Unlocking East Africa's Potential: The Transformative Role of Vocational Training
In Kenya’s bustling Gikomba Market, thousands of artisans hammer, stitch, and weld daily - yet 83% of them are locked out of formal employment. Across East Africa, the informal sector dominates, employing millions while offering limited paths to economic stability. This disparity reveals a critical challenge: how do we close the gap between mere survival and prosperity?
Africa has the largest informal sector in the world, with 85% of its working-age population thus employed. East Africa is no exception: half of the employed population in Tanzania, and more than 80% of the Kenyan and Ugandan labour forces are informally employed. Many of these workers are, however, informally trained.
The Jua Kali Skill & Certification Gap
And, while this may seem fitting, it poses a unique problem. 'Jua Kali' apprenticeship involves artisans learning their skills from the expertise of local master crafts-persons in their areas of work. However, this method of knowledge transfer obstructs even the most skillful workers from obtaining formal employment in, and, in turn, a stable income.
The informal training system, while widespread, creates barriers to economic mobility, especially due to its lack of formal certification. Workers trained informally often lack the recognised qualifications that would grant them access to higher-paying and more stable jobs. One of the starkest manifestations of this is wage disparity. In Kenya, for example, workers who attained a high school diploma earn 50% more than their peers who only finished primary school. Meanwhile, workers who attained a college diploma earn an 80% wage premium over workers with only a high school diploma. In fact, college-educated informal workers earn up to Ksh 40,000 per month – double the upper tail of the average of the other two groups, whose monthly wages range from Ksh 7,000 to Ksh 20,000. Clearly, informal training fails to offer the recognition necessary to level the economic playing field.
To bridge these gaps, the East African Community (EAC) has turned to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). TVET is a vast framework of education and training programs aimed at equipping students with the necessary and practical skills required for a given trade, and purports to be effective in aligning education with labour market demands.
TVET for National and Regional Prosperity
Multiple TVET initiatives have already begun to change the employment landscape of East Africa. In Uganda, for example, the Skilling Uganda government initiative has made an inspiring impact. The initiative targeted the concerning rate of youth unemployment (13% at the time) in the nation by empowering disadvantaged, marginalised, or otherwise vulnerable urban youth through practical skill training – in carpentry, tailoring, bakery, mechanics, and more. Since its inception, it has had over 61,000 enrolled students, 51,000 of which having already successfully completed their training and graduated with certifications that improve their employability.
Ethiopia’s Leather Initiative for Sustainable Employment Creation (LISEC) capitalises on the country’s leverage in the leather industry. Leather is a very high-potential sector and particularly so in Ethiopia, which has an especially large quantity of animal hides: the country is the best endowed in its livestock supply in Africa. Vocational training in this sector, then, is likely to breed much employment and transform the lives of Ethiopian women and youth, its main beneficiaries.
LISEC is a project which provides training in leather processing, design, and manufacturing, providing vocational training directly to young Ethiopian men and women. The objectives of this project are to support the Ethiopian leather sector in providing quality raw hide and skin, producing quality leather, and investing in leather product manufacturing. These are three most-important steps in the leather industry value-chain – the first of which having been a challenge in recent years.
Trainees are equipped with the necessary skills to participate effectively in the industry, including business creation and entrepreneurship; LISEC has been credited with encouraging the establishment of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), creating new, green jobs in Ethiopia in the process.
On a regional level, the EAC is on track to ‘harmonise’ among itself its TVET training. The East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) is a World-Bank-supported initiative which aims to establish regional TVET Centres of Excellence. Each of these centres would provide specialised and industry-recognised certificate, diploma and degree programs. Students and faculty would be granted unrestricted mobility among participating institutions and countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania – allowing each country to specialise in a particular skill. For example, the Arusha Technical Institute in Tanzania focuses on technician training in the hydro, wind and solar power industries, while Kenya's Meru Polytechnic trains in construction.
So far, the project has achieved student enrolment of more than 24,000 students in formal training and has successfully developed over 367 TVET accredited or industry-recognised programs. Regionally, EASTRIP has promoted the creation of several essential instruments of TVET implementation, such as the Regional TVET Qualifications Framework, which provides a common basis for recognising TVET qualifications among the three participating countries.
EASTRIP is a transformative initiative that offers promising benefits. Its focus on regional integration, harmonisation of TVET qualifications and free mobility among participating countries, the program creates a unified regional labour market. Skilled workers are, consequently, enabled to pursue opportunities across borders, boosting regional economic growth. Additionally, emphasising specification in specific technical fields is sure to not only foster East African collaboration, but also will reduce redundancy and optimise resource allocation.
Overcoming Challenges Through Public-Private Partnerships
Even though vocational training in East Africa is promising, it is not without its challenges. One critical drawback of TVET in general is that it, surprisingly, has been reported to poorly align with the demands of the labour market. A survey in Ethiopia revealed that 65% of respondents – including students, employers, and policymakers – believe that TVET does not adequately meet the needs of the job market. The problem is often that eager-to-help employers are not consulted in the curricula-development process, leading to a mismatch between the skills learned by hopeful jobseekers and those demanded by prospective employers.
Involvement of the private sector to develop training curricula is key in strengthening the TVET ecosystem. Uganda's Business, Technical and Vocational Training Education and Training (BTVET) offers a model: its curriculum was developed in conjunction with specific employers to design specific courses. BTVET is lauded for combining theory with hands-on experience, producing graduates who are immediately employable. 71% of the program’s stakeholders are optimistic about its outlook, even despite some current logistical challenges. Expanding such partnerships regionally can enhance TVET programs, ensuring that they remain dynamic and responsive to market changes and demands.
Private-public collaboration should also focus on empowering Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs), which are the backbone of East Africa's economy. MSMEs reportedly contribute account for 90% of businesses and 80% of employment, making them vital in the region's development prospects. However, MSMEs often face challenges in accessing skilled labour, which limits their productivity and ability to scale and compete in domestic and international markets.
The MSME-TVET partnership would be quid pro quo: TVET programs can fill the skilled labour gap by designing training that meets the needs of these enterprises, while MSMEs can act as training grounds for TVET students by offering on-the-job apprenticeships. Collaborations could catalyse MSME growth and improve productivity by ensuring that workers are equipped with well-aligned skills.
A significant challenge does, however, arise. MSMEs famously lack access to financing necessary to hire skilled workers or provide apprenticeships. To address this, public-private partnerships can financially incentivise MSME collaboration through subsidised loans, grants, or tax relief. This would effectively reduce the financial burden on MSMEs and encourage their participation in TVET curricula development and participation.
By integrating MSMEs into curricula and offering incentives for their participation, TVET programs could create a virtuous cycle where MSMEs both shape the workforce and benefit from a steady supply of workers. In this way, TVET programs would be effective in addressing labour market mismatches, while strengthening the economic impact of both MSMEs and TVET programs across the region.
Conclusion
The story of East Africa's workforce is one of untapped potential. From the vibrant stalls of Kenya's Gikomba workers to the leather workshops in Ethiopia, the region's skilled workers are ready to drive transformation – if given the chance. Lasting progress lies in breaking the silos between policy and practice – between classrooms and boardrooms.
By fostering private-public collaboration and empowering MSMEs, vocational training can do more than provide a solution to unemployment. It can spur economic growth, innovation, and social mobility; it can transform local artisans into industry leaders, informal apprentices into certified professionals, and struggling MSMEs into engines of prosperity.
Focused interventions like EASTRIP, Skilling Uganda, LISEC and BTVET demonstrate that this future is within reach. With bold partnerships, inclusive policies and a shared commitment to its people, East Africa can rewrite the narrative of its informal sector, unleashing the full potential of its workforce and ensuring sustainable development for future generations.
