PSF struggling to bridge skills gap

The Private Sector Federation [PSF] has revealed that it is in negotiations with several donors to increase their funding towards skills development. “These programs aren’t enough but we are negotiating with our partners to increase funding to bridge the skills gap,” Antoine Manzi,  PSF’s Director of entrepreneurship told The New Times.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Private Sector Federation [PSF] has revealed that it is in negotiations with several donors to increase their funding towards skills development.

"These programs aren’t enough but we are negotiating with our partners to increase funding to bridge the skills gap,” Antoine Manzi,  PSF’s Director of entrepreneurship told The New Times.

This follows a recent report dubbed National Skills Audit, compiled by the Human and Institutional Capacity development (HIDA) that identified the Private sector as having the widest skills gap compared to other sectors.

"The private sector has the most acute deficit, equivalent to 60 percent. The public sector deficit is estimated at 30 percent and civil society at 5 percent,” the audit said.

Manzi said that PSF’s operations are currently focused at, improving the technical skills especially within the manufacturing sector.

He also said that the PSF was going to expand on the number of Business Development Services (BDS) across the country to at least 30.   "We are also planning to expand the network of the BDS centres to 30 districts but it is expensive,” he said.

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