BUSINESS BREAKFAST SEMINAR AND OPEN DAY HELD IN LOBATSE

Successful relationships with stakeholders are essential to any organisation’s success and that relation is built on working together towards a common goal. However, it takes hard work and vision to build these strong liaisons. Consequently, the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) decided to embark on a robust journey to engage its diverse stakeholders across the country.

HRDC held a Breakfast Seminar and an Open Day in Lobatse on the 9^th and 10^th August 2019 respectively. The main objectives of the two events were to create awareness and educate stakeholders about the mandate, functions and strategic initiatives undertaken by HRDC as well as to seek buy-in from Lobatse stakeholders towards driving the implementation of the National Human Resource Development Strategy (NHRDS).

When giving the overview of HRDC during the Breakfast Seminar, Dr Raphael Dingalo, the Chief Executive Officer - HRDC stated that HRDC acts as Government’s advisor in relation to human resource development matters therefore provides a platform for all sectors of the economy to work coherently in driving the National Human Resource Development Strategy (NHRDS). ‘‘As we implement the NHRDS, it is critical to underpin the national priorities as espoused in the Vision 2036 especially the objective to diversify our economy from a resource to a knowledge-based economy as well as moving from a middle-income to a high income status country’’, highlighted Dr Dingalo. He further advised the attendees on the inevitable impact of the Fourth (4th) Industrial Revolution on the new skills requirements of doing business especially that the 4IR is mostly based on Information Communication and Technology (ICT). As a result, it requires skills development and training which is more inclined to ICT.

Speaking during the Breakfast Seminar regarding the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF), Ms Kebabonye Molosiwa, Manager, Claims Assessor, emphasised that the HRDF is a training fund that has been established for skills development in the country. ‘‘The HRD fund is a levy grant system where companies pay a levy into the HRD fund and are reimbursed costs that they have incurred in training their employees,’’ said Ms Molosiwa. Nevertheless, she decried the low uptake of the HRD fund by some levy payers. As a way of motivating levy payers to utilise the HRD fund, HRDC has established a Contact Centre that is solely dedicated to receiving and processing claims and this initiative has yielded some positive results as turnaround time for processing claims has reduced drastically from six months to two to four (2-4) weeks.

Ms Doreen Kokorwe, the Manager, Workplace Learning at HRDC advised that one of the key requirements for a company to claim from the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) is to develop training plans and submit them to HRDC at the end of March every year. ‘‘Our biggest discomfort in that regard, is that the submission rate is low, therefore we encourage companies to submit their training plans so that they can be assisted accordingly and ultimately claim from the HRD Fund,’’ said Ms Kokorwe during the Business Breakfast seminar. Skills training has become an important factor of production as it enhances employees’ competencies in performing their responsibilities, hence improving productivity in the workplace. Ms Kokorwe highlighted that HRDC supports workplaces in developing their training plans by conducting workshops and support visits around the country.