By Isqil najim
he Sub Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network, SASASNET, has reappointed Hon. Ousman Sillah as Secretary General for another three years, even as the organisation lays out fresh plans to strengthen governance, expand its reach into new countries and accelerate skills development across the continent.
The reappointment and the new direction were announced at the inaugural Executive Committee meeting held with the Network’s newly elected Continental Chairperson in Abuja on Tuesday, 7 July 2026.
According to a communique from the Office of the Secretary General, the committee used the meeting to chart the way forward for the organisation, adopting a set of resolutions built around its Four Year Strategic Plan for 2024 to 2028. Central to these plans is the establishment of country chapters across Africa, a move meant to bring SASASNET’s work closer to national governments and local stakeholders rather than keeping it concentrated at the continental level.
The committee also resolved to speed up the implementation of the Abuja I and II Action Plans and the Mombasa Declaration, earlier frameworks agreed by member states to guide apprenticeship reform on the continent. To carry these plans forward, five subcommittees were formed, covering Research, Resource Mobilisation, Programme Implementation, Youth Chapter, and Women and Persons with Disabilities, each with its own chairperson and members.
Beyond the new roadmap, the committee reappointed Hon. Sillah in recognition of his role as the Network’s Founding Secretary General, crediting him with building SASASNET from scratch and delivering results within a short time. Hon. Sillah had served as Coordinator of the Network for five months before its formal registration, and was first appointed Secretary General in July 2023 at the organisation’s very first Executive Committee meeting, also held in Abuja, where the Continental Secretariat is based.
The Network itself grew out of a regional workshop held in Cotonou, Benin Republic, in February 2023, where government officials and stakeholders from across Africa met to discuss ways of strengthening apprenticeship systems in the informal economy. The workshop was put together by the Government of Benin with support from the International Labour Organization and the World Bank, and centred on improving quality, encouraging innovation and helping informal apprenticeships transition into the formal economy.
Hon. Sillah attended that workshop as part of The Gambia’s delegation, on the invitation of the country’s Minister of Higher Education. He was one of two people asked by workshop participants to coordinate the process of building a continent wide network, working alongside Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje, who became the Network’s first Continental Chairperson and currently serves as Executive Secretary of Nigeria’s National Board for Technical Education.
At the Abuja meeting, the newly elected Continental Chairperson, Mr Shadrack M. Mwadime, CBS, Principal Secretary at Kenya’s State Department for Labour and Skills Development, paid tribute to Prof. Bugaje for laying the foundation on which the organisation now stands. Mr Mwadime pledged to work closely with member countries and partners to build on that foundation and push the Network’s agenda further.
The committee also reviewed the organisation’s finances, its programmes so far and how actively member countries have engaged with the Network, and approved the Executive Committee’s work plan for the coming year.
SASASNET said it remains committed to working with member country governments, institutions and development partners, including the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, the ILO, UNESCO, UNIDO and the Mastercard Foundation, as it works to deliver lasting impact on skills and apprenticeship development across Africa.