The AU Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Mohammed Belhocine, is rallying African countries to advocate for additional financing needed to attain SDG4 targets by 2030.

He said studies made by UNESCO estimated that Africa would need $90 billion “if we were to reach SDG4 targets by 2030.”

Prof. Belhocine, who made the call at the opening session of the ongoing first-ever Africa Skills Week 2024 in Accra, said, “I think that we need to really bring our heads together to advocate for this.”

Skills week

The five-day programme, on the theme: “Skills and jobs for the 21st Century: Quality skills development for sustainable employability in Africa”, is being attended by stakeholders in education from the African continent.

The ASW is being organised by the African Union (AU) aimed at catalysing action towards improving systems, processes and policies to drive the transformation of skills development across the continent.

“As one of the duty bearers, the AU Commission is committed to supporting member states to strengthen key foundational pillars for skills development in Africa.

“So mobilising more resources and investing in infrastructure is key,” Prof. Belhocine said, stressing that one of the major resources of the continent was the youth.

He said currently, Africa has 500 million children of school age in Africa, among which 100 million were not attending any school, be it TVET or be it normal education.

“This mass of youth with their energy, with their potential, are going to be the workforce not only for the continent in the next 20 years, but for the world. Because in other places, you don't have young people. You will have to tap into this big mass,” he charged the continent.

He urged the West not to shy away from investing in the African continent because “helping Africa and investing in the youth of Africa is investing in the workforce of tomorrow globally, not only for Africa.”

Catalysing education

He said the Skills Week 2024 provided Africa with an opportunity to reflect on the transformative power of education and vocational skills training, stressing that the Agenda 2063, which was the blueprint for African development, talked about catalysing education and skills revolution and actively promoting science, technology, research and innovation.

Prof. Belhocine said in its call to action that Agenda 2063 emphasised the need to strengthen TVET through scaled-up investments, establishing high-quality TVET centres and fostering more significant links with industry and alignment to the labour market.

“Skills development is one of the key objectives in the roadmap for implementing Africa's Year of Education 2024. In incorporating skills development in our roadmap, we wanted to reaffirm our commitment to empowering Africa's citizens to achieve sustainable, inclusive and prosperous development,” he stressed.