The International Labour Organization has called for stronger investment in vocational training and systems that formally recognise skills gained through work, apprenticeships and entrepreneurship. The proposal addresses a persistent barrier facing informal workers and small businesses: valuable expertise often exists, but without recognised credentials it may not translate into better jobs, finance, public contracts or social protection.
Millions of workers across Africa learn their trades outside classrooms. They build expertise through informal apprenticeships, daily work, self-employment and entrepreneurship. However, without a recognised certificate, years of experience may carry little weight when they apply for better jobs, seek finance or attempt to enter the formal economy.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is calling for stronger investment in vocational training and systems that recognise skills acquired outside formal education. Its message, delivered during a high-level forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on July 15–16, 2026, places a neglected barrier at the centre of Africa’s employment debate: the continent does not only face a shortage of skills, but also a failure to recognise the skills workers already possess.
The forum, organized by the Agence Nationale de la Formation Professionnelle, brought together governments, employers, workers’ organizations, training institutions, development partners and private-sector representatives. Their discussions pointed to a wider conclusion: training can improve employability, but it cannot formalise workers and businesses unless labour institutions, enterprise support and regulation move in the same direction.
The invisible qualification locking workers out
Informal work is often treated as evidence of low skills. In practice, many workers build substantial expertise through experience but have no formal document to demonstrate it. The gap between competence and certification can restrict economic mobility. Workers may struggle to qualify for higher-paying positions or continue their education. Entrepreneurs may find it harder to access financial services, compete for public procurement opportunities or obtain the protections associated with formal economic participation.
The problem is especially significant because skills acquired informally are often understood only within local networks. An employer, customer or community may know that a worker is capable, but that reputation may not travel across regions, industries or institutions. Without a recognised qualification, a skilled person can remain professionally invisible outside the environment in which the expertise was acquired.
Adame Traoré, Technical Officer at the ILO Africa Skills Hub, stressed that quality training, recognised qualifications and lifelong learning are essential to improving productivity and helping workers and entrepreneurs expand their businesses.
The argument shifts the policy focus away from training people from scratch. It asks governments and institutions to first identify what workers already know, validate those abilities and provide targeted pathways for further learning. Recognition is not a symbolic gesture; it can influence whether practical experience becomes a foundation for advancement or remains trapped in low-paid and insecure work.
Turning experience into a recognised economic asset
The ILO has highlighted Recognition of Prior Learning as a way to convert informally acquired expertise into an accepted qualification. RPL systems assess a worker’s existing abilities against defined occupational or competency standards. A person who learned through an informal apprenticeship, years of employment or self-employment may therefore be able to demonstrate competence without repeating an entire formal training programme.
This can create a bridge between informal learning and formal opportunity. Workers can use recognition to continue their education, strengthen their employability or pursue careers that require documented qualifications. Employers can gain clearer evidence of what applicants or employees are able to do. Training institutions can focus on genuine skill gaps rather than duplicating knowledge already acquired through work.
The approach could also make vocational education more accessible to adults who cannot leave employment for lengthy classroom programmes. Instead of treating formal education as the only legitimate route to competence, RPL acknowledges that workplaces, workshops and enterprises are also sites of learning.
Its effectiveness, however, will depend on trust. Employers must understand and accept the qualification. Assessment standards must be consistent. Workers must be able to access evaluation centres without prohibitive costs, complex paperwork or literacy requirements that overshadow practical ability. A poorly designed recognition system could create another layer of bureaucracy. Certificates that employers do not value would offer little advantage, while inaccessible assessments could exclude the same workers the system is supposed to support.
Recognition must therefore be tied to credible national qualifications, employer participation and clear pathways into further training or employment. Issuing certificates alone will not improve livelihoods unless labour markets attach real value to them.
Formalisation requires more than a training certificate
The Abidjan discussions also challenged the assumption that vocational training by itself can move workers and enterprises into the formal economy. A worker may become more skilled, but still lack access to formal jobs. An entrepreneur may receive management training, but still confront difficult registration procedures, limited finance or regulations that make formal operation costly. A business may improve productivity without gaining access to new markets or social protection systems. Formalisation is therefore an institutional and economic process, not simply an educational one.
The ILO pointed to competency-based Technical and Vocational Education and Training, stronger apprenticeship systems and support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as important elements of a broader strategy.
Competency-based training evaluates whether a person can perform specific tasks, rather than relying solely on time spent in a classroom. Stronger apprenticeship systems can combine practical learning with clearer standards, recognised qualifications and better protections. Enterprise support can help smaller businesses strengthen management practices and become productive enough to sustain the costs and responsibilities of formal operation.
However, governments must also ensure that entering the formal economy offers meaningful benefits. Businesses are less likely to formalise if registration only introduces new costs and obligations without improving access to credit, markets, public contracts or business services. Workers, meanwhile, need formalisation to deliver more than a change in legal status. It should strengthen access to rights, social protection and safer employment rather than simply increasing compliance demands.
The ILO’s Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), reflects this integrated approach. It links formalisation with decent work, worker protection and sustainable enterprise development rather than treating it as an administrative exercise.
Africa’s training systems must start following the jobs
A persistent weakness in vocational policy is the disconnect between what training institutions teach and what industries need. The Abidjan forum emphasized sector-based partnerships bringing together governments, employers, workers and training providers. Such partnerships can help identify existing shortages, anticipate future skill requirements and update programmes before qualifications become detached from the labour market.
Employers can explain which technical abilities are in demand. Workers’ organizations can ensure that training strategies address job quality and rights. Governments can coordinate standards and funding, while training providers can redesign curricula and assessments around real workplace requirements.
This coordination is essential because simply increasing training enrolment does not guarantee employment. A programme can produce large numbers of graduates while businesses continue to report shortages in different occupations. Success should therefore be measured by what happens after training: whether workers gain better jobs, whether employers recognise their qualifications and whether businesses become more productive.
The next phase of Africa’s skills agenda will depend on whether the commitments made in Abidjan translate into national policies, accessible recognition systems and stronger links between training and enterprise development.
Governments will need to decide which occupations to prioritize, how assessments will be financed and how qualifications will be aligned with labour-market needs. Employers will need to participate in developing and accepting competency standards. Training institutions will have to become more flexible in recognising learning that occurs outside their classrooms.
Informal workers should not be viewed only as people waiting to be trained. Many are already skilled producers, service providers and entrepreneurs. Their disadvantage lies partly in the absence of institutions capable of identifying, validating and rewarding what they know.
