Zim ready to host 3,000 delegates for Africa Skills Week

HARARE - Zimbabwe has declared its readiness to host the 3rd Africa Skills Week, a continental skills development summit expected to attract nearly 1,000 foreign delegates and more than 13 African ministers to Harare from 12 to 16 October 2026.

The week-long event will be held under the theme, "Skills for Resilient and Competitive African Industries: From Training to Value Creation."

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development, Dr Rudo Chitiga, said the country was on course to successfully host the event, with delegate confirmations already exceeding initial expectations.

"All African countries have been invited. I hear there are about 900 foreign delegates coming and more are confirming. Over 13 Ministers from across Africa have confirmed their physical attendance, and overall we are projecting over 3,000 delegates, both local and foreign," said Chitiga during a media sensitisation workshop in Harare on Friday.

Africa Skills Week 2026, convened by the African Union Commission, serves as the continent's premier platform for policy dialogue, skills ecosystem mapping and strengthening industrial linkages.

Chitiga said Zimbabwe's selection to host the event reflects growing recognition of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's Education 5.0 and heritage-based education philosophy, which has transformed the country's education system from a largely knowledge-based model to one centred on skills development, innovation and industrialisation.

"The countries are all battling the issues of technology, the issues of industrialisation and moving education from the education of the past which is knowledge education to include, as we say in 5.0, the skills part of the education which we are now embracing as a country," she said.

"This is the skills-based revolution that Africa needs to undertake. To begin to build the skills so that we are able to produce our own goods and services and achieve Vision 2030 as espoused by His Excellency President Mnangagwa."

She said the sensitisation programme was designed to align the media and key stakeholders on the objectives of the event and the need to shift attitudes from job-seeking towards job creation through technical and vocational skills development.

"How do we begin to encourage technical and vocational skills development which leads to self-employment, which leads to industrialisation?" she said.

Chitiga added that the event will place particular emphasis on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), digital skills, artificial intelligence, green skills and entrepreneurship.

Zimbabwe will host the gathering following the completion of its National Skills Audit Report and the launch of the National Skills Development Plan, both aimed at addressing critical skills gaps and supporting the country's drive towards upper-middle-income status under the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).

The African Union Commissioner for Education has previously commended Zimbabwe's Education 5.0 model as a best practice capable of being replicated across the continent because of its strong links between educational institutions, industry and innovation hubs.

Chitiga said the event will also provide a platform for Zimbabwean universities, polytechnics, industrial training colleges and private sector players to showcase innovations and establish partnerships with counterparts from across Africa.

The programme is expected to feature ministerial roundtable discussions, skills exhibitions, youth innovation boot camps and the launch of the Continental TVET Strategy 2025-2034 Implementation Framework.