Applying a multi-stakeholder process to develop a vocational education and training strategy for the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors in South Africa

Abstract

Multi-stakeholder participation is essential to address complex challenges and opportunities requiring multi-disciplinary inputs and ownership by all concerned. Multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) can be used at various stages in policy processes - from planning, design and governance of a system, decision-making and implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation. This Occasional Paper presents a multi-stakeholder process conceptualized and implemented for developing a national vocational education and training (VET) strategy for agriculture, forestry and fisheries in South Africa. The MSP was spearheaded by a team from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The MSP involved public and private stakeholders through nine provincial and two national workshops in order to capture the diversity of voices, their challenges and experiences as well as their vision of good practice. National stakeholders further shaped and reoriented the VET Strategy. The publication outlines the MSP, the role of the different stakeholders, the results of the MSP and assesses the MSP to draw conclusions for the implementation of the VET strategy and to provide general recommendations for conducting MSPs for policy development.