Conceptualising regional skills ecosystems: Reflections on four African cases

Abstract

In this article we address the debate on regional skills formation systems in Africa. We draw on the social ecosystems model (SEM) developed by Hodgson and Spours to analyse data from four case studies that reflect the complexities of African economies, rural and urban, formal and informal. The SEM model helps us focus on the three dimensions of a strong skills ecosystem: collaboration between a range of actors, key institutions and system leaders within the region (the horizontal); top‐down policies, regulations, and funding streams that enable or constrain the regional skills ecosystem (the vertical); and the points where these two interact, often through mediation activities. In the case of the last of these three, our cases point to the importance of nurturing organisations which can provide SEM leadership, particularly in more fragile ecosystems. Yet, in none of the cases, are public vocational institutions playing the strong anchor role envisaged in the model. The significance of the paper lies in three ways it develops the SEM in relation to regional skills ecosystems. First, we problematise the notion of a facilitatory state and place it within wider national and global webs of power. Second, we insist that the local or regional is always embedded in and networked into myriad national and international levels. This requires a more complex understanding of how social skills ecosystems operate. Third, the notion of an anchor institution requires further elaboration. In most social ecosystems these institutions need to be built or strengthened and a clearer understanding is required of the processes of institutionalisation and what mechanisms make it possible to build this capacity and sustain it over time.

Transitioning Vocational Education and Training in Africa

“…In both the large industrial cases, we see that much vertical activity is greenwashing. Nonetheless, there is also evidence of donors, NGOs and certain state agencies (such as the South African Water Research Council) who are more facilitative of moves towards just transitions in the less formal settings (see also Rosenberg et al, 2020;McGrath and Russon, 2021). However, Chapter 3 points to the very powerful dynamics that need to be challenged in such a transitioning.…”

The historical shifts of in/formality of learning within craft skills ecosystems in the United Kingdom

“…HSE development is dependent on catalysts such as government or military spending (e.g., Silicon Valley), talent pipelines for example from elite universities, a supportive environment, for example in terms of transportation, and interdependency, with co‐operation between small and large business, and broader networks (Finegold, 1999). HSEs are highly market‐oriented and consider competition as a natural condition within a skills ecosystem (Wedekind et al, 2021). In contrast, Hodgson and Spours (2018) and Spours (2019), have recently developed a more place‐based and normative SEM (Figure 1), embedding the economic need and demand for skills development into a wider social and spatial context, that may nurture a more inclusive, democratic, sustainable, and equal society, with links between working, living, and learning.…”

“…Skills development has long been understood to take place within skills ecosystems (Finegold, 1999; Hodgson & Spours, 2018), whose formation is enabled by government policy to solve social and economic problems (Wedekind et al, 2021). This policy, notably in the United Kingdom, serves an economic agenda within a neo‐liberal political economy that has been accompanied by centralisation in terms of power and resources (Brooks et al, 2012).…”

Skills futures in Africa

“…The social ecosystem for skills variant (VET Africa 4.0 Collective, 2023) builds a stronger multiscalar approach that acknowledges the importance of sectoral and place-based dynamics, which often intersect. It also acknowledges the imperative in Africa of moving beyond a formal sector-only focus to bring in more of the informal sector, and community and rural dimensions (Wedekind et al, 2021).…”