Around the world, millions of women and men join the workforce every year,
but often lack the skills necessary to meet the demands of the labour market.
At the same time, enterprises need a skilled labour force
in order to compete in local and global markets.
And economies need to develop the skills of the existing, as well as future labour force,
to stay competitive and ensure sustainable economic growth.
As skills needs change, workers and their employers will need to acquire new,
and upgraded skills.
To do this, effective skills development systems are needed
that involve coordination between governments, the private sector and trainers.
So, how can we meet this challenge?
The ILO has forged an approach that focuses on education and training
linked to specific economic sectors.
Rather than developing a totally new approach to skills development,
it aims to make systems more responsive to the skills-needs of employers and workers.
And it can help promote export growth, economic diversification and decent jobs.
This approach is called STED, which stands for Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification.
STED anticipates the development and growth opportunities in a particular sector,
and identifies the skills needed to benefit from them.
It works in sectors that produce goods or services that contribute to economic development
by being traded internationally.
STED can be applied in countries at every level of development.
In Malawi, for example, STED is helping women farmers improve their livelihoods
by learning how to grow crops that are in demand in local and international markets.
The time has come to turn Malawi from a consuming nation to a net exporting nation.
The best way to go is exactly what is being imparted to the farmers by
the International Labour Organization, the one providing the technical support.
Among South-East Asian countries, Myanmar has had the highest growth in international
tourism over the past four years.
Tourism is a key driver of socio-economic progress and is expected to provide over
two million new jobs in Myanmar by 2020.
To help Myanmar further develop its tourism sector and its workforce,
a national STED project focuses on training tour guides.
The ILO helped forge cooperation among all stakeholders in the sector
to create competency-based standards for tour guides.
I think the secret of the success of the STED programme has been its strong national ownership.
You know, the key stakeholders have really bought into this process…it’s been linked
to the national development strategy, to the national tourism strategy,
but also to the national skills development strategy.
In Cambodia, the ILO has introduced the STED programme to assess skills implications of
growing economic sectors, particularly light manufacturing and food processing.
To help address skills gaps in these sectors, national standards have been developed
for four occupations: welding, machining, fruit and vegetable processing, and baking.
The STED approach has already made a direct difference in the lives of thousands of people.
And it has helped countries and their businesses improve their economies.
Through STED, we can anticipate and deliver the skills that will be needed
to achieve future economic success.