By Clive Mutame Siachiyako
Actors in Zambia are working together to develop green
curricula under the Zambia Green Jobs Programme (ZGJP) in view
of pressures exerted by climate change on different sectors was highlighted. Many avenues have been pursued, but herein focus is on multi-stakeholder approaches being pursued to enhance green
skills development to meet broad-based development in the country. Broadly,
target areas include skills development in green building, clean transportation,
water management, waste management, renewable energy and land management.
Government is working
on medium and long term strategies to address climate change realities the
country is experiencing. One of the approaches is to achieve green growth and
development, which is about the use of natural resources sustainably. It is
envisioned that green growth will lead to job creation in green industries
(such as recycling) and shifting of some jobs as industries get greened (from fossil
fuel to renewable energy). In the process, some jobs will be redefined as
skills, production methods and job profiles are greened.
Stakeholders from the
academia, nongovernment organisations, government ministries and government
agencies are mapping-out strategies to develop green skills, competences and awareness
on climate change. The aim is to devise multi-sectoral green skills development
strategies that meet changes in occupational standards in relation to green
economic requirements. Upskilling, developing of new skills, identifying,
aligning policies and greening curricula are the other focus areas.
Aligning policies,
curricula and climate change strategies will help the country set common goals
in mitigating impacts of climate change. Currently, green jobs and skills
development has been limited to few sectors such as construction, energy and
water management leaving out several sectors. The aim now is to come up long
term approaches in greening economy whilst taking care of decent jobs, economic
diversification, environmental protection, efficient natural resources usage
and green skills development from secondary, trades training to university
education.
The creation of value
chain linkages among sectors is among the goals of the collaborative efforts in
meeting green economic needs. Enterprises needs both human capital with green
skills to produce and supply green goods and services and consumers that are
pro-environmental minded in their lifestyles to consume the products. Training
institutions need to revise and design training programmes that green the
economy to make Zambian enterprises in construction, renewable energy,
agriculture, and other sectors are some envisaged achievements by the
multi-sectoral green economy efforts in the country.
The stakeholders
recommended that greening the economy through TEVET was key in terms of
developing green skills curricula and design green training systems. Stakeholders
believe the TEVET sector can empower individuals to promote decent work and
lifelong learning as the sector imparts hands-on and entrepreneurial skills and
competencies for productivity, efficiency raw material usage and quality goods
and services provision.
To promote the green
economy, stakeholders’ consensus was that TEVET curricula should integrate principles
of environmental sustainability to foster environmental responsibility for the
realization of sustainable consumption and production patterns. Thus, skills
and competencies for green occupations should be developed in TEVET at artisan,
technician and technologist levels. Further, stakeholder felt TEVET should be thus
positioned where it effectively contribute to the development of innovations
and technological solutions needed to address climate change and to preserve
environmental integrity.
The other
recommendation was that TEVET’s role at individual, sectoral and national
levels need to be refined in a manner that it promotes inclusive and
sustainable economic growth. The role of TEVET in promoting green growth and
development is emphasized in Chapter 36 of Agenda 21: “Promoting Education,
Public Awareness and Training.” The TEVET has a dual function in this sense.
Firstly, it has a job-specific focus to fill gaps in knowledge and skills that
help individuals create (through entrepreneurial undertakings) and find employment
in the green economy. The second function is to promote competences that are
required for the green economy.
TEVET is about
developing persons with hands-on skills the industry should readily use
competitively to remain viable. That is what differentiates it from theoretical
training. It deficiencies from the TEVET sector have long term development
implications. For example, poorly trained electrical technician risks having a
power station burning or solar energy system fail to function compared to
theoretical inclined persons who hypothesis can have lesser effects.
The stakeholders agreed
that education in general, and TEVET in particular is key in the transition to
green economy and society because its links to the labour market (in curriculum
development, practical test project development and assessment of practical
competences, among others), thus help in ensuring that occupations become more
sustainable. For example, technicians from the sector can be imparted with
hands-on skills required to use of recycled raw materials or environmental
friendly materials in the construction sector. The TEVET sector can also
promote smooth transition towards renewable energy and sustainable forms of
energy utilising artisanal skills acquired through industry stimulated learning
systems.
Generally different actors are working on cross-cutting green skills development plan
for education and training systems that ensure leaners acquire skills and competences
needed for the green economy are developed. Therefore, education and TEVET
sectors, labour market, business associations and other players’ coordination
should be enhanced to ensure timely articulation and integration of green
competences and concepts in occupation standards, curriculum development and
learning systems to adapt to current and future career needs in the advent of
climate change pressures.
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