Africa Turns Continental TVET Vision into Practical Skills Reform, Better Jobs

African countries are working to turn the African Union's Continental TVET Strategy 2025–2034 into practical reforms that connect training with real employment opportunities, give workers greater recognition for skills gained outside classrooms and prepare young people for changing industries. The International Labour Organization is supporting this work by helping governments improve technical and vocational education and training policies, strengthen apprenticeships, use labour market evidence and build closer cooperation among training institutions, employers and workers' organizations.

The direction of this work was discussed during the Conference on Accelerating Domestication of the Continental TVET Strategy 2025–2034, held from 17 to 21 August 2026 at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa. Government representatives, TVET authorities, development partners, social partners and training institutions used the gathering to examine how broad continental commitments can become funded national programmes that respond to local economic conditions.

Training must reflect where jobs are being created

Africa's skills systems face a practical question that affects millions of learners: whether the qualifications offered by training centres match the needs of employers and growing industries. Courses that operate separately from labour market realities can leave graduates with certificates but limited job prospects, while businesses struggle to recruit people with suitable technical and workplace skills.

The ILO is helping countries address this gap through policy and governance reform, quality apprenticeships, recognition of prior learning, green skills, core employability skills, labour market information and institutional development. Its skills and lifelong learning initiatives reached more than 250,000 people across 30 African countries during 2024–25, while 12 countries updated skills or TVET policies and ten moved forward with apprenticeship reforms.

Twaha Adam Twaha of Tanzania's National Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training said the ILO's support is critical for translating the Continental Strategy into national reforms. Tanzania is seeking stronger alignment between training programmes and sectors capable of generating employment, productivity and wider economic transformation, alongside better cooperation between education providers and employers.

Informal workers need their experience to be recognized

Many Africans develop valuable occupational skills through informal jobs, family businesses, community work or years of practical experience, yet the absence of formal certification can prevent them from securing better employment or continuing their education. Recognition of prior learning offers a way for these workers to have existing abilities assessed and formally acknowledged without requiring them to repeat training they have already gained through work.

Participants from Malawi pointed to ILO support for recognition of prior learning as an example of international guidance becoming a useful national system. They also identified quality apprenticeships and green skills as priorities, especially as climate pressures and new technologies reshape occupations across agriculture, construction, energy, transport and manufacturing.

Work is also progressing on Malawi's Labour Market Information System, which is designed to bring labour statistics together for workforce planning and evidence-based policymaking. More than 200 indicators covering employment, unemployment, wages, education and skills are being developed and populated with verified national data, giving decision-makers a clearer picture of where workers are needed and which training investments could produce meaningful results.

National roadmaps can connect policy with everyday opportunity

The Continental TVET Strategy rests on four foundations: policy, governance and finance; quality and inclusion; partnerships and knowledge; and institutional development and innovation. These areas recognize that successful technical education depends on more than classroom teaching because institutions also need sustainable funding, capable staff, trusted qualifications, modern equipment, employer participation and accessible pathways for women, people with disabilities and workers in informal economies.

A representative of the Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network described the ILO's contribution as strategic and transformative, citing its work on financing, apprenticeships, work-based learning, recognition of prior learning, green skills and labour market information. The organization's tripartite structure also creates space for governments, employers and workers to shape reforms together, reducing the risk that training policies are developed without listening to the people expected to use them.

The next stage will depend on sustained investment and country-level roadmaps that clearly assign responsibilities, timelines and measurable outcomes. Building coherent national systems from fragmented initiatives could help African countries offer young people training that employers value, support workers whose abilities remain undocumented and create stronger routes into productive employment and decent work.