UNDP-DOC_e-Skills_Workshop

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Table of Contents
I. Foreword
II. Acknowledgements
Ill. Acronyms
lV. Introduction
V. Objectives & envisage outcomes
VI. Approach and Methodology
VII. 1st part: Introduction to the e-skills Programme
Vlll. 2nd part: Deliberation of the workshop (panel discussions)
a. Key drivers identified for e-skilling South Africa
lX. 3rd part: Deliberation of the Roundtables
a. Identified Outcomes and opportunities
X. Implications and recommendations for the way forward
XI. Appendices
a. Presentation by the Deputy Minister, Mr. Obed Bapela
b. Presentation by the Director General, Mrs. Rosey Sekese
c. Presentation by the UNDP Resident Representaive, Dr. Agostinho Zacarias
d. Presentation by the e-Skills Institute, Mrs. Mymoena Sharif
e. Presentation by UNCTAD, Mrs. Edna dos Santos
f. Presentation by DGF, Mr. Jethro Buttner
g. Presentation by Telkom, Mrs. Nonku Dlamini
h. Closing Speech by DoC, DR. Harold Wesso
XII. Program of the event
XIll. List of participants
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Report of the Global Partners Workshop to address the
e-Skills Challenge in South Africa 2011
Held in:
The Farm Inn, Pretoria – South Africa
10 & 11 August, 2011
For global development and international agencies, business,
academia and civil society organizations
This report has been produced by
The United Nations Development Programme
e-Skilling South Africa for Equitable Prosperity and Global Competitiveness:
Workshop Report

1e-Skilling South Africa for Equitable Prosperity and Global Competitiveness:
Workshop Report

2
Foreword
The UNDP and the South African Department of Communications welcome the opportunity to
collaborate in building national e-skills capacity to address South Africa’s strategic plans for
equitable prosperity and global competitiveness in the Information Society and Knowledge-based
Economies. It almost goes without saying that in the emerging environment which is increasingly
dominated by increasingly powerful and mobile ICT devices, the global economy is experiencing
one of its most complex and comprehensive challenges in history. South Africa is not excluded
from these global pressures which have recently led to record unemployment and economic
hardship in both developed and emerging countries. There is little doubt that many nation states
with a development agenda have moved quickly to capacitate their people, their governments,
their education, and their local business in these new technologies in order to address their major
socio-economic challenges.
Unfortunately in this situation South Africa’s comparative preparedness for this new socio-
economic climate dominated by modern ICT devices and application has been slipping simply
because others are moving faster. The emerging ICT ecosystems are a rare combination of complex
and dynamic relationships, where competitors can collaborate to push the envelope of innovation.
Unlike traditional industries with well-defined structures and competitors, new systems powerfully
enabled by ICT simply don’t behave in that matter. The boundaries are fluid and the equilibrium
constantly changes. Stakeholders grow, adapt, specialize and innovate constantly often into very
large economies of scale which comfortably operate across many state boundaries, languages
and oceans bringing substantial challenges to local business, service delivery and community
prosperity.
It is vital that South Africa not only recognizes these emerging trends but immediately acts to
ensure that these technologies are embedded into its socio-economic fabric in ways that deliver
equitable prosperity and global competitiveness.
This is a significant development challenge because the technological development is pervasive
and outside of the control of nation states facing large challenges in equitable prosperity. What is
clear is that a well e-skilled society (across Government, Business, Education and Civil Society) is a
fundamental to all aspects of socio-economic sustainability. What is also clear is that Governments
must lead, Governments must develop new collaborations across business, education, government
and civil society including labour: and governments must facilitate the development of new
value propositions that can provide sustainable socio-economic interdependence, identity and
participation.
In recognizing the importance of these issues the South African Government has established the
e-skills Institute to develop a collaborative architecture for multi-stakeholder contributions to
addressing to addressing the large e-skills deficit that the country faces. Using a collaborative
approach with Business, Government, Education and Civil Society, the e-skills Institute has
developed a National e-Skills Plan of Action(NeSPA). A key recommendation of the NeSPA is the
development of multi-stakeholder Knowledge Production and Coordination Hubs across the
country in association with institutions of higher education and this process has commenced.
The UNDP has recognized that fundamental to providing a sustainable impact in countries facing
basic developmental challenges, is the establishment of locally owned and sustainable learning
institutions that can bridge the gaps between formal education and the developmental agenda. It
further recognizes that a useful approach to achieving this is through a dual approach of working
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with governments efforts and emerging learning institutions to maximise the impact of its
expertise and networks in this area.
Hence, to achieve the joint goals of the South African Government and the UNDP in developing a
sustainable, coordinated and integrated approach to e-skilling South Africa, the e-Skills Institute
and the UNDP have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which outlines an agreed
approach.
The MoU specifies that the UNDP would assist the e-SI to conduct a workshop that would bring
the key stakeholder organisations together to define the basis for collaborative operational and
evaluative frameworks between the parties and across their immediate networks and resources.
Central to this approach was an agreed desire that the efforts should be situated beyond
technological determinism in isolation and be visibly directed towards impact on the South
African Medium Term Strategic Plan.
Both parties (the UNDP and the Department of Communications through the e-SI) are commited
collectively bringing their skills, networks, expertise and available resources together to develop an
innovative, sustainable and proactive approach towards e-skilling South Africa and to developing
and testing a model that has application in other countries with a developmental agenda.
This report outlines the process and outputs of the initial workshop held in Johannesburg 9-10
August 2011.
Dr Agostinho Zacarias
Resident representative UNDP
Resident coordinator UN South Africa
Ms Rosey Sekese
Director General
Department of Communications

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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following persons that made possible the success of the Global Development Partners works
shop:
Workshop Report
From the DoC:
Dr. Harold Wesso
Mrs. Mymoena Sharif
Mr. Marius van Niekerk
Mr. Wallace Taylor (TISI)
Mr. Marius van Niekerk – DoC
Mrs. Busiswa Mlandu - DoC
Mrs. Mpho Matiwane – DoC
Mrs. Ivy Maluleka – DoC
Mr. Gonzalo Aramayo - UNDP
Ms. Phumza Manqindi – UNDP
Ms. Olivia Atsin – UNDP intern
Ms. Nomakhaya Mgcina - UNDP intern
Ms. Nwabisa Mayeng - UNDP intern
Ms. Nolwazi Mhodi - UNDP Intern
Mr. Jacob Modise – UNDP
Mrs. Yoliswa Macoba – UNDP
Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere - NEPAD
Mr. Raul Zambrano - UNDP
Mrs. Faye Macheke - ICDL
Mr. Bruce Muirhead - EIDOS
Mr. Phineas Molele – USAASA
Mrs. Edna dos Santos - UNCTAD
Mr. Adrian Godfrey – CISCO
Mr. Jethro Buttner - DGF
Mr. Greg Hearn - QUT
Mr. Stephan Ohme – German Embassy
Ms. Nonku Dlamini – Telkom
Mr. Shureid Brown – Samsung
Larry Pokpas - UWC
Carina de Villers – UP
Cecile Marsh – WSU
Colin Thakur – DUT
James Theron - VUT
Peter Drury – CISCO
From the UNDP:
Dr. Agostinho Zacarias
Mr. Israel Dessalegne
Mr. Khepi Shole
Mr. Gonzalo Aramayo
Mr. Raul Zambrano

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Acronyms
BMF’s: Business Monitoring Forums
DGF: Development Gateway Foundation
DHE: Department of Higher Education
DoC: Department of Communication
DTI: Department of Trade and Investment
e-SI: e-skills Institute
FET Colleges: Further Education and Training Colleges
GFC: Global Financial Crisis
IBSG: Internet Business Solutions Group
ICDL: International Computer Driving Licence
ICT: Information and Communication Technology
ILO: International Labour Organisation
IMF: International Monetary Fund
ITU: International Telecommunication Union
MDGs: Millennium Development Goals
MTSF Goals (2009-14): Medium Term Strategic Framework
NEMISA: National Electronic Media of South Africa
NEPAD: The New Partnership for Africa’s Development
NeSPA: National e-Skills Plan of Action
NPO’s: Non Profit Organisations
WHO: World Health Organisation
WSIS: World Summit on the Information Society
QUT: Queensland University of Technology
ResNeS: Research Network for e-Skills
RIM: Research In Motion
SETAs: Skills Education Training Authorities / Sector Education and Training Authorities
UNAIDS: United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNDP: United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNIDO: United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
USAASA: Universal Services Agency
UWC: University of Western Cape
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Introduction
In the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Department of Communications
(DoC), of the Republic of South Africa and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on
April 2011 to support the e-Skills Institute, a flagship programme of the DoC, the UNDP agreed to host
a one-day workshop with global developmental agencies to inform and engage the international com-
munity, government, business and civil society to outline e-skills development issues, within the con-
text of the national e-skills agenda. Furthermore, the workshop was to develop a draft contributory
framework for the coordination of support for the e-Skills initiative in a way that allows the international
community to contribute effort and resources aligned to their own mandate.
The e-skills workshop was timely in that the e-Skills Institute (e-SI) is implementing the development
of the five Provincial e-Skills Knowledge Production and Coordination Hubs; has launched its Research
Network for e-Skills (ResNeS); and is consolidating itself at a national level as the lead institution to
achieve equitable prosperity and global competitiveness in the Information Society and Knowledge-
based Economy.
The South African Department of Communications (DoC) and its e-Skills Institute (e-SI)
The DoC has set itself a target of being“A Global Leader in the Development and use of ICT’s for socio-
economic development and the betterment of people’s lives”by helping in building a people-centered
inclusive Information Society and Knowledge-based Economy.
A fundamental pillar of its national strategy is the consolidation of the e-Skills Institute (e-SI) as a nation-
al catalytic collaborator in e-skilling the nation towards employment readiness; effective e-governance
and service delivery; business development; socio-economic development; and, research and innova-
tion.
e-Skills forms a fundamental part of building capacity for a creative and innovative workforce; an
engaged connected society; and informing an academic infrastructure to meet the challenges of an
emerging Information Society and Creative Knowledge-based Economies.
The e-Skills Institute (e-SI) reflects a holistic and developmental approach to e-skills development and
ensures the effective participation of Government, Education, Corporate, Civil Society including Labour
and Global Development Organizations. Its role is to firstly, develop a coordination platform that syn-
ergises e-skills stakeholders’ effort. Namely; Business Government, Education, Civil Society and the in-
ternational community and secondly, develop a coordination platform that builds new products and
services to improve equitable prosperity and global competitiveness for the South Africa’s Information
Society and Knowledge-based Economies.
Definition of e-Skills
e-Skills is broadly defined in the South African context and encompasses the ability of people to use
and to create all forms of ICT to improve their life opportunities in their i) personal and educational
spaces; ii) work environments; iii) community interactions; and iv) participation in governance process-
es, for equitable prosperity and global competitiveness.

7e-SkillingSouthAfricaforEquitableProsperityandGlobalCompetitiveness:
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Objectives & Envisaged Outcomes of the Workshop
The following desired outcomes were presented in the “Concept Note” for the prepara-
tion of the workshop:
South African
e-Skills Initiative in a way that allows the international community to contribute
effort and resources aligned to their own mandates;
core capacities between government, NGOs, private sector, donor agencies and
other stakeholders both
nationally and provincially;
e-skills against the MDG’s, the MTSF (2009-14) and the WSIS Plan of Action;
especially to rural areas;
of ICTs in promoting equitable prosperity and global competitiveness;
addressing traditional development and governance issues in a new, innovative
fashion;
South Africa.
Approach and Methodology
A platform to ensure open communication was considered crucial to fully utilize the di-
versity and experience of the participants.The workshop allowed the creation of an“open
space”setting in which (1) all of the issues that were most important to the participants
were raised and addressed and (2) the most important ideas, discussion, data, recom-
mendations, conclusions, questions, and plans for immediate action were documented.
Three themed panel discussions were held in plenary and followed a scheduled agenda
of presentations with 5-6 minutes each under the direction of a panel leader. Following
all panel presentations the panel chair stimulated debate and discussion amongst panel-
ists and participants about the understandings, thematic linkages, policy response and
the role of institutions.
Facilitated round-table workshop sessions followed each discussion panel plenary ses-
sion. The current facilitators of the e-SI’s provincial e-Skills Knowledge Production and
Coordination Hubs played a central role in these working groups which functioned as
“peer assist groups”helping the participants to consider projects or activities around the
National e-Skills Plan of Action (NeSPA) and linking them to national strategic goals and
outcomes.
The Workshop Process
OntheeveningofAugust10th2011,morethan100representativesofglobaldevelopment
and international agencies, business, academia and civil society organisations gathered
at the Farm Inn in Pretoria. The purpose was to discuss the national e-skills agenda as
well as aligning global development communities’programmes and support to e-skilling
South Africa for equitable prosperity and global competitiveness. The workshop was
developed in three interlinked parts so as to share information with the participants, to
provide for participants’input and to achieve the workshop objectives.

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1st Part: Introduction to the e-Skills Programme
The first part of the workshop was developed in order to present the concept of the e-Skills Institute
(e-SI), as one of the key flagship programmes of the DoC, and also to start discussions on the strategic
planning and policy development issues for e-skills. Three key addresses were presented from the DoC
andUNDPperspectives.Thefollowingparagraphsoutlinesomeofthehighlightsofthesepresentations.
The complete presentations are included as Annexures to this report.
The Director General of the DoC, Ms Rosey Sekese, started the session reaffirming that the Department
was committed to “working faster, harder and smarter in ensuring that we take technology to the
people in service of the people”. She emphasized the fact that to achieve “success in addressing the
vital matter of e-skilling our nation, we must recognise that there are many players, there are many
efforts and there many institutional needs.Thus, if we are going to succeed in our endeavours, we need
to develop a collaborative framework to align effort, define gaps and build appropriate responses.”Ms
Sekese highlighted the important role and purpose of the e-Skills Institute (e-SI) as a national catalytic
institution to lead this process.
The Deputy Minister of the DoC, Mr Obed Bapela, emphasized that“if South Africa wants to be a serious
part of the socio-economic fabric of the world going into the future, we have no real alternative but
to seriously engage with the Information Society and the Knowledge-based economies.”In confirming
that skilling South Africans was a key strategic priority for the South African Government, Deputy
Minister Bapela pointed out that“it is simply true that in going forward without adequate appropriation
of e-skills, there can be no sustainable development and there can be no sustainable employment.”
The Deputy Minister concluded by saying that the Government of South Africa has “established the
e-Skills Institute as a national catalytic collaborator and shaper in order to address the growing need
for coordination and leadership in addressing the very serious skills problem that the country faces in
adequately addressing our national strategic goals, MDGs and WSIS Plan of Action.
The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr Agostinho
Zacarias, described the new approach of the UN agencies in the country, reiterated that UNDPs
Programme was “now focused on supporting the country’s ongoing efforts towards the promotion
of inclusive growth and development in collaboration with national, regional and international
knowledge institution/centres of excellence.” Dr Zacarias said that the existing skills gap in South
Africa cannot be addressed fully through traditional formal education alone. Hence, a combined and
collaborative approach was needed “to mobilize the key national players, and invite the international
development partners to join this critical initiative that goes beyond technology and addresses
the core developmental priorities of the country as captured in the current Medium Term Strategic
Framework.” Dr Zacarias pointed out that “in a developmental state like South Africa, the market
mechanism alone cannot address the issue of equitable prosperity”; and further, that “it requires
public-private partnerships to facilitate access to cutting edge technologies for social innovations and
promote local entrepreneurship development if we are to reach the poor as well as the marginalized
segment of the population, including the youth, women, and people with disabilities”. He concluded
reaffirming“UNDPs full commitment to support national and provincial level efforts around ICT geared
towards development. While playing this important catalytic role, UNDP will work very closely with
the Department of Communications and other relevant government structures as well as knowledge
institutions to promote ICT for development”.
2nd Part: Deliberations of the workshop (panel discussions)
Thesecondpartoftheworkshopwasdevelopedtofocusonsocio-technicalaspectsofthedevelopment
of knowledge and information management: broadband, job creation, innovation, required technical
capacity, human resource implications and other associated issues with an explicit focus on e-skills.The
workshop design provided for a range of recognized experts from Business, Education, Government,
international bodies and civil society to share their expertise and experiences as catalysts for discussion.
The workshop had three major themes;

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Each of these themes was a topic of the three panel sessions. The panel session
presentations and panel discussions are included in the annexes of this report.
Three themed panel presentations and discussions were held in full plenary. The
panel facilitators were provided with key questions to challenge the panellists and
stimulate debate about understandings, thematic linkages, policy response and
the role of institutions.
Key Drivers Identified for e-Skilling South Africa
The panel discussion identified the following key drivers to e-Skilling South Africa:
The Multi-dimensional Nature of e-Skills –‘the cross cutting factor’
e-Skilling is a multi-faceted matter cutting across many established structures,
functions and service delivery options across business, government, education,
civil society and the international development community. This multi-faceted
nature of e-skills operates vertically, horizontally and diagonally within and
across entities and sectors. Generally, the initial adoption of ICT occurred within
organisations, professions and specialties as an ‘add-on’ for efficacy of existing
processes. The multi-faceted capacity for aggregation and new forms of efficacy in
service delivery, professional development and personal development in a societal
sense are relatively recent phenomenon. This underpinned an issue highlighted by
Mr Larry Pokpas (facilitator) from the University of the Western Cape which was the
fact that, “The internet was only introduced in South Africa in 1993, it is therefore
still a relatively new concept in the broader society although it has received high
public and business acceptance.”
It has now become increasingly apparent across business, government, education
and civil society that the key focus of all these efforts must be centred on the
people i.e. “people come before technology”. The technology is now rapidly
converging, becoming more powerful, less costly, generally easier to use and
much more suited to ‘developmental states’. The new technology is facilitating
the emergence of ‘people centric’ models (often ‘self-organising systems’) around
social, community and socio-economic approaches in dealing with the major
issues that developmental States like South Africa faces. This requires a ‘rethink’
of current organizational/sectorial boundaries, cultural identity, service delivery
and self-reliance. Knowing the demands (i.e. local, societal and national) and the
gaps in service delivery (across government, business, education and within civil
society) is vital in maximizing the use of ICT’s for equitable prosperity and global
competitiveness. This context dramatically underpins the need for a concerted
effort in e-skills across the board.
The persistent economic shift towards Knowledge-based Economies/Creative
Economies
One of the key drivers repeatedly brought up in the panel presentations was the
changing nature of the work force towards ‘service’ and ‘knowledge workers’ from
agriculture and manufacturing and the increasing value of creative industries in
developing nation states. As Mrs Edna dos Santos from UNCTAD pointed out,
the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) did not affect the countries in the ‘south’ as much
as those located in the ‘north’ and that in both the ‘south’ and the ‘north’ creative
industries grew during the GFC. In fact the economic impact of creative industries
in countries in the ‘south’ grew substantially during the GFC and since that time
ICT’s played a foundational role in this growth. According to Mrs Edna dos Santo,“it
is important to use ICT’s but equally important to apply them correctly”to develop
equitable prosperity.
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One of the great values of properly appropriated ICT’s is its capacity to address the problematic growth
of urbanization which often embeds challenging poverty in peri-urban centres that have great difficulty
in being adequately serviced. The impact of this urbanization on crime and health cannot be over-
estimated. Hence, the urban/rural ICT access divide when coupled with adequately developed e-skills
applied not only in traditional service delivery and businesses but also in the development of new
businesses and social media applications in rural and peri-urban areas is a significant matter for South
Africa as well as many developing Nation States.
Thereisanobviousneedforacollaborativepolicyplatformacrossgovernment,business,educationand
civil society to address this matter in an innovative, sustainable and locally owned manner. There was
continual reinforcement of the notion, that‘access’(to ICT) needed to be aligned with a concerted effort
to socially appropriate the emerging forms of ICT (including mobile and cloud computing) through
relevant e-skills development in government, business, education and civil society. Unless this occurred,
the effort would not only be ineffective in dealing with the major socio-economic issues facing peri-
urban and rural areas, but could in fact make matters worse by escalating the‘socio-economic divide’.
A significant issue was the recognition that such an approach needed to be accompanied with a
structured programme of “change management” within all levels of government and local leadership
that serves this socio-demographic. There was also a strong support for the UNDP’s approach of
facilitating the establishment of‘learning institutions’as a means to affect these changes and to build in
continuity and locally owned sustainability. There was a wide recognition that approaches to date had
not delivered appreciable changes in socio-economic upliftment, equitable prosperity or even grown
an increasing self-reliance
New Culture - Collaboration, Aggregation
As the Deputy Minister, the Director General of DoC, the leadership of the e-Skills Institute and the
UNDP Resident Representative all pointed out in their opening presentations of the workshop, e-skills
is a ubiquitous matter and of necessity in order to deal with the huge problems that South Africa faces
regarding this matter, is the development of a collaborative architecture. This architecture requires
openness, recognition of the organizational needs of all stakeholders and a formality that can not
only channel existing efforts more effectively but also provide a base for evaluation and research from
inception.
The e-Skills Institute’s provincial Knowledge Production and Coordination Hubs and the establishment
of the Research Network for e-Skills (ResNeS) provide a substance that all stakeholders in the e-skills
area can help establish and have confidence in. It is a truism that the new ICTs favour the aggregation
of both supply and demand into larger economies of scale and the establishment of new points of
value along the value chain (e.g. Google, Skype, Facebook etc). With such a large deficit in e-Skills to
face and a relatively small population of some 50 million people, South Africa simply cannot afford
not to aggregate its efforts through the establishment of a collaborative architecture which allows
all stakeholders to contribute in a coordinated manner. Such an approach is in the best interests of
businesses as it will dramatically increase the size of the market. Only the Government can provide the
leadership to establish this process which will allow international agencies to amplify the impact of
efforts and thus strengthen the approach.
Itwasnotedthatthee-skillsspacehasmanycontributorsoperatingwithinnarrowapproachesandthere
are no overall coordinating mechanisms that can provide useful leadership in appropriate standards,
defining gaps and developing new applications that maximize the impact of the new technological
products within a developmental state context. It was also pointed out that embedded monitoring and
evaluation needed to be included at the commencement of the process as measuring progress would
also be critical in determining the way forward.
According to Mr Peter Drury (CISCO), “the way to solve differences is to combine different learning
with practical learning”. Mr Jetro Buttner (Development Gateway Foundation) highlighted the fact
that companies could use recruitment processes to accommodate new graduates by lowering the
experience needed for positions and the adoption of internships and in-house training.
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The concept of entrepreneurship was highlighted as an essential component in
establishing new businesses.The models of“The Creative Economy”were examined
following Mrs Edna dos Santos (UNCTAD) and Prof Greg Hearn (the Institute of
Creative Industries, QUT, Australia) presentations. This discussion highlighted the
great creative industries opportunities for job creation in traditional established
industry and new industry creation, which can be obtained in developmental states.
All of the new technological development in ICT is about collaboration and co-
creation (Web 2.0, cloud computing, social media etc.). Prof Muirhead (Eidos
Australia) and others stressed that the new opportunities were for Institutions (all
sectors) to focus their approach towards development of the e-skills on a‘co-create,
co-locate, and co-produce’manner, in order to reduce duplication and speedup the
permeability of the technology.
Infrastructure and New Policy Formulation
South Africa was in great need of collaborative policies and programmes to link ICT’s
to service delivery. Innovative use of mobile technologies is already providing great
steps forward e.g. Cell Life using Mxit, as well as national coordinated approach to
knowledge production and relevant applications development would provide great
advances for under-served peri-urban and ‘deep’ rural communities. This approach
which shifts the focus from the failed ‘telecenter’ approach to ‘enabled service
centres’ would enhance meaningful, effective and much needed service delivery
in the rural areas thereby providing added incentives not to relocate to areas of
extreme poverty in peri-urban environments.
3rd Part: Deliberations of the Roundtables
The workshop design provided round-table working sessions after each of the panel
discussions. Thelocalspeakersandinternationalpresentersweredividedinthethree
working groups to share their experiences and support the work of the facilitators.
The third part of the workshop was designed to encourage a collaborative approach
by the different participants (UN Agencies, International Community, Civil Society
and Private Sector) to support the South African Government’s e-Skills Institute
initiative in a planned and measured manner.
The selection of workshop participants from relevant levels within relevant agencies
ensured the active participation across the working groups. The workshop process
provided an “open space” setting in which (1) all of the issues that were most
important to the participants could be raised and addressed and (2) most important
ideas, discussion, data, recommendations, conclusions, questions, and plans for
immediate action could be developed.
The coordinators of Provincial e-Skills Knowledge Production and Coordination
Hubs played a central role in these working groups which brought together a small
number of participants to share their experiences, insights and knowledge. The
interaction allowed the participants to meaningfully contribute to the delivery of
the National e-Skills Plan of Action (NeSPA) and the activities of the e-Skills Institute.
A guideline for the facilitators was developed and discussed before the workshop
as to ensure that open but directed discussion would take place and also to obtain
the envisaged outcomes.
Identified Outcomes and Opportunities
Participants identified the following areas of interest for future collaboration:
development.
particularly in rural and peri-urban situations.
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environment (particularly mobile, cloud and video) – define gaps and develop opportunities
particularly through collaborative multi-stakeholder approaches
and Coordination Hubs, to support local implementation and measure impact against the MTSF,
the MDG’s and the WSIS Plan of Action in the society.
The table below is a summary of the key developmental areas of support that were identified by the
round-table working sessions. This table reflects the key areas of support, the beneficiaries, envisaged
outcomes, key stakeholders and the link to the South African national outcomes as defined in the MTSF
2009-2014.
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e-health(especiallyinrural
andperi-urbanareas)
CapacityDevelopmentthrough
appropriatee-skillscurriculum
development
Healthcareprofessionals
Healthcareworkers
Peri-urbanandrural
communities
e-Centremanagers
Practitioners
Accesstoqualityeducation
Economicandsocialinfrastructure
Inclusiveeconomicgrowth,decent
workandsustainablelivelihoods.
Improvedhealthcare
MDGsonHealthcare
CommunityKnowledgeCenters
empowered
recognisedbyindustry
communitylevel.
networkCreated
professionals(mobiletechnology)
developed.
developed
accesstoaccuratemedicalrecordsand
medicalservicesimplemented.
outputandeffectiveness
initiatives
workersimproved.
(standardisation,consolidation,
andharmonisation)developed.
Envisagedoutputs/outcomes

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Identifye-skillsrequiredinthe
emergingtechnologicallyadvanced
environment–definegapsand
identifyopportunities
FETteachers
E-Skills,practitionertraining
Universitystudents
LocalCommunities
Governmentalworkers
LocalCommunities(peri-urbanand
ruralcommunities)
SouthAfricanCitizens
UniversityInstitutions,Government
Departments
Communities
Universitygraduates
ICTindustry
developmentinFETcollege
ICT/multimediaenhanced
implemented
(Recruitment,pedagogy,Content
knowledge,Industrylinkers,
qualification)updated
andnational)andState
OwnedEnterprises
oFrontOffice
oICTprofessionals
oInstitutionalplanners
Healthcareworkers
communities
appropriateskillsforcitizens
developed.
practitionersidentified.
Contentandservicedeveloped
(Demand-driven)
Oracleetc)
Communities
Economicandsocialinfrastructure
Accesstoqualityeducation
readinessindicators
Creationofnewinformationand
knowledgecreationandcreative
industries.
DevelopmentalareaofSupportEnvisagedoutputs/outcomesIdentifiedStakeholders

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Women/ChildEmpowermentthrough
appropriatee-Skillsandappropriation
ofnewICTtools
LocalCommunities
Womenandchildren
Marginalisedwomenandchildrenin
disadvantagedcommunities
cell-phonegamingDeveloped
changemindset)implemented
actiondeveloped
implemented
education/lifelonglearning
cell-phonegamingDeveloped
changemindset)implemented
actiondeveloped
implemented
DHE
Economicandsocialinfrastructuredeveloped
ofe-skilling
DevelopmentalareaofSupportEnvisagedoutputs/outcomes

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MonitoringandEvaluation
(developmentofaframeworkto
demonstratethecontributionof
outputsonimpact)
Universitygraduates
Entrepreneurs/SMEs
e-SkillssupportforEntrepreneurs
(Innovation)
e-SkillstosupportCreativity
e-SkillsPolicyDevelopment
Localcommunities
servicesdeveloped
sharednationally
Business
Education
Government
CivilSociety
Government(local,provincial
andnational)
StateOwnedEnterprises
MTSF2009–2014
MDGs
WSISPlanofAction
MTSF2009–2014
MDGs
WSISPlanofAction
Government
Societyatlarge
Moreinclusiveeconomicgrowth,
decentworkandsustainable
livelihoods
AllGovernmentDepartments
WorldBank
IMF
Government
MTSF2009–2014
MGDs
WSISPlanofAction
SMME’sandentrepreneursdeveloped.
(funding,marketing,ICT,etc.)
developed.
andcreativitydeveloped
enhanced
(on-line/self-service/mentoring)
developed.
DevelopmentalareaofSupportBeneficiariesEnvisagedoutputs/outcomesIdentifiedStakeholders

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Implications and Recommendation for the Way Forward
The workshop participants demonstrated their sectorial interest support for the e-Skills Institute and its
multi-stakeholder collaborative approach for addressing the massive e-skills challenges facing South
Africa.
They acknowledged the strategic intent of the e-SI in:
across Business, Government, Education and Civil Society, to deliver the skills required for
improved effectiveness in service delivery, business development, education, training and
civil society encompassing new job alternatives within a developmental and sustainable
approach for South Africa;
makers to integrate issues and requirements form grassroots level; and
Pan of Action) is crucial to achieve impactful development in the country, especially in
disadvantaged communities.
to develop a framework for multi-stakeholder input, collaboration and innovation.
effort against the MTSF, MDG’s and WSIS Plan of Action.
They endorsed the model of the e-SI which is aimed coordinating effort across Business Government,
Education and Civil Society to impact on the goals of the MTSF 2009-2014, MDG’s and WISIS Plan of
Action at the local level, and its intent to expand the Provincial e-Skills Knowledge Production and
Coordination hubs to all nine provinces.
A proposal was made by UNCTAD and supported by QUT to actively engage and support the e-SI in
bringing its knowledge and expertise on Creative Industries to develop the skills required in South
Africa. As immediate next step UNCTAD is keen to develop a follow-up event centered in “Creative
Industries”in collaboration with UNDP.
A follow up‘one-on-one’meetings with organizations such as DGF, NEPAD, German Embassy, and QUT
will be established to explore further collaboration.
A crucial next step is the follow-up meeting with interested UN Agencies and International Donor
communities to be facilitated by the UN/UNDP Resident Coordinator in the month of September. The
institutions identified to participate in this meeting include IMF,WB, ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD, ILO, UNIDO,
and UNDP.

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Appendices
1. Presentation by the Deputy Minister, Mr. Obed Bapela
2. Presentation by the Director General, Mrs. Rosey Sekese
3. Presentation by the UNDP Resident Representative, Dr. Agostinho Zacarias
4. Presentation by the e-Skills Institute, Ms Mymoena Sharif
5. Presentation by Mrs. Edna dos Santos - UNCTAD
6. Presentation by Mr. Jethro Buttner – DGF
7. Presentation by Ms. Nonku Dlamini - Telkom
8. Final Program of the event
9. List of participants

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Appendix 1
Presentation by the Deputy Minister, Mr. Obed Bapela
Programme Director
Honourable Minister Roy Padayachie (In London)
Senior Managers and Government Representatives
Dr. Agostinho Zacarias UN and UNDP resident
Members of the International Community, Agencies and Embassies
Representatives
Ms. Rosey Sekese Director-General, Department of Communications
Collaborative Partners of the Department
Senior Manager of the Department and State Owned Entities
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
We are meeting here today a day after we have celebrated the National Women’s
Day, as we were reflecting on the continual progress we are making to uplift the
plight of women and challenges ahead. In the 17 years of democratic governance
women are still confronted with challenges of poverty, lack of skills and are still
oppressed with our homes and institutions. In the ICT sector we need to double
our efforts to ensuring that we cap the imbalances facing us today.
It is common knowledge that for us as a nation, to have an e-skilled society we
must get our education foundation phase to the correct path. This Government
has made education an apex priority and strongly believes that education is not
the responsibility of Government alone rather societal responsibility.
In July 2011 during the Annual National Assessment of Numeracy and Literacy
Skills, President Jacob Zuma urged all South Africans to work together in support
of basic education, which is the future of our children and that will lead us toward
an e-skilled society.
With the proper foundation from our schooling system I have no doubt in my
mind that we can achieved the desired outcome of producing a skilled and
economically viable university graduates who are not just job-seekers rather
entrepreneurs and innovators who will ensure we realise as the Department
of Communications our motto that of “making South Africa a Global Leader in
Harnessing ICT for socio-economic Development”.
The preamble of the Constitution best captures the vision, which aspires to
“establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental
human rights”and to build a“democratic and open society”in order to“improve
the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person”.
This reminds me of the words of the former Minister of Education; Prof Kader
Asmal when he outlined the strategic objective of the Government in higher
educationandthisiswhathehadtosaytohighereducationinstitutions;“Produce
graduates who are well rounded and thoroughly grounded; who are skilled and
competent; who are creative, flexible and adaptive to new challenges; who are
adept in critical thinking and cultural literacy; who are enabled and empowered
to participate fully in their economy, their society and their globalising world”.
Towards South Africas’e-skills Institute
The South African Ministry of Communications has established a new wave
of positive change which was launched in November 2010 shortly after our
appointment to the Ministry. This new wave of change recognises that despite

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our efforts in the past as a country, we are now slipping down the global e-readiness indicators. This is
not because we have not been doing useful things; it just means that others are working harder than
we are and this includes many countries that have less opportunity than we do.
As we are aware, the capacity and convergence of new forms of Information and Communications
Technologies (ICT) includes smart cell phones, tablets and cloud computing, are ‘snowballing’ at
unprecedented rates and this will continue to escalate along with reducing costs of acquisition
and access. The internal dynamics of many nations are now responding to these impacts and new
value propositions are about how best to deal with equity of opportunity, social responsibility, and
sustainability are now emerging. These are moving past traditional models of diffusion in a financial
cost benefit paradigm. The lessons of Google, Skype, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon are very apparent
for all who wish to see.
Global experience and trends emphasise three major issues;
1) Traditional cost/benefit analysis approaches are insufficient to determine the impact of the new ICT
on business, government, education and civil society and that convergence, diffusion and social media
are establishing new value propositions in a broad cross section of national economies;
2) Aggregation of supply and demand are important keys to establishing and maintaining an equitable
socio-economic position in the emerging paradigm of Internet connectivity; and
3) That in dealing with issues of socio-economic equity, there is little alternative but to embrace the
new ICT developments rapidly. Nation states with a developmental agenda such as OURS which have
a relatively higher adoption of mobile devices have an unprecedented opportunity to improve their
position in this space much quicker than ever before.
A significant issue for our country revolves around the high proportion of underserved communities
which generally have a high adoption rate of cell phones.
Further it is significant that the economic collaboration of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South
Africa), the largest economic alliance in the world, chose South Africa to become its fifth member
country when South Africa is a relative economic and population minnow in comparison to the other
members.
This emphasises two major issues;
1) The importance that BRICS sees in South Africa within a continental sense; and
2) With a relatively small population, South Africa cannot afford a disaggregated approach to ICT
development, appropriation and diffusion whilst all the other members of BRICS have a distinct
tendency for centralised economic approaches.
Hence in developing a national approach to addressing the significant challenge that South Africa faces
with appropriating ICT right across its society it is vital that it aggregates both supply and demand into
larger economies of scale. Disaggregation into small entities that cannot develop sufficient scale to
sustain innovative collaborative approaches in a world which increasingly favours increasing economies
of scale simply does not make useful sense. This is particularly true for significant issues such as e-Skills
that involve a range of traditional disciplines in a rapidly converging space.
So, if South Africa wants to be a serious part of the socio-economic fabric of the world going into
the future, we have no real alternative but to seriously engage with the Information Society and the
Knowledge-based economies. It is simply true that in going forward, without adequate appropriation
of e-skills there can be no sustainable development and there can be no sustainable employment.
Collaboration and Cooperation
So, what positives do we have to help us leapfrog up the ladder? Well, firstly, we have a collective
approach that involves a number of State Owned Enterprises; in many countries these entities are now
augmenting to government strategies as they fight increasing economies of scale of global players.

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Secondly, we have a surprising amount of dedicated skills and commitment in the
right places in our society (in Business, Government, Education and Civil Society)
and currently an amazing interest in providing useful support from international
business (CISCO, RIM, Samsung, Google, Apple spring to mind), Education (India,
South Korea, Cuba, the Eidos University network in Australia, Mexico), donor
countries including Finland, Sweden, South Korea to make a difference.
The support of Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) in CISCO over the last
two years has been particularly important in this regard.
Thirdly, we are well positioned in terms of the technology leaps that are currently
taking place. The convergence of increasing ICT capacity into mobile devices
really suits places like South Africa.
Fourthly, we have a plan. The Medium Term Strategic Framework 2009-2014 of
the country as a guiding light that can help all of our efforts focus on the very
real problems we face.
And lastly, we have a political and leadership will and a lot of good will and
interest from the global ICT players and development partners who recognise
that South Africa offers a place to develop new approaches to engage with half
of the world’s population and that is indeed a very big market. This is a fact that
underpins South Africa’s formal inclusion in BRICS.
Now a very big message I constantly hear from across business, education,
government and civil society is that we have a very serious mismatch between
our current training and education offerings and market demand.
Government will lead and provide the policy framework for a new wave of
positive change.What is also very obvious is that with 50 million people and such
as big disparity in our people’s fortune that we aren’t big enough to compete
amongst ourselves and we don’t have the time to mess around operating in silos
of expertise.
To get to where we need to be and to make maximum advantage of the current
explosion in ICT mobile capacity we need to develop the means to collaborate
across government, business, education, civil society and global development
agencies to develop and deliver real change, sustainable change at the local level
within the MTSF, MDGs and WSIS Plan of Action.
Thus to bring all of this together, we have established the e-Skills Institute as
a national catalytic collaborator and shaper to address the growing need for
coordination and leadership in addressing the very serious skills problem that
the country faces in adequately addressing our national strategic goals, MDGs
and WSIS Plan of Action.
Because it has recognised the complexity of the converging space of ICT, the
e-SI has taken some well-considered time to engage with global IT, service
providers across Business Government, Education and Civil Society in South
Africa and beyond to develop an inclusive e-Skills Plan of Action (NeSPA) that
has strong stakeholder support and maximises opportunities in the current ICT
developmental space.
It is obvious that there is a great need to formally converge the activities of a
number of existing entities so that a more inclusive approach can be developed,
delivered and measured in innovative ways.
Now we have learnt from past experience that simply throwing money at existing
systems has a very mixed level of success when it comes to delivering against

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the real needs of our country. We now know that we have approach these things collectively across
the board from the top down and from the bottom up; we have to take notice of what is happening
elsewhere and we have to apply lessons within the context of our own environment.
This is what the NewWave of Positive Change within the Ministry and the National e-Skills Plan of Action
are about. We must build this new approach of e-Skills based on a demonstrated commitment and
success.This is not only to ensure that we are building on solid ground but also to demonstrate to others
that the way ahead must be about genuine effort that is based on sound integration of technology
addressing local needs in an integrated manner within a realistic achievement framework at the local
level.
This is simply a wonderful opportunity for us all. Our job over the next day is to provide the leadership
in developing a global contributory framework to enable e-skilling South Africa for equitable prosperity
and global competitiveness.
IamveryexcitedabouttheapproachthatwehavetakentogetherwithourleadingpartnertheUN/UNDP
and I look forward to the outcome of the workshop. I urge you all to participate fully in the workshop,
to look towards ways that we can collaborate and build a sustainable effort that is‘owned’by us all and
that can demonstrate impact on our strategic plans to provide a more equitable and prosperous nation
that can be a useful example to others.
Good Luck with you deliberations.
I Thank You

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Appendix 2
Presentation by the Director General, Mrs. Rosey Sekese
Honourable Minister,
Honourable UN and UNDP Resident, Dr. Agostinho Zacarias
Distinguished Guests
A very warm greeting to you all. Thank you for making the effort to attend this
important workshop. I trust that our international guests have an enjoyable time
in our country and leave with positive feelings about what we are doing here
to address the very real issue that we face in preparing our Nation for equitable
prosperityandglobalcompetitivenessintheInformationSocietyandKnowledge
economies.
Please let me add to the comments of our Minister Padayachie on the importance
we have placed on e-skilling. We are committed to working faster, harder and
smarter in ensuring that we take technology to the people in service of the
people.
The e-Skills Institute is a flagship project of my Department. The need for the
e-SI in our country at this time cannot be overemphasised. In supporting its vital
work, we must be mindful of a number of key issues.
1). Urgency. South Africa’s reducing position in the global e-readiness indicators
is instructional in recognising that we must prioritise the matter, we must develop
renewed vigour and we must develop new approaches.The new technology that
is now emerging suits the dynamic of our developmental state and we need to
move swiftly to capitalise on the opportunity that this provides. Not only is this
vital for our current position, we need to recognise that this is a competitive
world we live in and that a lack of action in this space will not do us any good nor
help us to leverage the opportunity we have been given through BRICS.
2) Collaboration. The e-skills agenda is a complex and multi-stakeholder space
that operates across a wide range of disciplines in government, business,
education, civil society and I include here international development agencies.
Hence, success in addressing the vital matter of e-skilling our nation, we must
recognise that there are many players, there are many efforts and there many
institutional needs. Thus if we are going to succeed in our endeavours, we need
to develop a collaborative framework to align effort, define gaps and build
appropriate responses. The e-Skills Institute has been established with this
clearly in mind.
3) Global lessons. Whilst we have our own culture, needs and key success factors
that define how we develop approaches that can impact our urgencies, we
ignore the lessons of the world at our peril. Quite often approaches that have
worked in the successful market led economies of the world simply don’t work
well in our situation. But this does not mean that we can’t learn from each to our
mutual benefit.
4) Research and evaluation. Any approach we undertake in this space must
go hand in hand with research and evaluation that can inform not only praxis
but sound policy development as well. We are in largely uncharted waters with
some of this work and we need to be creative in developing our responses to
the challenges that we face in the Information Age and Knowledge Economies
within the context of a developmental agenda.
In recognising the foundational nature of these key issues, it is important that we
build a collaborative framework that works WITH our people, the industry, the

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service providers right across the board and the international community and that builds innovative,
positive and practical responses for our future. We must recognise that many are watching to see how
we respond and that many are looking for answers that can be‘best fit’for their situations.
The Department of Communications is very excited about the commitment that many thought leaders
and companies have given the e-Skills Institute initiative; firstly, at the e-Skills Summit in July 2010
when we had 300 national and international thought leaders from Business, Government, education
and Civil Society help us develop the e-Skills National Plan of Action (NeSPA); secondly, the valuable
input that we received from IBSG and others in CISCO have provided over the last two years, and
thirdly the commitment that the South African ICT Industry Compact on Competitiveness and Job
Creation have provided at their recent meeting on 31 July.
I thank the UNDP and particularly Dr Agostinho Zacarias & his team for assembling this meeting and
your attendance. Of course many of you also know Dr Wesso and his team, particularly Ms Mymoena
Sharif, at the e-Skills Institute who have also worked hard with the UNDP on this agenda.
I recognise the high level of skill and experience that we have in the room and have very high
expectations from this workshop; particularly in helping to define how we can best work together,
how we can best leverage from our collective efforts and how we can best align our collective efforts
in ways that impact the MTSF (in particularly job creation and rural development), the MDG’s and the
WSIS Plan of Action.
For my part, I can assure you that I will work hard in the many forums that I attend as Director General
to ensure that everybody is aware of the exciting approaches that the e-Skills Institute is developing
and delivering and that I will be looking for ways that these bodies can contribute and support the e-SI.
It goes without saying that the Department is committed to the e-Skills Institute which is a flagship
project of the Ministry.
In conclusion, you can see that we are very serious about this effort and we mean action orientated
business. We welcome and thank you for your attendance, your participation and the knowledge you
bring to us. Please give us your input, you can rest assured that we are listening and that we are
looking for‘win – win’approaches and solutions. It is in our interest that you win and we would like to
think that it is in your interests that we win.
Thank you.

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Appendix 3
Presentation by the UNDP Resident Representative, Dr. Agostinho
Zacarias
Honorable Minister Padayachie,
DG Ms. Sekese,
DDG Dr. Wesso and colleagues from the Department,
Ambassadors, High Commissioners,
UN colleagues and development partners,
Resource persons invited from within and outside the country,
Ladies and gentlemen
UNDP is honored to be collaborating with the government of SA, especially
with the Department of Communications in the area of ICT for development
with a focus on capacity building that generates the required skills to promote
employment at all levels.
Honorable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen
Recently, UNDP and its sister agencies have gone through a stock taking exercise
to be more responsive to the needs and priorities of South Africa. In fact, in a joint
evaluation conducted by the UN and the government of South Africa, while it was
foundthatthecollaborationwasfruitful,thecountryhasnotbenefittedfullyfrom
this collaboration due to a fragmented approach and an emphasis on relatively
small pilot projects by the UN rather than on the provision of strategic advisory
services. To overcome these challenges, we have successfully repositioned our
support to focus more on high-end technical advice and upstream support.
Accordingly, our programme is now focused on supporting the country’s
ongoing efforts towards the promotion of inclusive growth and development
in collaboration with national, regional and international knowledge institution/
centres of excellence.
This partnership with the government of South Africa is one of the pillars of our
strategic collaboration which is critical to build a 21st century South African
society where equity and inclusiveness can be achieved over time. This means,
we need to link skills development to the broader development agenda, which
will include innovation, MDGs, unblocking service delivery, as well as agrarian
transformation and good governance and accountability.
Honorable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The existing skills gap in South Africa and elsewhere cannot be addressed
fully through traditional formal education only. It is in this context, I would
like to emphasize the role of ICT for development. The new global economy,
characterized by high level knowledge products and production, requires human
resources that can absorb such knowledge, adapt it to local conditions and at the
same time generate local innovation that can have real impact on South Africa’s
economy vis-à-vis the world market.
It is with the above in mind that we need to mobilize the key national players,
and invite the international development partners to join this critical initiative
that goes beyond technology and addresses the core developmental priorities of
the country as captured in the current medium term strategic framework.
In a developmental state like South Africa, the market mechanism alone cannot
address the issue of equitable prosperity. It requires public-private partnerships,
to facilitate access to cutting edge technologies for social innovations and

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promote local entrepreneurship development if we are to reach the poor as well as the marginalized
segment of the population, including the youth, women, and people with disabilities.
Allow me to touch on some of UNDP’s key activities revolving around ICT for development. Globally
UNDP supports 230 e-governance and access to information projects in 84 countries, which
is contributing to the modernization of public institutions, enhanced citizens’ access to public
information,thepromotionofparticipatorydevelopment,aswellasimprovingpublicservicedelivery.
Coupled with these are also complementing policy regulatory effort and advancing citizen access
and connectivity. In South Africa, our association with the e-skills institute and the establishment of
the five knowledge hubs will benefit from these global experiences.
At this developmental stage of South Africa, where national policies and strategies are continuously
interrogated against the national goal of addressing inequalities, it is highly critical that ICT is fully
incorporated and integrated in the national planning process at all levels. In this regard, we would
like to recognize the ongoing national efforts around ICT for development.
At the beginning of my statement, I touched on the UNDP repositioning process for upstream
engagement within the South African context. In this connection, I would like to reiterate our full
commitmenttosupportnationalandprovincialleveleffortsaroundICTgearedtowardsdevelopment.
While playing this important catalytic role, UNDP will work very closely with the Department of
Communications and other relevant government structures as well as knowledge institutions to
promote ICT for development.
Thank you

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Appendix 4
Presentation by the e-Skills Institute, Ms Mymoena Sharif

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Appendix 5
EDS - SAfrica Skills Aug11

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Appendix 6
About development Gateway

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Visit Us
www.developmentgateway.org

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Appendix 7
Telkom e-Skills Presentation

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CLOSING SPEECH NOTES
Dr Harold Wesso on behalf of Ms ROSEY SEKESE
UNDP WORKSHOP – 11 AUGUST 2011
First of all let me thank you one and all for your commitment and inputs during the day to what we in the
Department see as a significant part of increasing the circle of participation of the global organisations and
expertise, the e-Skills Institute which as I indicated to you is a flagship project of the Department. Some of
you have been long term partners of this effort and that others of you have been introduced to our work in
recent times or even just this week. We welcome you all. As you have been able to see clearly during your
time with us, the e-SI is a very open and collaborative effort that has defined its niche in a catalysticmanner,
a definer of gaps, a supporter of building new approaches to address these gaps and a leverager of best
practise relevant to our needs, no matter where this comes from. We, in South Africa simply have a long
way to catch up and we don’t have the time not to clearly focus how we bring effort, skills, innovation and
collective energy to addressing our e-skills issues for equitable prosperity and global competitiveness in the
emerging world.
I have informed by both members of my Department, the UNDP and others of you that I have met that you
have been able canvas a wide range of issues during the day and I would like to thank each of you for sharing
your experiences with and providing the basis for the roundtable workshops. As I mentioned last evening,
the Department of Communications is seriously open for collaboration in the e-skills space and our ears are
wide open.
The big messages we have obtained from the panels and your roundtable discussions are:-
1. There is great support for the e-Skills Institute and a real need to‘collect the dots’and a collaborative
approach is essential. This means that there is a need for a collaborative architecture such as the
e-SI.
2. The e-skills effort needs to be situated within new ways of thinking, new paradigms which often sit
outside traditional structures in Business, Government and Education to create new jobs, new
industries in a sustainable approach.
3. You have reinforced a belief that we hold very dear and that is‘people come before technology’. We
need to ensure that our efforts are clearly situated with a concept of visible local benefit. We need
to embed ICT into everyday life.
4. There was a strong statement that we need to conceive of our approaches within an attitude of
‘Investing’rather than just‘spending. We need to embed a view that our responsibility is to invest
effort, expertise and policy development in our future. This is our responsibility and not up to
anyone else.
5. We were very happy to hear strong support for our approach that embeds Monitoring and
Evaluation into the very being of our efforts.
6. The shift in approach over recent years from a‘telecentre’approach to that of‘enabled service
centres’. Now we have already commenced this journey in South Africa and it is obvious that we
need to do more in this space.
7. Some of the discussionemphasised the need to
a. co-create,
b. to co-locate and
c. to co-produce
As this is a core functionality of our provincial e-Skills Knowledge Production and Coordination
Hubs, that e-SI is establishing with our partnering Universities, Business and donor agency partners
in five locations across South Africa.
8. We have loudly heard the interest of many of you in wanting to be involved in our efforts. You
can rest assured that we will actively pursue this interest in aligning your efforts with our goals,
aspirations and activities for the e-Skills agenda to impact the South African Medium Term
Strategic Framework, the MDG’s,WSIS Plan of Action in partnership with the UNDP. The importance
of this alignment of effort to national goals was also a strong point made by panellists.
9. We are grateful to UNCTAD in laying out a very useful and applicable model to support what
was called a‘strategic nexus’. This approach supports what we are doing in bringing about
sustainable development and sustainable employment.

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The work undertaken today is difficult work, often forcing us to all think outside of our
traditional experience. However, it often brings us face-to-face with the real sustainable
impact of what we are doing. It is sometimes not a comfortable experience and we thank
you for walking this path with us. I can assure that in getting to this position has not always
been a comfortable experience for us either, as we have had to challenge many things we
have done and not done in the past. However, our current partners and the efforts that you
have put in today have reaffirmed many of the approaches we are currently undertaking
with the e-Skills Institute and its hubs.
We are particularly grateful for the support of UNDP in conducting this workshop ; Dr
Zacarias and his team; thanks also to Dr Wesso and Ms Mymoena Sharif and their DoC Team
and a very special thanks to you all for making the effort to attend, for the positive manner
in which you have engaged with us and helping us to better understand that this is a shared
journey and that you all have interest in what we are doing. As I mentioned last evening we
value your efforts and we trust that we can reciprocate this and add value to your efforts in
what is undoubtedly a major issue for South Africa.
SUMMARY AND WAY FORWARD
UNDP WORKSHOP – 11 AUGUST 2011
The work undertaken today is difficult work, often forcing us to all think outside of our
traditional experience. However, it often brings us face-to-face with the real sustainable
impact of what we are doing. It is sometimes not a comfortable experience and we thank
you for walking this path with us. I can assure that in getting to this position has not always
been a comfortable experience for us either, as we have had to challenge many things we
have done and not done in the past. However, our current partners and the efforts that you
have.
The e-Skills Institute together with the UNDP will follow-up with all the organisations
that have expressed interest in joining with us on this journey.
We will analyse the content of the workshop which has all been recorded and use this
to improve what we are doing.
This workshop will be followed with a meeting with the wider UN family (ITU, World
Bank, IMF, UNESCO), facilitated by the UNDP, most likely to be held in South Africa in
mid-September.
We will be using this workshop as a part of the ITU Kaleidoscope to be held in Cape
Town in December.
We appreciate the offer of UNCTAD to work with UNDP, the QUT & the e-Skills Institute
to conduct a workshop to help us review our policies, develop new approaches and link
with the many exciting efforts around the world in the Creative Industries.
The Research Network for e-Skills (ResNeS) will be conducting its second research
colloquium in East London in the first week of November. We encourage your
participation; we would welcome participation by Business in both sponsorship and
content; the details for this Research Colloquium have been included in workshop pack.
And lastly, arrangements are currently being made for South Africa’s second e-Skills
Summit to be held in July 2012. We welcome your interest in this event which follows
the most successful event held in July 2010.
We are particularly grateful for the support of UNDP in conducting this workshop ; Dr
Zacarias and his team especially Gonzalo Aramayo and Raul Zambrano.

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Time Activity Presenter Session Chair
08:00 – 08:15 Registration
08:15– 08:30 Welcoming Address Dr. Harold Wesso, e-Skills
Institute
Mr. Israel Dessalegne UNDP
08:30 – 08:45 Objectives and plan for the day Mrs. Mymoena Sharif – e-Skills
Institute
08:45 – 09:45 Panel Discussion 1: e-Skills to
promote inclusive growth (Poverty
Reduction, Rural Development,
Capacity Development, and Policy)
Kick Off Presentations: Chairperson Mr. Ramesh Bharuth-
ran – UWC
Chairperson: Ramesh Bharuthran
Panelists NEPAD’s e-Africa Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere -
NEPAD
UNDP’s Experiences Mr. Raul Zambrano - UNDP
ICDL’s Experiences Mrs. Faye Macheke - ICDL
EDOS (webex) Mr. Bruce Muirhead - EIDOS
USAASA Mr. Phineas Molele - USAASA
9:45– 10:30 Roundtable 1: Identifying the areas
of collaboration; discussion of the
necessary e-skills needed.
Larry Pokpas (UWC); Prof. Nepal
(DUT); Carina de Villers (UP); Cecile
Marsh (WSU); James Theron (VUT);
Job Ogonda (UNDP); Colin Thakur
(DUT); Adrian Godfrey (CISCO);
Peter Drury (CISCO).
10:30 – 11:00 BREAK
11:00 – 11:45 Panel Discussion 2:Smart connected
communities (Focus on e-skills,
innovation, infrastructure, and job
creation)
Kick Off Presentations: Chairperson: Phinda Songca
(WSU)
e-Skills Hubs Coordinator
(EC– WSU)
Panelists UNCTAD Experiences Mrs. Edna dos Santos - UNC-
TAD
CISCO Experiences Mr. Adrian Godfrey – CISCO
DGF Experiences Mr. Jethro Buttner - DGF
QUT Mr. Greg Hearn - QUT
Appendix 8
Final program of the Event
Day 1
Time Activity Presenter Session Chair
15:00 – 18:00 Registration
18:00 – 18:15 Welcoming Address Ms Rosey Sekese – DG DOC Mr. Larry Pokpas - UWC
e-Skills Hub Coordinator (WC-UWC)
18:15 – 18:30 Address by the Minister of the De-
partment of Communications
Honorable Roy Padayachie –
Minister DOC
18:30 – 18:45 Address by UNDP Resident Repre-
sentative. Include UN collaborative
framework
Dr. Zacarias – RR UNDP/RC UN
18:45 – 19:15 Presentation of the e-Skills Plan of
Action: challenges and objectives
Dr. Harold Wesso and Mrs.
Mymoena Sharif.– DOC
19:15 – 19:30 Objectives and plan for workshop Mrs. Mymoena Sharif
19:30 – 19:45 Logistics and methodology Mr. Gonzalo Aramayo - UNDP
19:45 – 19:50 Closing remarks by All
19:45 – 19:50 Closing remarks by All Mr. Larry Pokpas - UWC
Day 2
booklet final pages numbered.indd 59 11/3/2011 11:04:17 AM

Workshop Report
11:45 – 12:45 Roundtable 2: Identifying key
stakeholders to achieve goals and
objectives
12:45 – 14:00 LUNCH
14:00 – 14:45 Panel Discussion 3: Taking technol-
ogy to the people in the service of
the people (focus on Democratic
Governance, Knowledge Manage-
ment and Innovation)
Kick Off Presentations: UNDP,
TELKOM, GERMAN EMBASSY
Chairperson: Adrian Godfrey
(CISCO)
Panelist UNDP Mr. Brian Kagoro
German Embassy Mr. Stephan Ohme
TELKOM Ms. Nonku Dlamini
SAMSUNG Mr. Ntutule Tshenye
14:45 – 15:45 Roundtable 3: Creating a collabora-
tion Framework: Key objectives,
Hubs, areas, and partners
15:45 – 16:00 BREAK
16:00 – 17:00 Plenary: Report Back from Working
Groups. Wrap-up & preparation
of presentations. Integrating the
different panel discussions: com-
monalities, contradictions and
implications. Identify opportunities
and possible collaborative ways
Reporters wrap up Chairperson: Mr. Raul Zambrano
- UNDP
17:00 – 17:15 Summary & way forward Dr. Harold Wesso, e-Skills
Institute
17:15 – 17:30 Closing Remarks Honorable Roy Padayachie –
Minister DOC
17:30 – 18:30 Social interaction
booklet final pages numbered.indd 60 11/3/2011 11:04:17 AM

58e-Skilling South Africa for Equitable Prosperity and Global
Competitiveness: Workshop Report
Appendix 8
List of Participants
Title Name Surmane Organisation
Ms. Adeola ABBA ILO
Ms. Magdalena Riechaut Austrian Embassy
Mr. Jethro Buttner DGF
Mr. Masa Sugano Embassy of Japan
Mr. GS Geon Embassy of the Republic of Korea
Mr. Robert Hong-Kyu Lee Embassy of the Republic of Korea
Ms. Ella Bella Generation Earth
Mr. Stephan Ohme German Embassy
Mr. Mohit Yadau High Commission of India
Mrs. Gina Weir-Smith HSRC
Ms. Nosipho Tleyise IOM
Ms. Rose Machobane Irish Aid
Title Name Surname Institution
Mr. Peter Drury CISCO
Mr. Adrian Godfrey CISCO
Mr. Sam Skosana CSIR
Mr. Ismael Desai Dimension Data
Mr. Gien Varney-Wong Earth-link
Mr. Saskia Nysschens General Manager
Ms. Faye Macheke ICDL
Ms. Nazrene Suleman NBI
Mr. Simphiwe Ngcobo NEMISA
Mr. Ndivhoniswani Tshidzumba NEMISA
Mr. Colin Abouchabki RIM
Ms. Thami Mashau SABC
Mr. Shuheid Brown Samsung
Mr. Ntutule Tshenye Samsung Africa Regional Head-
quarters
Mr. Flenk Mnisi Sentech
Mr. Ahmed Ismael-Smiley Siyafunda Community Technology
Centre
Ms. Robynne Erwin Smart-Exchange
Ms. Robynne Erwin Smart-Exchange
Mr. Wikus van der Merve TELKOM
Ms Boni Gantile TELKOM
Mr. Theo Rodrigues TISI
Prof Wallace Taylor TISI
Mr. Phendulani Msiya UMTHOMBO
Mr. Brian Tshiwane UMTHOMBO
Mr. Mahlomola Mofokeng UMTHOMBO
Mr. Zakhali Tshabalala USAASA
Mr. Phineas USAASA
Mr. James Varney-Wong Virtual Masifunde
PRIVATE SECTOR
UN Agencies and International organisations

Workshop Report
Mr. Carlo Vizzi City of Cape Town
Ms. Zimlo Lalendle City of Cape Town
Mr. Carlo Vizzi City of Cape Town
Ms. Elsie Mnisi DBE
Ms. Monica Koen DHET
Ms. Monica Koen DHET
Mr. Monty Sekhukhuni DoC
Mr. Jim Paterson DoC
Dr. Harold Wesso DoC
Mrs. Mymoena Sharif DoC
Mr. Marius van Niekerk DoC
Mr. Refilwe Tshabalala DRD
Mr. Clinton Heimann DRDLR
Mr. Anthony Arendse DRDLR
Mr. Isaac Maredi DST
Mr. Johan Neethlmg DST
Ms. Pulane Masebe DTI
Mr. / Ms Vusi Mthembu E-SI
Mr. Derick Bayard Gov & International Relations
Mr. L Chetty Natcom UWESCO
Mr. Timothy Murwa National Treasury
Mr. Robin Toli National Treasury
Mr. George Sepeng NT
Mr. Neville Pretorius NT
Ms. Fiona Wilson PGWC
Mr Dauglas Cohen SALGA
Mr. Tau Mashigo SARS
Mr. Tau Mashigo SARS
Dr. Dario Armini Italian Embassy
Dr. Towela Nyirenda Jere NEPAD e-Africa Programme
Mrs. Jacqueline Nzoyihera UN OHCHR
Mrs. Edna dos Santos UNCTAD
Mr. Job Odonga UNDP
Mr. Brian Kagoro UNDP
Mr. Raul Zambrano UNDP
Dr. Agostinho Zacarias UNDP
Ms. Nolwazi Mhodi UNDP
Mr. Israel Desselegne UNDP
Mr. Gonzalo Aramayo UNDP
Mr. Kizito Nsanzya UNDP - Health Sector
Ms. Shezana Sasdic UNHCR
Mrs. Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry UNIC
Mrs. Nokuthula Prusent UNICEF
Mr. Levy Maduse UNIDO
Mr. Eugene Mahlehla WHO
Dr. Patrick Abok WHO
GOVERNMENT

Workshop Report
Mr. Colin Thakur Durban University of Technology
Prof Nips Nepal Durban University of Technology
Mr. Adrian Schofield Jburg Centre for Software Engineering
Prof Theo Burton University of Pretoria
Prof Carina de Villiers University of Pretoria
Dr. Hossana Twinomurinzi University of Pretoria
Mr. HW HW Pretorius Univeristy of Pretoria
Dr. Zoran Mitrovic UWC
Prof Ramesh Bharuthram UWC
Mr. Larry Pokpas UWC
Prof Walter Claassen UWC
Prof Louis Fourie UWC
Mr. James Theron Vaal University of Technology
Mrs. Cecile Marsh WSU
Prof Phinda Songca WSU
ACADEMIA

e-Skilling South Africa for equitable
prosperity and Global
Competitiveness

UNDP-DOC_e-Skills_Workshop

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