Jipsa training programme launched at Old Mutual Business School
14-JUN-06
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who heads the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa), officially launched the training initiative in Cape Town - a partnership between government and life insurer, Old Mutual.
Jipsa is a multi-stakeholder working group through which government; business and labour have joined forces to expedite the provision of priority skills required to grow the economy to six percent by 2014, and halve poverty and unemployment.
The training, which will focus mostly on project management courses, will be conducted at Old Mutual Business Schools in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.
The programme will consist of four modules, which will be conducted over five days each and is expected to last over five months.
Spokesperson for the deputy president, Thabang Chiloane said the life insurance group had pledged about R2 million to cover tuition fees for the trainees who comprise largely of employees from municipalities.
“We all know about the challenges of skills capacity faced by our municipalities and we are very grateful to responsible corporate citizens such as Old Mutual for coming to the party in this regard,” said Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka at the launch.
She also noted that the issue of skills “cannot and will not be solved by government alone”, saying skilled human resources was also the responsibility of business and labour.
“Companies must see this as a strategic investment not a social responsibility, so must government in relation to skilling the public service,” she said.
The South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI) will partner with Old Mutual’s Business School in developing learning material.
“This is to ensure that the learning material is in line with local government practices and policies,” said SAMDI’s Matome Mathole.
By Sello Tang – BuaNews
