Page 88 - 41st Summit Brochure

Greater youth participation is mainly seen in educated and skilled human resources to
low income jobs and self-employment in the facilitate poverty reduction, equitable economic
informal economy, which is not productive growth, and competitiveness in the labour
enough to lift them from poverty. In response, market economy.
the Secretariat has finalized the drafting of a
SADC Youth Empowerment Policy Framework Education Sector Response to Covid-19 –
that seeks to enhance opportunities for Survey of SADC Member States
harnessing the demographic dividend, arising The COVID-19 pandemic has led to drastic
from the region’s youth bulge. measures being taken by respective
The draft policy framework has an governments to mitigate the negative impact of
emphasis on youth economic empowerment the pandemic on businesses and households.
through employment, entrepreneurship and To control the impact of the pandemic,
appropriate skills development. Another point national lockdowns and partial border
of emphasis is the strengthening of the capacity restrictions have been imposed by most
and representativeness of national youth countries. These measures have severely
organizations to participate in and lead impacted the education sector, creating a
development processes. The SADC Ministers period of lost learning opportunities for many
responsible for Youth, together with youth and students, most particularly for those in socially
other stakeholders, are set to follow up on the vulnerable groups.
ongoing consultations to adopt and implement Member States have responded in different
the proposed policy framework. ways to help students make up for the lost
period of learning by promulgating a variety of
Achievements towards Vision 2050 and RISDP national strategies and policies. However, while
2020-2030 these initiatives from respective Ministries of
The major achievements include the adoption Education to allow students to continue
86 of the SADC Employment and Labour Policy learning are laudable, there has not been a
Framework (2020-2030) and the SADC Decent regional response or any inter-country
Work Programme (2021-2025), both of which consultations on the best practices for attending
seek to promote the generation of productive to the educational needs of children and youth
employment in line with Vision 2050 and the in the context of the effects of the pandemic.
RISDP aspirations. Inter-country learning and the adoption of
Proactive and responsive measures by good practices should lead to the development
Member States in implementing labour market of an effective strategic plan to mitigate the
responses to address COVID-19 impacts, which effects of the pandemic and meet the
ensured broad cooperation between governments expectations of various stakeholders in the
and social partners and enabled general education sector.
compliance with public health regulations. It is against this background that the SADC
The success of labour market interventions, Secretariat with the support of UNESCO,
including on workplace safety and health, conducted a survey among SADC Member States
contributed to a balanced mix of measures during the months of April/May 2020, aimed at
addressing public health concerns and those for assessing the challenges and measures taken by
the reopening of business. This balance will SADC Member States as well as those best
remain important until the pandemic is over. practices which could be adopted to mitigate the
impact of the pandemic on education.
EDUCATION AND Development of the SADC Credit
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT Accumulation and Transfer Systems
The development of the SADC Credit
The overarching objective of the Education and Accumulation and Transfer System (CATS)
Skills Development KRA is to facilitate and which informs the recognition of accumulation
coordinate the harmonization and and transfer of credits within the same or
implementation of regional policies and different qualifications in different institutions
programmes to ensure access to relevant and in the SADC Region is expected to help to
quality education and training in the SADC facilitate the implementation of the SADC
region; and improve the availability of literate, Qualifications Framework (SADCQF). The