Strengthening Skills development through ICT & e-

Learning to enhance Youth employability to fight hunger

& Poverty – A case for Swaziland

Presented by Peterson Dlamini at the 5th Annual UNESCO-UNEVOC e-

Learning Summit Held in Dar es Salaam

25 -27 May 2011

Location of Swaziland on the map of Southern Africa

Some facts about Swaziland It is classified as a middle income country

and lies in the bottom level of the quartile. Has population of 1.2 Million people Its GDP stand at US$2.29 bn and its main

revenue comes from SACU 70% (2009) and the rest from agricultural export.

It is land locked and share boarders with South Africa and Mozambique

Covers a land area of 17000sq Km

Challenges facing the country

High rate of HIV infection, poverty and unemployment

Increasing numbers of young graduates from the few tertiary institutions we have who can not be absorbed by the job market

Access to Higher /Tertiary Education and Vocational Training centres posing great challenge due to space shortage

Some Programmes offered in our tertiary/ higher institutions not adequately addressing the emerging economy

Inadequate involvement of industry in the development of vocational curriculum

How we plan to pull ourselves from the above challenges The Swaziland has developed and adopted

a Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan (PRSAP).

Vocational training and Skills development has been identified as one of the key areas that need to be strengthened to address Unemployment & Poverty.

As there are few Voc Training Centres cf. to the number of potential learners, the use of ICT & e-learning best option

Steps we have taken to strengthen the use of ICT & e-Learning

We have made it a requirement that all students from our TTCs and Universities take and pass a course on Digital literacy before they can be allowed to graduate.

Special Computer Courses for those who would be teachers have been developed and embedded in TTC/University curric.

Communities with assistance from gov have built computer labs in schools, and Gov has supplied computers.

Steps taken to use ICT & e-learning to increase access to Vocational Training With assistance from our Development

Partners i.e. the Republic of China on Taiwan, and local/intl philanthropists, gov has been able to;

Supply computers and also provide internet connection (internet cafes) at some strategic points in rural areas where learners can take online courses.

In areas where telephone lines are not available, SPTC and SEC have been drawn to assist in providing solar panels.

Vocational Courses that we are planning use in the e-learning pilot project

Pilot Areas Tourism and Hospitality Water Technology Secretarial and Office ManagementOther Issues we have addressed Training of Service providers in using

ICT and e-learning as a teaching tool Identification of Voc Centres where we

are to pilot the e-learning project

Group Photo of ICT Teachers

Challenges we anticipate to face Inadequate number of trained technicians

to provide services and maintenance to the computers

Shortage of appropriately qualified computer teachers .

The low teacher salary shall cause high staff turnover .

High costs to internet connections might course the project to stall

High rate of unemployment could increase crime, hence theft to our computers

Thank You