It is the first time that we have confirmed such large gas deposits and we have to be prepared to fulfil the needs of the experts in the areas of oil and gas, or mining, for example.

Thus far we have entered into a very deep reform programme in this country, focusing on training; and we have reformulated a lot of our existing training programmes according to the market needs. We have also involved the private sector to help us design the new curriculum for oil and gas.

Further, we have identified trainers that need to be trained to meet real market requirements and we have identified institutions which will provide training for the oil and gas sector. We have had to initiate a rehabilitation process of all of our training institutions. The rehabilitation has now taken place in some of the training institutions and we have started training both youngsters and adults to be employed in this new market. This is what we have been doing.

Because reforming our education system was a necessary development, the government submitted a new law to parliament for the development of professional education. This law saw the following developments:

• The formation of ANEP, the National Authority For Professional Education, which is similar to the Scottish Skills Development Authority. As chairman of ANEP, I believe the formation of this institution is a very important achievement.
• A requirement for the private sector to contribute up to 1% of their payroll toward the training fund which we have created.
• The decentralisation of training institutions across the country, allowing them to offer training based on regional needs.

We have achieved these three important achievements and I believe these are significant.

The type of training that is undertaken is more technical in nature and would be considered at the level of a technical training college or Polytechnic.

We have entered into partnerships with a number of countries, for example Canada which is supporting us in two main areas: mining because there are large coal deposits in Mozambique and in the oil and gas sector.

We also have a partnership with Portugal which are helping us train the trainers.

Industrial maintenance, one of five identified priority development areas in Mozambique, is particularly useful in the oil and gas sector and one of the sectors we are focusing on.

However, from our points of view the specialist training that can be utilised by the oil and gas sector is fairly narrowly focused. What we are attempting to do is train people with a broad knowledge base in order to avoid too many specialisations which could create another challenge for us. We want to avoid a situation where we have specialised unemployment because people have very defined or narrow skill sets.

Our objective is to make people as employable as possible. We are trying to train people to be employable across multiple sectors.

In the oil and gas sector we have identified a need for about 15,000 skilled people. Realistically, we cannot fulfil all of these needs alone, and we are looking for partners, particularly private sector partners, who can help us to train people and prepare them for employment at the big oil and gas companies.

The large demand, and small supply, has created a very competitive market condition for specialised skills.

The reform programme started in 2006 but changing the curriculum, training the trainers and reforming the training institutions has taken a number of years. In 2012 we started training and we have already seen a number of graduates come through the programme.

We are doing extensive follow-up to determine if companies are satisfied with the level of training that has been provided, to find out if their staff have been sufficiently trained for their purposes and if there are any adjustments that need to be made to the curriculum for the development of specific skills.

We need to ensure that the skills we are providing are those that the industry are actually looking for.

About Gilberto Botas

Gilberto Botas is the Director of the National Authority for Professional Education of Mozambique.