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AfricaRecruit HR Newsletter
Editorial
We would like to welcome you to the second edition
AfricaRecruit HR Newsletter, which is wholly devoted to the recent
“Human Resources Exchange Seminar” held in March in London, United
Kingdom. The
main objectives of the seminar was to provide policy makers,
employers, recruitment consultants, candidates and all stakeholders
in human capacity building in Africa with an environment where it
“easy to talk and be listened to”.
In this edition, we have attempted to give you a brief
overview of the issues; challenges and resolution discussed which
could be adapted at implementation levels in your various HR
departments. Whilst the emphasis was on human resources professionals
and highly qualified candidates in the Diaspora, there was another
dimension to the seminar which was the synergy between skills and
the development of the continent of Africa, hence the keynote
presentations from such global leaders as Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu,
current chairman of the New Partnership for African's Development
(NEPAD), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur of African Business Roundtable (ABR)
and Rev Jesse Jackson, the renown civil rights leader and founder of
the PUSH Rainbow coalition, to name but a
few. AfricaRecruit was invited to give a
presentation at the 3rd Ordinary session of the Labour
and Social Affairs Commission of the African Union
18-23rd April 2005 South Africa a brief feedback on this
as well as AfricaRecruit presentation/submission to Africa All
Parliamentary Group will be provided in this article linking Human
Resources to Policy and Africa’s
development. Enjoy the rest of the
article and in the usual AfricaRecruit culture of engagement we
welcome your feedback on any of the issues raised in this article
that can be sent to us at info@africarecruit.com
Modupe
Akidele-AfricaRecruit
Team
sponsored by
  
Rev Jesse
Jackson
Professor Wiseman
Nkuhlu Alhaji Bamanga
Tukur
Human
Resources Professionals -key role in capacity building in
Africa.
"The
key message is that the shortages of skills is the greatest threat
to Africa’s renewal. Africa will not achieve the MDGs and
sustainable development unless the skills shortage is addressed, the
brain drain reversed and Africa’s ability to retain skilled
personnel improved” Keynote address by Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, Chairman,
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Steering
Committee Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the current chair of the African Business Roundtable in his speech at the House of Commons, has suggested that African countries need to develop concrete strategies in order to "enhance the synergy between skills and economic policy, link skills strategy with trade and industry and provide opportunities for innovation". It is therefore imperative that policy makers put in place strategies that promote long-term skills development programmes as well as build solid economic reform plans to attract and retain not only foreign investment but its citizens across the world and those at home. Special attention should be given to investing in human resources, in developing them and efficiently using them as a basis for the consolidation of empowerment and accountability for the achievement of social progress and democracy. Time and time
again the message from African leaders is loud and strong and it's
simple: we need skilled people to take our continents forward. This was the main theme of
the seminar held for a strategic and high level networking session
with a highly qualified and experienced pool of the Diaspora. This call for skilled
members of the Diaspora to return to the continent can not be done
in isolation but requires a strong collaboration with human
resources professionals. In other words without human resources
intervention there would be no skilled work force in Africa.
This theory is
expounded deeper by this simple analogy, i.e all recruitment process
starts with the identification of skills shortages at a micro -
level, after which an awareness campaign must be embarked upon,
informing a wider audience that that need presently exists in the
organisation. The person responsible for identifying skills gap is
usually the best person to assess the type of skill needed to fill
that gap. The role of
human resources professional in highlighting this need cannot
therefore be overemphasised and they need to be recognised as being
at the fore- front of the war against the loss and lack of skills in
Africa today. However their job does not end there, in any
organisation, human resources plays a pivotal role in translating
the objectives of the organisation into reality through a careful
process of selecting the right people who can deliver on those
objectives. Consequently,
human resources professionals especially those in Africa have a
daunting task ahead of them, but all is not lost as their concerns
about lack of skills is being heralded on a much larger platform by
policy makers who are able to positively influence this negative
trend. The implication is simple employing the right or wrong person
is the responsibility for human resources professionals for which
there are serious implications either for good or
bad. What role can
Human resources play in order to partner with the policy makers in
attracting these skills from the Diaspora?
q
Define job
specification and person specification, to identify training needs
so that area of greatest needs is adequately addressed.
q
Human
resource professionals need to form alliances amongst themselves and
also work closely with Universities in other to ensure that training
and curriculum being taught is relevant to those
needs. q
Create an
awareness that there is a skills gap through advertisements which
has the ability to attract the right candidate for the job,
especially in the Diaspora.
It is crucial that the platform with the greatest access to
Diaspora skills be identified as the tool of implementing this
objective. q
Human
resources policies would need to radical in dealing with these
skills shortages in the development of Africa, recruitment drive
should be adequately pursued amongst the Diaspora and retention and
integration strategy of these skills should be developed and
implemented. q
Attractive
remuneration packages must be balanced against the need for the
skill in the organisation and should not addressed in isolation.
Other benefits may be highlighted instead of monetary
rewards. Ultimately to
summarise the speech of Professor Wiseman Nkulu of the NEPAD, the
successful implementation of the policies mapped out in the
Commission for Africa report is dependent on the availability of
skills. The ball is now
in your court…………. We at
AfricaRecruit would like to encourage a strong participation from HR
professionals on successful and failed strategy of recruitment drive
to engage the Diaspora including lessons learnt. We aim to keep this
debate going for a while and this would feature as a case study
scenario in future publications. We would endeavour to publish these
articles as long as you keep them coming. Please send the completed
article to info@africarecruit.com
sponsored by 
Why Human Resources matter in Africa today and the role of the African Diaspora “The success of the African renaissance in repositioning our part of the world depends upon economic patriotism.” Tokyo Sexwale, Chairman, Mvelaphanda Holdings Ltd. South Africa’s Black Businessman of the Year 2004 award winner February 2005. Case studies
from organisations who have adopted a recruitment policy in
attracting skills in the Diaspora: A) Private Sector
perspective - A
multinational operational in over 15 countries in Africa shared
their experience at the conference of engaging with the
Diaspora. Major
challenges:
q
Perceived
risk involved in moving back to
Africa q
Limitations
in term of regulations prohibiting free movement of labour within
Africa with the exception of ECOWAS
nationals. q
Difficult
to compete with competitive global offers
q
Are
companies focusing on closing the short term skills gap as opposed
to providing long term career commitments? What perception is being
created for the Diaspora? q
Language
barriers within the region creates a problem for the employers in
terms of placements of candidates Successful
recruitment of the Diaspora was based on the 4 S's
agenda q
Strategy -
Organisational policy in place to increase the work force to reflect
the African content and a long term strategy on the integration of
members of the Diaspora to fill skills gap within the
region. q
System - A
system was put in place within the organisation with a strong target
and key deliverables
set with dates by which it was to be achieved communicated to all
players within the organisation q
Sell - Once
all the implementation team had been briefed on strategy and the
systems and targets were understood, the team carried the message to
the Diaspora and sold the theme to them by highlighting some of the
benefits of their returning home to Africa. Some of the practical
steps taken to attract Diaspora skills are listed below:
1.
A
transparent, fair and speedy recruitment process
2. Social implications of returning home to
rebuild their continent through the use of their expertise brings
satisfactions which can not be quantified by financial rewards was
strongly highlighted 3. Successful recruits were evangelists for
the new converts in the Diaspora through the process of story
telling "been there…worn the
t-shit" 4. Market research was conducted and long
and short-term recruitment strategy was built on the back of this.
q
Support - A
system of after care service has also been put in place to offer
support where possible to members of the Diaspora who have been
integrated into the organisation. Some of the support provided are
highlighted below: 1. Human Resources personnel were
given adequate training to deal with specific Diaspora
needs. 2. Flexibility of
location 3. Offering support through
building network within the organisation with other members of the
Diaspora 4. Attractive training packages and
availability of secondment postings are available so that they do
not feel that they are missing out on a global career opportunity by
working in Africa. B) Public
Sector Perspective - A multilateral agency based in
Africa Major
challenges of recruiting from the
Diaspora q
Low
response rate by the Diaspora to
advertisements q
Disparity
of Diaspora groups thereby resulting in fragmented
views q
Regulatory
policies relating to movement of labour is a
constrain q
Lack
of knowledge on how to gain access to the skills in the
Diaspora Solutions:
q
Long
and short term strategy on recruiting from the
Diaspora q
Working
in partnership with NEPAD through adaptation of her policies to
mirror a united stance on
strategy q
Building
strategic alliances with the western donors in other to complement
their efforts q
Research
and Development efforts through think tanks
agencies
Outcomes from the Human Resources sharing/Exchange seminar - March 2005Key
Recommendations q Skills development q Encouragement of new graduates in the Diaspora through creation of internship opportunities q Lobbying to challenge laws so that social and work related benefits are protected even if an individual takes time out to volunteer abroad q Encourage organisations to invest in graduate training programs that lead to managerial/senior roles in organisations in order to retain talent. q NEPAD initiative to be owned more by Africans q Long-term solutions to engaging with the Diaspora should be pursued instead of short-term ones. Full and detailed report would be available online at: www.africarecruit.com Report pages from the 31st July 2005. AfricaRecruit at African Union and UK ParliamentThe increasing
role of Human Resource development in the overall and sustainable
development of Africa has ensured that human resources has moved up
the agenda of political leaders inside and outside Africa. It is
against this background that AfricaRecruit held the opening ceremony
of its March event “Human
Resource Sharing/Exchange Seminar- Engaging with the African
Diaspora” was held in the House of Commons United Kingdom and was
opened by Baroness Lynda Chalker with attendance from members of
parliament and House of Lords and a brief speech from Richard Dowden
the Director of the Royal African Society who all emphasized the
importance of AfricaRecruit. AfricaRecruit was
invited to present
at the 3rd Ordinary session of the Labour and Social
Affairs Commission of the African Union 18-23rd April
2005 South Africa. In ensuing discussions, delegates stressed the
importance of AfricaRecruit participating in the African Union
process as well as formal endorsement of the initiative by policy
organs of the African Union. The experts meeting recommended
AfricaRecruit to extend its activities to all regions of the
continent. AfricaRecruit was invited to give a submission to Africa
All Parliamentary Group as part of its input into the Commission for
Africa as well as its report “The UK Government and Africa in 2005:
How joined up is Whitehall?” March 2005. The report highlighted the
importance of human resources being key to Africa’s
development.
The Commission for Africa recommends that the international community invest $500 million a year in revitalizing higher education in Africa over 10 years. The Africa All Parliamentary Group also recommended
that:
sponsored by
Courses and Training
Details
of the courses below can be viewed at IQPC website http://www.iqpc.com
Botswana
Namibia
Updates:This is a gentle reminder to all those who have not completed the Salary Survey to kindly do so as the feedback will be of value to all Human Resources in benchmarking their organisations salary structure and gain valuable insight to their positioning against other organisations.
Upcoming Events and Seminars … Sierra
Leone Diaspora Consultative and Investment Forum,
London, UK 4th June
2005
Africa Diaspora
Investment Week London United Kingdom 12-17th September
2005
London United Kingdom March 2005 Further details info@africadiaspora.com or info@africadiaspora.com Cameroon Career
Day 2005- - Recruitment and Career Forum
Yaounde Cameroon December 2005
(tbc)
Nigeria Career
Day 2005- - Recruitment and Career Forum
Lagos Nigeria
December 2005 (tbc)
sponsored by
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