The Bahamas presents national strategies for skills development at ILO Global Skills Forum

The Bahamas' efforts to strengthen skills development has received international attention thanks to the participation of The Honourable Pia Glover-Rolle, Minister of Labour and the Public Service, at the recent ILO Global Skills Forum (23 and 24 April 2024). 

As a featured panellist during two Forum sessions, the Honourable Minister had an opportunity to highlight homegrown solutions to address current and future workforce development issues.

At the High-level panel: Skills for a Human- Centred Triple Transition - (Greening, digitalization and demographic change) on 23 April, Minister Glover-Rolle was among representatives from the Association of Lesotho Employers and Business; the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); the African Union Development Agency and the European Commission. 

She described how the main challenges for jobs and skills in The Bahamas are being addressed in the context of a transition that prioritizes social justice and human development highlighting the current Bahamas Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP). She also underscored the development of a National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP), a key milestone of the DWCP that is supported by the National Apprenticeship Bill, tabled in Parliament on 9 April 2024.    

“We will train our young people for the jobs of the future and that includes training for jobs within the green economy as we invest in renewable energy and of course climate resilience. At the same time, training must also include ICT (Information and Communication Technology), and other digital skills. These are areas where we must continue to grow, we must evolve, if we are going to as a Small Island Developing State remain globally competitive,” explained the Honourable Minister.

During the panel on Human-centered digital transformation of skills development on 24 April, Minister Glover-Rolle joined officials from the National Skill Development Corporation of India; the Ministry of Labour and Employment of Brazil and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to explore digital strategies to enhance global workforce skills.

“Digital transformation efforts must be seen as investments rather than expenses for our nations. In The Bahamas we are investing in a whole of government, complete digital transformation one which I am happy to be the Government leader on for our Ministries and this includes human resources and document management systems to boost our efficiencies and turnaround times in our processes. We are also embracing digital remote learning opportunities that we were forced into as a result of the pandemic and how we evolve our systems to accommodate blended or asynchronous learning opportunities. Our National Apprenticeship Programme includes ICT as one of the major training categories that we intend to make an investment in and we’re developing the necessary digital skills of our existing workforce simultaneously, which is being rolled out in all of our major islands,” said Minister Glover-Rolle. 

The New Apprenticeship Programme (NAP) for The Bahamas is a direct response to labour market recovery from the ongoing effects of multiple crises including Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic with an aim to strengthen the employability of persons as a key national priority.

The NAP aligns with The Bahamas National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2040, which underscores the importance of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and particularly apprenticeships, as pathways to employment that meets labour market demands.

Billed as the premier international level gathering to address skills development, the two-day ILO Global Skills Forum included representatives from governments, employers and workers organisations, as well as development partners, and UN and international organizations. The event served as a platform to exchange ideas, views, and good practices on skills development in various regions of the world. Sessions addressed the big questions in skills development and shared good practices to tackle the pressing challenges in the world of work to equip the workforce with skills for current and future labour markets. 

For more information, please visit the Global Skills Forum’s webpage.