The African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (AU CESA 2016-2025); the Continental Strategy for TVET to Foster Youth Employment (African Union 2018); the ECOWAS and SADC Protocols on Education and Training; the Abidjan Declaration adopted at the ILO 14th African Regional Meeting; the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the respective national strategies, are all concerned about the need to promote Africa’s informal economy especially the Informal Apprenticeship Training System. A recent World Bank organised regional workshop on the theme ‘Strengthening Apprenticeship Systems in the Informal Economy in Africa to Promote Quality, Innovation, and Transitions to Formality’, held on February 22 – 24, 2023 in Cotonou, Benin, deliberated on these informal apprenticeships across Sub-Saharan Africa and concluded that Governments and Organised Private Sector (OPS) must join hands to upgrade and formalise all informal apprenticeships in the region.
Taking a cue from this Regional convergence and the existence of a similar Network for the French-speaking African and Maghreb countries, the participants from the English-speaking countries resolved to establish the Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET), to promote, coordinate and support the skills and apprenticeship agenda in Africa.