Copy, tweak and paste: How Central African Economies can benefit from elsewhere experiences to build skills for economic diversification

Abstract

Inadequate skills development and low productivity are hobbling the competitive edge and economic diversification potential of Central African countries. However, if they draw inspiration from the recent steps taken by Ethiopia to foster education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and learn from the track record of countries such as Japan and South Africa, among others, then the sub-region can also promote a skills revolution in the training and deployment of human resources to respond better to the challenges and opportunities for economic diversification in Central Africa.