Strengthening Skills development
through ICT & e-Learning to enhance
Youth employability to fight hunger &
Poverty – A case for Swaziland
Presented by Peterson Dlamini
at the 5th Annual UNESCO-UNEVOC eLearning Summit
Held in Dar es Salaam
25 -27 May 2011
Location of Swaziland on the map of
Southern Africa
Some facts about Swaziland
It is classified as a middle income country
and lies in the bottom level of the quartile.
 Has population of 1.2 Million people
 Its GDP stand at US$2.29 bn and its main
revenue comes from SACU 70% (2009)
and the rest from agricultural export.
 It is land locked and share boarders with
South Africa and Mozambique
 Covers a land area of 17000sq Km
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Challenges facing the country
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High rate of HIV infection, poverty and
unemployment
Increasing numbers of young graduates from the
few tertiary institutions we have who can not be
absorbed by the job market
Access to Higher /Tertiary Education and
Vocational Training centres posing great
challenge due to space shortage
Some Programmes offered in our tertiary/ higher
institutions not adequately addressing the
emerging economy
Inadequate involvement of industry in the
development of vocational curriculum
How we plan to pull ourselves from the
above challenges
The Swaziland has developed and adopted
a Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action
Plan (PRSAP).
 Vocational training and Skills development
has been identified as one of the key
areas that need to be strengthened to
address Unemployment & Poverty.
 As there are few Voc Training Centres cf.
to the number of potential learners, the
use of ICT & e-learning best option
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Steps we have taken to strengthen the
use of ICT & e-Learning
We have made it a requirement that all
students from our TTCs and Universities
take and pass a course on Digital literacy
before they can be allowed to graduate.
 Special Computer Courses for those who
would be teachers have been developed
and embedded in TTC/University curric.
 Communities with assistance from gov
have built computer labs in schools, and
Gov has supplied computers.
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Steps taken to use ICT & e-learning to
increase access to Vocational Training
With assistance from our Development
Partners i.e. the Republic of China on
Taiwan, and local/intl philanthropists, gov
has been able to;
 Supply computers and also provide internet
connection (internet cafes) at some
strategic points in rural areas where
learners can take online courses.
 In areas where telephone lines are not
available, SPTC and SEC have been drawn
to assist in providing solar panels.
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Vocational Courses that we are planning
use in the e-learning pilot project
 Pilot
Areas
 Tourism and Hospitality
 Water Technology
 Secretarial and Office Management
 Other Issues we have addressed
 Training of Service providers in using
ICT and e-learning as a teaching tool
 Identification of Voc Centres where we
are to pilot the e-learning project
Group Photo of ICT Teachers
Challenges we anticipate to face
Inadequate number of trained technicians
to provide services and maintenance to
the computers
 Shortage of appropriately qualified
computer teachers .
 The low teacher salary shall cause high
staff turnover .
 High costs to internet connections might
course the project to stall
 High rate of unemployment could increase
crime, hence theft to our computers
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Thank You