This national assessment of skills needed to drive the transition to a greener economy in South Africa is now available online. The product of a consultative process in South Africa’s sustainability community, it has been commissioned by the Partnership for Action on the Green Economy (PAGE) and supported by UNITAR, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC) at Rhodes University.

PAGE partners include the International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNITAR (United Nations Institute for Training and Research), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and South African government departments including DEA, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the dti (Department of Trade and Industries).

Based on surveys, case studies and stakeholder workshops, the GELA-SA identified technical, relational and transformative competencies evident among green economy ‘champions’. It also produced a database of some of the initiatives that education and training providers are already developing in order to address such learning needs. The report makes several recommendations including the need to appropriately evaluate green economy policy and skills development implementation. Outcomes of the GELA-SA include an online course developed by North West University, and an academic paper (Rosenberg, Lotz-Sisitka and Ramsarup, in press).

A presentation on the Green Economy Learning Assessment can be downloaded here.