Overview
Scaling up of the off-grid clean energy sector is not possible without adequate and competent human resources. Skill development has become a priority on the national stage and it is a priority to this sector as well. Capacity building is required at an intra-organizational level as well as for the sector as a whole. This includes skill development for technical and non-technical field staff and supervisors, middle management, senior management and entrepreneurs.
Challenges
Financing barriers encountered by off-grid enterprises stems from:
- Staffing gap: Critical staffing gaps exist at the level of marketing and business development professionals who can identify and develop markets in new geographies
- Content gap: Good quality local language toolkits and materials for training do not exist
- Training provider gap: There is a dearth of specialized training providers that an entrepreneur can engage
- Rigid career pathways: There are no instruments to allow for easy upward or horizontal mobility within skillsets like recognition of prior learning and frameworks for training levels.
Solutions
- SAFE-Network works with various skill development bodies at the national and local level (National Skill Development Corporation, Industrial Training Institutes etc). to identify gaps in training within the ecosystem and develop broad training guidelines across the sector.
- SAFE-Network undertakes independent capacity building programs for its members as well as other organizations on specific as well as cross-sectoral issues.
- SAFE-Network facilitates development of learning modules over and beyond existing literature for different technologies.