SPECIAL REPORT
resource skill development and entrepreneurship, and to furthur suggest how the Indian experience can be of direct interest in the matter.
Let me start with‘ Skill Development’. Everybody agrees that African countries need to develop their physical infrastructure, modernise their manufacturing and farming sectors, introduce capacity building initiatives, and expand education and healthcare services.
At the India-Africa Forum Summit held in 2015, India offered Africa concessional credit of $ 10 billion over the next five years. A grant assistance of $ 600 million was also offered, including an India-Africa Development Fund of $ 100 million and an India-Africa Health Fund of $ 10 million. It is necessary that our partnership is properly aligned with critical goals like UN’ s Sustainability Development Goals, Food Security, Energy Security, Climate Change Mitigation, etc.
Skill development facilitates the conversion of a young working-age population – that is in the 15-64 years bracket – into productive human assets.
India and Africa, together, account for nearly a third of the global population today. The majority of our populations are in the working age-group. India’ s working age population is estimated at about 65 percent of the total population as of 2013.
Likewise, Africa has the youngest population in the world with an estimated 200 million people aged between 15 and 24. It is also estimated that this number will double by 2045. If this trend continues, the continent’ s labour force will become the largest in the world, surpassing that of both China and India, according to a 2010 report by the McKinsey Global Institute.
Through massive skill development initiatives, this large working-age population can be developed into a highly skilled industrial workforce to power rapid industrialisation and manufacturing growth.
The Government of India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modia, has accorded high priority to skill development. In July 2015, the‘ Skill India’ mission was launched whereupon particular emphasis was laid on the need to provide the large and youthful manpower with the necessary skills and abilities needed to tackle global challenges.
The PM, in this regard, has famously states that if the 20th century saw India ' s foremost technical institutes – the IITs – making a name for themselves globally, the 21st century will see India ' s ITIs( Industrial Training Institutes) acquiring global recognition for producing quality skilled manpower. Under this Mission, the Government of India has set a target of training 402 million people by 2022.
I would like to believe that the fundamentals of‘ Skill India’ Mission will have great relevance for Africa. It is about creating a largely skilled manpower that can be absorbed in the manufacturing sector or moulded for entrepreneurship.
30 • COMESA • 2018