Speech of Ms Fanfan Rwanyindo Kayirangwa , ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa at the Opening Session, 3rd Annual SASASNET Regional Conference on Quality Skills Development and Apprenticeship
Protocols
I have the honour of delivering these remarks on behalf of the ILO, and I convey the warm greetings and best wishes of the ILO leadership for a successful conference.
Across Africa, millions of young people are learning their trade not only in classrooms, but in workshops, farms, salons, garages, markets, small enterprises and family businesses. They are learning by doing. They are repairing, producing, building, selling and innovating. They are already contributing to Africa’s economies.
The question before us is whether our systems are ready to recognize them, support them, protect them and help them move towards decent work. That is why this conference matters.
Let me warmly thank SASASNET for the strong partnership we have built together since its founding. The ILO values this collaboration and our shared commitment to strengthening apprenticeship systems and skills development across Africa. I also acknowledge the distinguished speakers, panellists and participants who have travelled from across the continent and beyond.
Africa is the youngest continent in the world. Every year, millions of young women and men enter labour markets transformed by technology, climate change, demographic shifts and new forms of work. The question is not whether Africa needs to invest in skills. The question is whether we can invest fast enough, inclusively enough and strategically enough to help young people shape the future.
Digitalization is opening new pathways for entrepreneurship and markets. Green transitions are creating demand for new occupations and competencies. African enterprises, including small and informal enterprises, are adapting every day.
But innovation in Africa does not only happen in major companies or technology hubs. It happens in communities, where apprentices learn from master craftspersons, skills are passed between generations, and practical knowledge becomes a livelihood.
This is why apprenticeship systems are so important. Apprenticeships are one of the most powerful bridges between learning and work. They help young people acquire practical skills, support enterprise development, ease the transition from school to work, improve productivity and open pathways to decent work.
But for apprenticeship reforms to succeed in Africa, they must reflect African realities. In many countries, much learning and work takes place in the informal economy. According to ILO data and analysis, Nigeria alone has around three million young people learning skills through apprenticeships, many in the informal economy.
We cannot build effective apprenticeship systems by ignoring where most young people actually learn and work. We need systems that recognize informal learning, improve quality, strengthen protection, and create pathways towards formalization, lifelong learning and decent work.
This approach is aligned with the ILO’s Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015, No. 204. It is also at the heart of the ILO’s Quality Apprenticeships Recommendation, 2023, No. 208, which provides an international framework for quality, inclusive, equitable and gender-responsive apprenticeship systems.
Recommendation No. 208 reminds us that quality apprenticeships require clear governance, social dialogue, decent working conditions, appropriate remuneration, social protection, links with labour market needs, and lifelong learning.
Recent evidence and stakeholder consultations supported by the ILO in Nigeria have reinforced an important message: apprenticeship and TVET reforms cannot succeed through isolated interventions. The findings highlighted the need for stronger coordination among governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, training institutions, development partners and communities. They also underscored the urgency of modernizing curricula, strengthening certification systems, expanding opportunities for women, persons with disabilities and rural youth, and aligning skills development with emerging sectors such as digital technologies, renewable energy and the green economy. Most importantly, they reaffirmed that Africa’s apprenticeship systems must build on existing informal structures while improving quality, recognition and pathways to decent work.
In simple terms, an apprenticeship should never be a dead end. It should be a doorway.
A doorway to recognized skills.
A doorway to better jobs.
A doorway to enterprise development.
A doorway to dignity.
A doorway to decent work.
But international frameworks only become meaningful when adapted to national and local realities. That is why the ILO supports countries across Africa to design apprenticeship policies and strategies that reflect diverse learning pathways and economic contexts. In Senegal and Guinea, this has included strategies that take informal economies into account. In Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana, it includes programmes in tourism, banking, agriculture and transport.
Another important area is the recognition of prior learning. Across Africa, millions of workers have valuable skills that remain invisible because they were not acquired through formal education. In Malawi, Kenya and Ethiopia, the ILO has worked with national institutions and social partners to validate and recognize skills acquired informally and on the job.
This is not only technical. It is also a matter of fairness. A young worker should not be treated as unskilled because their skills were learned outside a classroom. Recognition of prior learning can be the path to training, employability, mobility and productivity.
Throughout all these efforts, social dialogue is essential. Apprenticeship reform cannot be designed from the top down. It must include governments, employers, workers, training providers, communities and apprentices themselves. When young people, women, workers and enterprises are included, reforms are more likely to respond to labour market needs, build trust and last.
This is also aligned with broader continental priorities. The African Union’s Continental TVET Strategy and the ILO-AU Youth Employment Strategy both recognize the central role of skills development, apprenticeships and lifelong learning in advancing inclusive growth and decent work.
Today, lifelong learning is no longer optional. As technologies and labour markets transform, workers and enterprises must continuously adapt, reskill and upgrade their competencies. This is also one of the key messages of the ILO’s flagship report on Lifelong Learning and Skills for the Future: skills systems must become more agile, inclusive and responsive to support productivity, resilience and social justice.
Through the ILO Africa Skills Hub, we support knowledge exchange across countries and institutions, and develop practical resources for policy makers and social partners, including guidance on apprenticeship design. This is also the value of SASASNET: creating space for peer learning, collaboration and collective problem solving.
Ladies and gentlemen, Africa does not lack talent. What we need are stronger systems to recognize that talent, develop it, protect it and connect it to decent work.
The ILO remains fully committed to supporting Member States and social partners. Let me conclude by thanking SASASNET and all partners for organizing this conference. I am confident that the coming discussions will generate practical ideas, stronger partnerships and renewed commitment.
Together, we can ensure that Africa’s young people are not only prepared for change but empowered to shape it.
I thank you.
Abuja, Nigeria | Tuesday, 2 June 2026