Technology-enabled credentials for young people in Africa

Abstract

Digital technologies offer opportunities and challenges for skills development and recognition globally. Africa, within this context, is no different to the global landscape. Credentials mean different things to different stakeholders – from those who issue them to those who receive them to those who use them at some later stage, such as employers. In this study, we differentiate between academic, TVET, micro and reputation credentials. Most African nation states continue to have one-stop-shop, education systems in place that lead to an academic pathway, when the skills needed by the labour markets that may offer employment to young people may not necessarily be best served by academia. Before engaging in any discussion on the appropriateness of tech-enabled credentials, it is vital to determine the right credentials needed by the specific labour market sectors in specific target countries: in this study, after consultation with the Mastercard Foundation we focused on Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Ghana. There are no major infrastructure barriers in the target countries which would prevent the deployment of tech-enabled credentials in Africa. However, such initiatives must add value to the end user by improving the chances of young people in securing gainful employment: technology cannot be dropped in socio-cultural, political and economic silos - otherwise, they risk being perceived as a fad. The Africa unemployment context challenges many established education and labour market norms: traditional credentials may not necessarily be the currency to kickstart the labour market or new recruitment, for the matter. Recruitment outside cities tends to rely on trust credentials and informal references, built from real life social networks and social relations as opposed to the advice of recruitment agencies or CVs on LinkedIn ('my tribe is my social network'). The immediate opportunities point towards tech-enabled credentials that recognise the accumulation of a variety of skills secured during the lifelong learning journey. Although formal learning pathways remain primarily locked in the one-size-fits-all model leading to academic achievement, the quick wins are likely to be the recognition of skills acquired through TVET and informal learning. The jobs available for young people are not those necessarily requiring academic credentials, but work- based skills such as plumbers, and labourers. The sectors that are currently contributing to new job creation are agriculture, transportation and education. In the case of agriculture, vacancies are as likely to be in rural agricultural areas as they are in cities. Within this context, the valorisation of skills through visible credential systems (including skills gained through informal and non-formal learning in ‘narrow areas’) and the recognition of motivational or so-called ‘social capital’ credentials (including those acquired through unorthodox or online means) will contribute towards trust and the personal reputation of the job-seeker - and are therefore likely to be appreciated by employers. African higher education and TVET institutions have to mitigate similar challenges to those encountered by overseas counterparts – loss of certificates, fraud, administration costs etc. The digitization of learning credentials alone will only partly mitigate these risks: while such solutions may contribute to institutional administrative efficiencies and brand management, they will not necessarily lead to the self-sovereignty of young people seeking increased access to employment. The emerging use case studies using blockchain for the notarization of certificates holds significant promise. This study identifies a tangible opportunity for African youth to gain access to a fourth generation of qualifications frameworks though the creation of a set of strategic pilots around technology-enabled credentials that use blockchain technologies for notarization. The core social value principles of blockchain technology are particularly appropriate as a potential value-added to young people in Africa trying to secure gainful employment: Self-Sovereignty and Identity; Trust; Transparency and Provenance; Immutability and Disintermediation. There are many challenges to navigate and tech-enabled credentials and the systems that support them need to be simple to understand, solve existing problems and clearly add value to the issuing institutions, learners and employers. Identifying stakeholders interested in the potential of tech-enabled credentials requires an inquisitive approach as opposed to generalisations and assumptions. Public sector employment continues to drive employment in city contexts, but change is often dependent on identifying individuals in key positions who may act as advocates for new technologies; private sector employers include multinational firms as much as sole traders and the formal domestic labour market or enterprises; informal companies often contribute to rural livelihoods, including craft associations, artisans etc. Employers' needs for credentials in these sub-sectors will vary greatly. Selecting the right people in the right industries for pilots will be key. The insertion of technology features in the accreditation of skills acquired through TVET and in sectors such as agriculture may help mitigate negative perceptions of young people in securing such skills and applying them to sectors which may not appear as attractive as the service industry. This study proposes five hypotheses as recommendations for tangible pilots that may fast-track the take-up of tech-enabled credentials by young people in Africa, and in turn increase their chances of securing gainful employment. They include: levering on the existing Mastercard Scholars Program to issue co-branded Foundation and participating university credentials which are notarized using the Blockcerts open standard; issuing secure immutable TVET credentials; the development of verifiable professional certifications for independent professionals; the recognition of reference letters and ratings as valid social collateral by notarizing certificates on the blockchain; and the use of the blockchain to develop a system for the crowd-based validation of skills. Much depends on the willingness of the Foundation to lead experimental projects and partner up with governments, actors in the labour markets, intermediaries and experts. With the exception of the first hypothesis, all research and early use case studies point to the need for the Foundation to engage with Government in the target country at the outset as the key stakeholder to fast-track sustainable change through workable pilots in economic sectors that are perceived to be driving job creation. The Foundation would also need to reach out to employers’ associations that can also support a set of pilots in these specific economic sectors on the basis that they can contribute to economic development. Strategically, identifying pilots that can be built around an economic sector will secure the attention of both government and the labour market, even if the latter is deeply mistrustful of government. We believe that the Foundation is ideally placed to lever on its reputation in Africa and meets the goals of its strategy by facilitating tech-enabled certification initiatives in target countries. Specifically, it has the ability to: a) interact with senior officials in governments with authority and purpose; b) facilitate access to funding of initiatives around tech-enabled credentials that can contribute to meeting the needs of target economic sectors and c) put its proprietary networks to good use, by securing partnerships with various stakeholders in technology, education, TVET and the labour market; and engaging experts already working with use case studies in the blockchain credentials space.