Projects - South Africa - SSD

National Skills Development Strategy in South Africa

 

South African Department of Labour - Skills Development

 

Why does South Africa need a Skills Development Strategy?

South Africa suffers from a dire skills shortage, employers find it hard to find skills they need and job seekers are frustrated when they do not qualify for jobs.

Vision
Skills for productive citizenship for all.

Two Important Priorities:

  1. South Africa is part of a global economy and needs to increase skills within the country to improve productivity and competitiveness of South Africa's industry, business, commerce and services.

  2. The poverty and inequalities of South African society need to be addresses to make the society more inclusive and improve the quality of life of poor South Africans.

Beneficiaries of the Strategy:

  • 85% Black
  • 54% Female
  • 4% People with disabilities

Objectives of NSDS:

  1. Developing a culture of high quality life-long learning.

  2. Fostering skills development in the formal economy for productivity and employment growth.

  3. Stimulating and supporting skills development in small businesses.

  4. Promoting skills development for employability and sustainable livelihoods through social development initiatives.

  5. Assisting new entrants into employment.

Who Pays for the Skills Development Strategy?

  • Since April 1 2000, all employers who have registered their workers for PAYE tax must pay the skills development levy.

National Skills Fund:

  • 20% of all levies paid by employers are paid into the National Skills Fund (NSF).
  • The fund is used to address national skills priority needs as well as training unemployed and other vulnerable people in areas where there is a strong potential for growth and employment; include jobs created by new investors or the expansion of existing firms, for self-employment as well as for jobs in the social development sector.
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Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

  • SETA helps to implement the NSDS and to increase the skills of the people in the sector.
  • Administers the levy grants as well as contributes to the raising of skills of the unemployed or those seeking employment in their sector.
  • Ensures that training is to agreed and registered standards.
  • They offer services to every sector of the economy.

What are Learnerships?

  • Leanerships are new work based routes to acquire professional or vocational qualifications.
  • Include theory as well as work experiences.
  • Leanerships lead to nationally qualifications registered on National Qualifications
  • Framework (NQF).

How Do Employers Gain From NSDS?

  1. Increase of revenue - increased return on investment is generated when workers have skills to exploit technology and to interact with clients positively.

  2. Decrease or avoid expenses - skilled workers can reduce expenses by undertaking routine maintenance, detecting faults and solving problems smartly.

  3. Intangible benefits - Employees expand their efforts when needed. Clients also respond well to an environment where people work well as teams.

For more information, please contact our International Project Specialist at projects@niagaracollege.ca.