Linking skills learning with decent work: ILO strategies

By Caroline Njuki

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) believes that redefining occupational standards is key in ensuring that training remains relevant and young people easily transition into the labour market

ILO is the UN agency mandated to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN.

As a tripartite organisation, ILO works with governments, employers and workers’ organisations. At country level, ILO’s support is through the decent work country programme (DWCP), which is a framework for cooperation arrived at through a process of social dialogue.

DWCPs promote decent work as a key component of national development strategies and organises ILO knowledge, instruments, advocacy and cooperation at the service of tripartite constituents in a results-based framework to advance the decent work agenda.

Skills and lifelong learning are at the centre of the creation of decent jobs. Adaptations and agility are required and have become even more urgent now, what with the fast-changing world of work shaped by technological innovations, demographic shifts, climate change and globalisation.

For young people, acquisition of relevant skills – those that the labour market demands and which enable easier, faster transition from education and training into work – has become even more urgent. According to the Kenya Household and Population Survey of 2019, youth unemployment stood at 38 percent, with young people more likely to be underemployed and the situation being even more difficult for young women. The number of those not in education, employment or training (NEET) stood at a high of one out every seven, translating into 13.7 percent. 

The ILO estimates that globally, youth employment fell to 8.7 percent in 2020, compared with 3.7 percent for adults, with the most pronounced decline observed in middle-income countries.

With the disruptions and closure of school and training institutions owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, young people have had to defer dreams of completing their training, and unfortunately delay of entry into the labour market. The consequences of this disruption to the early labour market experiences of youth could last for years.

In Kenya, the number of job losses related to the Covid-19 pandemic was estimated at over 1.5 million as of September 2020. This is a reflection of workplaces struggling to remain afloat, owing to reduced business occasioned by disruptions in global supply chains, restrictions in movement and lockdowns. Reduction of workforce continues to be implemented to allow for observance of Covid-19 safety protocols, whether through reduction of working hours, unpaid leave or other alternative arrangements. Many companies have put moratoria on recruitment, and traditionally, those most recently hired (young people) are the first to be let go in crises.

World Youth Skills Day 2021 is being marked in the second year of the pandemic. It seeks to celebrate the resilience and creativity of young people throughout the crisis.

Established by the General Assembly in 2014, the day celebrates the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. Since then, the World Youth Skills Day has provided a unique opportunity for dialogue among young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers and workers’ organisations, policymakers and development partners.

Education and training are integral to the realisation of the 2030 Agenda, with Goal 4 being “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning for all”.

The ILO centenary declaration of 2019 called for a future of work that is human-centred; that focuses on increasing investment in people’s capabilities, increasing investments in the institutions of work and increasing investment in decent and sustainable work.

A 2019 report by Mercy Corps on ‘the state of digital training in Kenya’ indicated that many training institutions continued to offer digital skills not demanded in the market. The ILO believes that redefining occupational standards is key in ensuring that training remains relevant and young people easily transition into the labour market. Hence, the ILO in Kenya is working closely with the Government, the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU-K), the Federation of Kenya Employers and other partners, to support strengthening of the TVET sector, a key enabler for national development.

Development cooperation interventions span across capacity support to TVET trainers, especially now with the roll-out of the Competency-Based Education and Training Curriculum that requires different levels of competence. Technical assistance is also provided towards enhancing curriculum offered at training institutions to meet labour market demands.

Other areas of interventions include support to policy development and reform that impacts on skills development.

Through partnership with FKE and other business membership organisations like the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, ILO supports the implementation of work-based learning programmes, including apprenticeships.

Hands-on experience in industry gives young people an opportunity to learn first-hand how the workplace functions, something they are not able to get during training. It exposes them to problem solving, communication and other core skills that employers are seeking.

With the shifts occasioned by Covid-19, it is important to anticipate skills that industry and economies will need in the future. This allows training institutions to prepare to offer this training in good time. To realise this, it is critical to have a robust labour market information system that is accessible to young people and which allow them to make the right training choices.

With increased digitisation, training institutions are transforming how they offer training; from introducing learning management systems that enable students to do their own guided learning and simulation of technical training sessions that also makes it cheaper and more accessible. These are changes that will continue to define training and for which stakeholders have to be prepared.

Capacity building of the entire TVET ecosystem will therefore continue to be a top priority for the ILO as efforts are continued towards recovering from the impacts of the pandemic.

The author is the Officer in Charge and Chief Technical Advisor, ILO Kenya