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The Genesis of e-Skills Agenda in South Africa

There is widespread agreement of the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) in building equitable prosperity and globally competitive economies. Effective use of these technologies, however, requires building new capacities and skills, here referred to as eskills, not only in the working force but the entire population. These skills are in very short supply all over the developing world, and are of particular concern in South Africa. In order to appropriately address this issue, South African government has taken a systematic and systemic approach, to address the matter and has developed an approach involving a number of stakeholders from all spheres of government, business, education, civil society and organized labor. That effort led to the e-Skills Summit (2010), which provided the guidelines for the creation of the national e-skills policy named the National e-Skills Plan of Action (NeSPA). This paper, based on descriptive case study methodology, brings a portrayal of that systematic and systemic approach. The paper, aimed at academics, practitioners and policy-makers, also depicts the e-skilling key success factors, expected impact of NeSPA, and the principles for monitoring and evaluation. The paper ends with a brief description of some lessons learned during the initial implementation phase of NeSPA.