Reframing the Value of Skills Development

GrowZA's recent work on skills progression and economic agency finds a timely connection with international thinking through the ILO's BRICS South-South Knowledge Series.

Over the past few weeks, GrowZA has been developing a comprehensive skills development investment and impact model for a client whose development finance portfolio we manage.

The work began with a practical question: how might investment in technical skills create economic value that grows over time?

It has led us into some fascinating territory, drawing together occupational demand research, vocational development evidence, industry partnerships and the economics of professional progression.

At the centre of the model is the idea that qualifications need not be isolated achievements. They can become foundations on which individuals build increasingly valuable combinations of capability, professional standing and economic opportunity.

We have explored this through three forms of progression.

1. Vertical advancement looks at how individuals deepen their professional standing through specialisation, additional registration or expanded authority within their occupation.

2. Horizontal expansion examines how complementary qualifications and capabilities can widen the range of work an individual is equipped to undertake.

3. Compounded advancement considers the potential value created when these different forms of progression come together over time.

The model goes considerably further than mapping qualifications. It establishes a research-informed investment architecture, structured development pathways, industry participation mechanisms and a longitudinal approach to measuring outcomes.

Perhaps its most important feature is how it distinguishes between three dimensions of impact: capability, economic participation and agency.

We want to understand not only what an individual becomes qualified to do, but how those capabilities influence their access to work, economic opportunities, professional independence and choices over time.

It is an ambitious development hypothesis, and one we are looking forward to testing through implementation and evidence.

A Timely Connection with BRICS

What makes this particularly encouraging is the convergence with our ongoing engagement in the International Labour Organization's BRICS South-South Knowledge Series.

The second edition, running during November, focuses on skills intelligence, vocational education, industry partnerships and lifelong learning. These themes intersect closely with the questions we have been exploring through our own development work.

There is real value in seeing locally developed approaches connect with international thinking, particularly in a South-South environment where countries are learning from shared challenges and different institutional responses.

For GrowZA, the opportunity to contribute at an ILO-convened level is especially meaningful. It creates space to bring practical South African development experience into discussions about the future of skills systems, while testing and refining our own assumptions through engagement with others.

We are encouraged by the prospect of contributing to conversations around similar frameworks, particularly where skills recognition, professional progression and economic participation intersect.

From Development Thinking to Development Practice

One of the more rewarding aspects of our work is seeing research, investment design and programme experience begin to inform one another.

The model we've developed is not intended to remain a conceptual exercise. It provides a practical basis for directing investment, supporting individual progression, coordinating institutional partnerships and measuring whether increased capability translates into greater economic opportunity.

Its value will ultimately emerge through application, learning and the evidence generated over time.

That is also what makes the international connection exciting.

The opportunity is not simply to participate in a global conversation, but to bring our own thinking and experience into it, learn from comparable approaches and contribute to the continuing development of skills investment practice.

For GrowZA, this is precisely where local practice and international cooperation become mutually reinforcing.

The question is no longer only how we develop skills, but how we invest in their continuing value to people, industries and economies.

This is how we #GrowZA