At the close of the 1980s, considerable doubts had begun to emerge among international donor agencies regarding the cost-effectiveness of publicly owned and managed technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Based on extensive analysis, a 1991 World Bank Policy Paper on TVET found a diverse market for skills development globally with national training systems consisting of public training, private training, and enterprise-based training. The paper’s recommendations called for a strategic policy role for governments, the opening of markets to private provision of TVET, and the diversification of sources of training finance. The study found weaknesses in public provision of TVET, but it also found that such provision could be cost-effective when accompanied by new forms of organization, management, and financing.

A decade later, this review of TVET in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s reinforces many of the findings of the 1991 policy paper. It comes at a critical time in African development. Economies are weak. Wage employment in the modern sector is largely stagnant, and unemployment among educated youth is substantial and increasing. The impact of HIV/AIDS on the work force, although yet to be documented, is huge, with much of the impact falling on the ranks of the educated and skilled work force. In this context, what can African governments do to ensure that the skills required for growth and equity are developed in a cost-effective way?

This study provides new documentation of the extensive scope and characteristics of, and the constraints upon, private TVET. The finding that African enterprises provide a substantial amount of formal and informal training in patterns similar to those found in middle-income and developed countries could provide comfort to African leaders faced with opportunities to change government’s role in training, focusing more on policy and less on provision. Private TVET is not without problems, however, as the study shows, drawing attention to issues of promoting equity and quality in private training. Addressing these issues and building on the potential of the private sector as a partner is recommended as part of a more strategic role for the public sector in the provision and financing of TVET.