How is globalisation set to change education and training systems in sub-Saharan Africa? What new skills are required to exploit its opportunities? How can education and training providers be helped to deliver them? What are the equity implications of changing skill requirements? Do we know enough about how cultural norms and values affect skill development strategies?

These questions are addressed in a detailed DFID-commissioned paper examining the implications of globalisation for education and training systems in Rwanda and Tanzania. Part of a collaborative research project involving Rwanda, Tanzanian and UK educators,

it employs a ‘skills formation’ approach – seeing skill acquisition not in merely technical terms but taking into account the economic, political and cultural contexts within which skills are defined and learned. It presents a typology of skills identified by research participants in each country – including agricultural, vocational, artisanal, service sector, business sector, public sector, political and citizenship skills.

In both countries, research informants see globalisation as containing both opportunities and threats for national development but as being an inevitable and largely irresistible phenomenon. While land-locked Rwanda aspires to skip, or 'leap-frog' the industrialised stage of development and to become a regional communications hub, Tanzania has adopted a more ‘evolutionary’ model of development focused on the modernisation of its potentially strong agricultural sector and more traditional industrialisation.

The authors analyse the consequences of:

• the tension between skills for immediate poverty reduction and gender equity and those required to foster global economic competitiveness
• aspects of traditional culture inappropriate for globalising nations – gendered stereotyping barring women access to ‘male’ skills, lack of critical thinking, deficiency of entrepreneurial skills, inability to use initiative in societies rooted in traditional views of authority and poor time management
• diffusion of responsibility for accreditation
• irrelevant vocational education and training (VET) systems which are failing to attract non-traditional learners, women and girls
• the weak human resource base in information and communication technology (ICT) and scientific skills
• low female enrolment rates at tertiary level and gender discrimination in the workplace.

Current training and employment systems are failing to meet the dual goals of economic competitiveness and poverty reduction or to reverse 'brain drain' where skilled personnel leave to find employment elsewhere. There must be greater emphasis on skills associated with agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, parenting and citizenship. Rwanda, Tanzania and other states of the region must act together to:

• develop a core vision of lifelong learning, put appropriate legal frameworks in place and identify relevant government delivery structures
• establish coherent national qualifications systems linked to regional policies and frameworks
• recognise that women will only benefit from globalisation – and resist and manage its negative aspects – if given equal opportunities to develop their skills: education policies must tackle gender stereotyping and ensure gender is mainstreamed throughout education and training systems
• ensure that principles of good governance are adhered to in all aspects of training policy and practice
• provide targeted support for groups most at risk of exclusion from education and training – particularly at secondary and tertiary levels
• play a catalytic role in tackling poverty through the provision of basic services and prioritising public expenditure in areas likely to lead to competitive global advantage.

Source(s):
‘Globalisation and skills for development in Rwanda and Tanzania’ by Leon Tikly, J. Lowe, M. Crossley, H. Dachi, R. Garrett & B. Mukabaranga DFID Education Paper No 51, April 2003 Full document.

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK

id21 Research Highlight: 2 December 2003

Further Information:
Leon Tikly
Graduate School of Education
University of Bristol
35 Berkeley Square
Clifton
Bristol BS8 1JA
UK

Tel: + 44 (0)117 928 7187
Fax: + 44 (0)117 925 1537
Contact the contributor: Leon.Tikly@bris.ac.uk

Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK

John Lowe
Department of Education
University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1225 386225
Fax: +44 (0) 1225 386113
Contact the contributor: J.A.Lowe@bath.ac.uk

Department of Education, University of Bath, UK

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