Germany’s KfW Development Bank and South Africa's department of higher education and training have signed an agreement to establish the country's first in-service skills development centre for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) lecturers.

The agreement, part of the bilateral development cooperation between the European country and Africa's most developed nation, provides for a grant to the department worth €8.25-million, the German embassy in Pretoria said in a statement on Tuesday.

The centre at Ekurhuleni East College will train lecturers from TVET colleges across South Africa in the fields of electrical and mechanical engineering, which offer potential for employment and growth in the manufacturing sector.

It aims to improve the quality of teaching and address shortfalls at TVET colleges and will feed into current policy reform processes by the department of higher education and training intended to make lecturers’ qualifications more relevant to the marketplace.

“There couldn’t be a better moment than today. We all strive to kick-start our economies in the middle of the pandemic," German Ambassador Martin Schäfer said, alluding to the Covid-19 global health crisis.

"We need growth, we need employment opportunities and we need bright young people with the right skills. Vocational training is probably the best means to achieve these noble objectives. That’s why we want to strengthen and capacitate South African TVET colleges."

Germany has contributed approximately R35-billion in official development assistance to South Africa since 1993. 

Current cooperation between the two countries focuses on the priority areas of the green economy, technical and vocational education and training/skills development, good governance and public administration, as well as HIV prevention.

The KfW Development Bank has been helping the German federal government achieve its goals in development policy and international development cooperation for more than 50 years.

It finances and supports programmes and projects that mainly involve public sector players in developing countries and emerging economies – from their conception and execution to monitoring their success. The bank's stated overall goal is to help partner countries fight poverty, maintain peace, protect both the environment and the climate and shape globalisation appropriately.