new jobs in Africa over the next 30 years. While around two million jobs will likely be lost in the manufacturing and power sectors as consumers switch to greener alternatives, six million new jobs are likely to be created in emerging green businesses by 2050. (McKinsey 2021)
of the 10 countries deemed to be most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are located in Africa.
(Germanwatch 2021)
of the world’s droughts occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, which has also experienced the world’s highest growth in the frequency of storms and floods.
(IMF 2020)
people in Africa are likely to be displaced as a result of climate-related disasters by 2030. The current population of Sub-Saharan Africa is 1.2 billion.
(WMO 2022)
is the expected increase in GDP per capita in Africa by 2050 if global warming is held to 1.5°C rather than 2°C.
(IPCC 2022)
Key facts
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50%
of the 10 countries deemed to be most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are located in Africa.
(Germanwatch 2021)
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of the world’s droughts occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, which has also experienced the world’s highest growth in the frequency of storms and floods.
(IMF 2020)
© UNESCO-UNEVOC/Jane Kinyutu
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700 million
people in Africa are likely to be displaced as a result of climate-related disasters by 2030. The current population of Sub-Saharan Africa is 1.2 billion.
(WMO 2022)
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5%
is the expected increase in GDP per capita in Africa by 2050 if global warming is held to 1.5°C rather than 2°C.
(IPCC 2022)
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Systems for identifying, integrating and implementing new green competencies in TVET in Africa are weak.
Challenge
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Systems for identifying, integrating and implementing new green competencies in TVET in Africa are weak.
Identification: Only 20% of African TVET stakeholders surveyed in 2020 said that their country regularly conducts national skills forecasts and that these forecasts pay explicit attention to the new skills required in a green economy. (UNESCO-UNEVOC 2020)
Integration: A 2017 analysis of the presence and absence of qualifications for environment and sustainable development occupations and learning pathways in South Africa found that green skills occupations are poorly defined in the national system of occupations and that the bulk (51.1%) of environmentally-related qualifications are registered at NQF levels 8-10, reflecting a specialist postgraduate entry-point and limited pathways into environmental jobs for individuals with lower-level or non-traditional qualifications. (Ramsarup 2017)
Implementation: A 2015 study examining the status of green skills and technologies on offer in TVET institutions in Kenya found that the majority of TVET courses do not integrate green technologies in their training and that practical training through project work was missing. It also noted low skill levels among instructors linked to low levels of funding and support, including insufficient staff training on renewable energy skills and green technologies. (Jahonga et al 2015)
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The informal sector holds the key to developing a skilled workforce to combat environmental degradation and generate decent jobs for youth and other marginalized groups.
Opportunity
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The informal sector holds the key to developing a skilled workforce to combat environmental degradation and generate decent jobs for youth and other marginalized groups.
African countries have tended to focus their greening TVET efforts on formal TVET institutions. For example, despite the informal economy’s potential for green job creation and improving climate change resilience through the delivery of environmentally-sustainable goods and services, South Africa currently has no national-level mechanism for skills development in sectors such as informal waste. Most initiatives aimed at training and building up the capacity of informal waste pickers are small-scale and offered by civil society organizations. (ILO 2019)
When addressing the impact of the green economy on the African labour market, attention must be paid to the informal economy as well as to entry-level and intermediate skilled jobs. Small-scale technologies have the potential to transform employment in developing African economies by supporting transformative, locally sustainable green employment and livelihoods. (Acey and Culhane 2013)
The Africa Environmental Education and Training Action Plan 2015–2024 advocates a systems perspective to environmental education and training, which includes the aim to develop and integrate environmental education and training at all levels of society in Africa through formal and informal means. However, it also states that dispensing environmental education and training to formal, non-formal and informal institutions ‘at once is simply not possible given resource and other constraints’. (UNEP 2017)
Thus, assistance from non-governmental actors will likely be required to skill workers in the informal economy, who tend to be the most vulnerable to climate change. (UNEP 2020)
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