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This is what’s needed to build a coherent skills response to the Just Energy Transition (Part Three)

This is what’s needed to build a coherent skills response to the Just Energy Transition (Part Three)
Baba-Tamana Gqubule and Presha Ramsarup
By Baba-Tamana Gqubule and Presha Ramsarup
14 Jul 2024
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It is important to acknowledge the existing challenges in the system and what immediate steps can be taken now to build the skills required for the Just Energy Transition (JET) in South Africa.

Part Three of a three-part series. Read Part 1 and Part Two here


Much is riding on South Africa having the skills to support the energy transition to ensure that our society and economy benefit from potentially valuable opportunities that could emerge.

The reality is slightly different. The education and training system has struggled to adapt promptly to the rapidly changing landscape brought about by the energy transition (coupled with the introduction of new technologies).

There have been fragmented and reactive educational responses that have failed to maximise their impact on implementing the transition. To address this, a central component of the Just Energy Transition (JET) Implementation Plan – drafted by the JET Project Management Unit in the Presidency – is a chapter on skills that explores how the skills system becomes more responsive to the needs of both industry and affected communities.

For its effective implementation, the JET skills plan needs to be driven by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in collaboration with other departments, industry, trade unions, education and training institutions and civil society stakeholders in the skills ecosystem.

However, in moving forward – which must be achieved without delay – it is important to acknowledge the existing challenges in the system and what immediate steps can be taken to build the skills required for the JET.

Existing challenges in the skills system


The JET skills plan argues that building a coherent JET skills response will need good skills intelligence (supply and demand), augmented learning programmes and qualifications, clearer energy learning pathways articulating occupational and educational progression, functioning public and private providers, skilled and capable educators, career and study guidance, institutional development, adequate funding, and quality monitoring mechanisms.

The JET skills plan highlights that the complex skills system, together with the rules and tools used to understand current and future skills needs (as highlighted in the previous articles), represent numerous contradictions and lock-ins and present barriers to the change that is essential for the energy transition.

The type of challenges within the system that are of relevance to the just transition relate to the lack of a centralised structure to coordinate the planning and development of skills for the JET; no coherent national picture of supply and demand of JET skills; limitations in the skills anticipation systems and processes; a conflation of time horizons between the identification of skills and the provision of programmes; the lack of a deep understanding of the factors shaping skill formation systems at a national level; and a disconnect between training institutions and communities.

Coordination mechanism lacking


In terms of the need for a coordinating structure, despite the extensive and complex green/sustainable development mandate in policy, there is no adequate coordination mechanism in place for the national planning and development of green/sustainability skills in South Africa. 

At post-schooling education training (PSET) level, there is no coherent analysis and coordination of the skills needs linked to sustainability. For JET specifically, policy, programmes, and training exist in pockets across the country but are not coordinated to work together.

At all levels of government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), unions and education centres are all working on their own JET skills programmes leading to a proliferation of JET jobs analyses and human capital development strategies, many of which are overlapping and/or “double counting”. These have yet to be coordinated to work together in a broader context within the wider economic development strategy and policy framework.

Thus, we have a paradox of support for JET skills seemingly appearing everywhere, but being partly invisible in the national landscape, with duplications of effort leading to wasteful use of resources, time, and expertise, and leading to planning anomalies.

Read more in Daily Maverick: The hidden value of waste in the renewable energy ecosystem

There is a lack of a coherent national picture of supply and demand of JET skills. What is relevant for analysing and understanding skills needs for JET is that there is a disjuncture in our system in terms of the systems for analysing skills gaps, which tend to be focused on current and emerging skills gaps, and the systems for education provision planning, which can only be for long-term planning, so they miss each other. This has the ironic effect of keeping the skills development for longer-term JET caught in a short term “crisis” trap and short-termism.

This all points to the need for better insight into the factors shaping skill formation systems at a national level. Having a deeper understanding of the factors shaping and influencing skills formation is critical if the various elements of the post-school education and training system are to deliver quality education.

For example, the JET skills plan highlights that curriculum development for JET skills tends to be very general and lacks an adequate balance of theory and practice; this relates directly to lecturing and curriculum development skills for JET provisioning. The lack of quality training and curriculum design affects the quality of training and skills development directly.

Finally, the JET skills plan talks to the disconnect emerging between training institutions and the specific needs of local communities. Tailoring training programmes to address the unique requirements of different communities and industries is essential, but often lacking.

In addition, access to quality skills development remains unequal across regions, with rural and marginalised communities having limited opportunities.

Addressing these challenges requires a concerted effort to bridge the gap between training institutions and communities, ensuring that skills development is inclusive, relevant, and accessible to all, thereby fostering a JET in South Africa.

What can be done now?


The starting point is moving towards a JET skills ecosystem that proposes establishing a national skill coordinating structure or JET Skills Advisory Forum involving the key stakeholders to coordinate JET-related skills activities at a national and local level to strengthen the match between supply and demand. 

Two other structures would complement this work: a JET Desk either located in the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) or in the DHET; and three Skills Development Zones (SDZs) across three JET core value chains, namely renewables, green hydrogen and electric vehicles.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Minister Mantashe defends possible import of natural gas from Russia

The SDZs – established in three provinces – would build the capacities of our existing education and training institutions (TVET colleges, universities, industry schools, and others) to become learning hubs for greater alignment between demand (from industry) and supply (from educators/trainers). 

These SDZs will feed into a JET Skills Advisory Forum that would facilitate ongoing engagement between higher education institutions, labour, business and development agencies in the JET ecosystem.

So, in effect the JET Skills Advisory Forum will monitor delivery of the JET skills implementation plan across key sectors and ensure participation of key roleplayers.

Establishing such coordinating structures would help manage and consolidate energy skills work that has been conducted across the country with the aim of expanding this to include the three value chains. This is a critical step to ensure that a comprehensive, coherent skills plan is identified and implemented to ensure the required skills are in place nationally, as well as at a sector level.

Ultimately, it is about a focus on sector level coordination, and the need for dynamic relationships between different parts of the system and ensuring that local economic development involves youth, women and communities.

Clock is ticking


The clock is ticking on JET, and while the challenges are numerous, there is no time like the present for the key stakeholders and educational institutions to focus on the work that has already been done in this space to make changes in the broader JET skills ecosystem.

Some of these changes are not insurmountable, but what is required is a unified response from lead skills actors to prepare our citizens for one of the most fundamental economic shifts yet that prioritises sustainability and social justice. DM

Baba-Tamana Gqubule is the skills portfolio lead in the Just Energy Transition Projects Management Unit (JET PMU) in the Presidency. Dr Presha Ramsarup is Director at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour (REAL) at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. REAL was involved in the drafting of the skills chapter in the JET IP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeWvTRUpMk

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