Reskilling and upskilling for growth
Addressing needs arising from covid-19 effects
The Namibia Employers Federation (NEF), in partnership with Skills Initiative for Africa (Sifa), hosted a workshop recently to launch a new report titled ‘Rapid assessment of reskilling and upskilling needs arising from the effects of the Covid-19 crisis: Namibia.’The workshop took place from 25 to 26 October in Windhoek, to discuss the findings and recommendations contained in the report, based on a survey that investigated the skill and labour shortages that had resulted from the pandemic in areas such as tourism, agriculture, services and industries, and the blue economy.
Additionally, the workshop was held to recommend effective measures that could contribute to economic recovery and effective reintegration of the affected segments of the labour force.
NEF chairperson, Terence Makari, said Covid-19 affected social lives and was catastrophic for businesses.
"Our labour market was affected by job losses. As a result, many had to restructure and re-engineer their operations. Covid-19 did not only affect ways of working but affected ways of moving forward with changes and amendments to unlock future growth," he said.
Christie Keulder from Survey Warehouse presented findings from the survey at the workshop, highlighting the importance of having employees and employers skilled enough to execute their work.
He said poverty is driven by a lack of income, which is directly linked to a lack of employment.
Additionally, he said that people are more eager to acquire skills for developing industries.
"Nobody wants to acquire skills for an industry that does not develop. Industries need skilled people. When they are not there, it becomes a matter of concern," he said.
Tourism hardest hit
Gitta Paetzhold, chief executive officer of the Hospitality Association of Namibia, said the tourism industry was hit the hardest during the pandemic, but commended the rate of its strong recovery. "Our businesses were completely closed down. We had to sit in a corner and wait for the borders to be opened. We lost 80% of our business due to Covid-19 in 2020," she said.
Paetzhold said skill deficiency has been a challenge in the wake of the pandemic.
Some establishments realised that although they were ready to get back up and operate, "there was a great deficiency in skills needed for work in the tourism industry. Some employees pursued greener pastures, and we had limited people to count on," she said.
Way forward
The NEF underlined that continuous dialogues between business sectors, tertiary institutions and the government on targeted education and vocational training, improvements in the skills of employees in the Namibian economy are necessary steps going forward.
Lessons learned from Covid-19 include focusing on soft skills and mobility, changing the dynamics of the workplace, and encouraging the use of Nomad visas to take the future of work to new levels of growth.