The Africa Centre for Economic Transformation, in partnership with the National University of Singapore, Microsoft Philanthropies Middle East and Africa, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of South Africa is organising a policy roundtable to explore how South Africa is creating the right skills economy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
This policy roundtable on ‘Right-skilling the Workforce in Africa for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), to be held on September 13 in Johannesburg, South Africa, is the third and last of a series of policy roundtables being held by ACET to explore how sub-Saharan African countries have created or are creating the right skills economy for the future.
The first two – held in Kenya and Nigeria –brought together various participants from the Agriculture, Manufacturing, Online Work and BPO Services, Creatives and Tourism sectors to dialogue on the challenges in skilling the workforce for 4IR and how their countries can leverage the opportunities presented by Industry 4.0 for economic transformation.
The half-day event will bring together about 50 participants drawn from policy makers, the public sector, business, industry associations and organized labour, academia, educational and skills development institutions, CSOs, think-tanks, technology and innovation hubs as well as thought leaders and development partners with interests in Agriculture, Manufacturing, Online Work and BPO Services.
Like the previous waves of industrial revolution, 4IR presents both challenges and opportunities. While some transformation pathways are becoming increasingly problematic, others are being energized and the study on Right-skilling the Workforce in Africa for Industry 4.0 will identify and evaluate the effectiveness of existing initiatives and their relative success or failure in skilling the workforce; track progress, compare approaches, gauge success and failures of different approaches and draw lessons for policy for formulation in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.
The event will be live-streamed on ACET’s Facebook page (@acetforafrica) from 10 am (GMT+2). You can also contribute to the conversation on all our other social media handles (Twitter and LinkedIn @AcetforAfrica), using the hashtags #ACET and #FutureofWork.
