| Overview : The South Africa Government has made commendable social and economic progress, with improvements in health care and increased access to education, particularly for the Black majority since the end of Apartheid in 1994. South Africa is now an upper middle-income country with a GNI per capita of US$13,300. However, daunting challenges persist. The National Development Plan (NDP), the South African Vision 2030, and the 2019 State of the Nation Address by the President outline the country’s development aspirations, which are aimed at addressing the triple development challenges: poverty, income inequality and unemployment. Forty (40%) of the population are at the lower bound poverty level of R647 per month - one of the highest among upper middle-income countries, and the index of income inequality (Gini of 0.68) remains one of the worst globally. While even 20 years ago the Government recognized the centrality of employment creation to South Africa’s sustained development, the reality, however, has been an increased unemployment rate over the period to an all-time high of 29% by December 2019. The unemployment rate for youth is even worryingly higher at 58.2%. The overall objective of the NHDR is to find pragmatic solutions to unemployment, particularly youth unemployment in South Africa through national debates, consensus and concrete action. The Consultancy is expected to provide in-depth and comprehensive input/analysis on Skills Gap Assessment in South Africa. The consultancy will constitute one of several background papers that delve deep on employment issues in South Africa. Already three background papers have been prepared to inform the NHDR 2020. They are: (i) Deeper Understanding of Youth Unemployment in South Africa; (ii) Youth Employment as a Development Accelerator; (iii) A Review of Best Practices on Youth Employment Globally. Another background paper on Macroeconomic and Sectoral Dimensions of Unemployment is underway. Different from the four papers, this report will more focus on the Skills Gap Assessment in South Africa. Expected Outputs and Deliverables - A draft report on:
- Skills Gap Analysis,
- the survey and
- the Employability Index by mid-April 2020
- Finalised reports incorporating feedback from UNDP and other reviewers by end April 2019
- A PowerPoint presentation highlighting the Skills Gap Analysis, the survey and the Employability Index in the report by end April 2019.
- The Consultant will be requested to present physically the draft and final reports to groups of stakeholders
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