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22 February 2006

A call for women professionals and experienced women to participate in a placement and exchange programme between South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is currently being made through advertisements in print and broadcast media.

The programme, focused specifically at women, is part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgisa), which is co-ordinated by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. It is aimed at helping to meet South Africa’s urgent need for scarce skills that have a high priority in the achievement of Asgisa goals, in particular in infrastructure development and tourism. The programme is modelled on the South African Advanced Education Programme (SAEP), which successfully trained and mentored South Africans, in various disciplines, by placing them in top companies internationally in 1994.

The United Arab Emirates has great strength in these areas and through this programme it will help in transferring skills in such areas as project management and project finance that South Africa needs to speed up growth and development. The South African government deeply appreciates this substantial and practical contribution to South Africa’s development.

Participating institutions and companies include the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the IDT, Women in Construction, SA Women in Dialogue (SAWID), Eskom, PetroSA and Johannesburg Metro. Government departments involved include Environment Affairs & Tourism, Trade & Industry, Public Works and Foreign Affairs, as well as The Presidency.

The programme identifies previously disadvantaged women who are registered built environment professionals and professionals in project financing and property development, and also in tourism. The focus is on both established and recently graduated unemployed professionals, as well as experienced women contractors and business owners in the identified sectors. They will participate for a period of 6 months to one year in the programme, depending on experience and field.

The UAE Programme is informed by a framework developed by the Deputy President assisted by the South African Ambassador to the UAE and South African women in the professions. It also forms part of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA), which is aimed at creating skills in priority economic sectors as identified by Asgisa. Women and youth will also be placed within South African companies for experience and fast tracking. The Construction Charter identified a huge gap in the certain priority skills among women and youth. In fact, most of the skills in the industry reside with males over 50 years of age. It is therefore critical that skills acquisition should be fast tracked, and that mentoring relationships between the older professionals and the young entrants should be cemented. A South African Company, Bombela, has already committed to placing 120 women.

These initiatives will ensure that there is a critical mass of women to participate in the rollout of the R350 billion spend.

A South African technical fact finding mission went to the UAE in February to meet UAE companies, which would participate in the programme.

The mission was made up of 11 women executives from women organisations, women contractors, the Departments of Public Works and Trade and Industry, as well as state owned enterprises involved in the construction industry, finance industry and public sector. Johannesburg Metro was also involved.

The initial UAE company participating is South Africa House. South Africa House, which is under the Patronage and Chairmanship of HH Sheikh Juma Al Maktoum, is a unique venture that specifically caters to South African companies and provides them with a business set-up platform to gain direct access into the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) market. It is a member company of Al Tuwaijri Group, a Saudi Arabian Financial conglomerate with assets of over US$1 billion, active internationally in various sectors, such as Financial Services, Contracting, Agriculture, Tourism and Aviation.

The City of Abu Dhabi is assisting with training related to local government. The Municipality of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have also pledged to take women and youth, however the details are still being finalized. Several other companies in Dubai and Abu Dabhi have expressed interest in this venture, and are working on concrete offers through the SA Embassy in Abu Dhabi

The deadline for applications for the first phase – which will involve 100 women in Infrastructure, Finance and Tourism - is Friday, 24 February. The successful applicants will know by early March and will leave for the UAE at the end of March to start work on 1 April.

A second phase of the programme will start later in the year.

Information about the required qualifications and conditions can be obtained from Lydia Bici, Deputy Director General: National Public Works Programme and Policy; Department of Public Works.

Enquiries: Lydia Bici
Tel: (012) 337 2400

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
22 February 2006