The outburst of COVID-19 adds to the socio-economic burden on women around the globe. Thus, South Africa's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievements paint a bleak picture of its realization. Work skills to empower women can help them succeed despite the odds. However, most parents in the colonial era failed to educate girls, in addition to foreign oppression. Adult community colleges (ACET) are institutionalized with mandated programs to empower women. This chapter, therefore, aims to investigate ACET in addressing work skills deficiency. The researcher conducted interviews and focus group discussions with female learners (n=35) from four ACET centers. The study revealed women's dissatisfaction with the programs of ACET, and further, the institution does not teach practical life skills. The study's findings have lessons and implications for higher education programs such as ACET as an instrument for empowerment leading to sustainable socio-economic advancement, particularly in developing countries where relevant skills are needed to meet labor market demands.
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The world has become a socio-economic global village where only skilled workforces can improve the quality of life. The recent outbreak of covid-19 has added to the burden of society, especially on women. In South Africa, rural women are disadvantaged due to scarce work skills. Higher education programs mandated by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) aimed to fix the skills gap. A preposition for emancipating women is work skills such as construction, manufacturing, leatherwork, beadwork, carpentry, basketry, and sewing (DHET 2017). These skills elements are trump cards to the developmental agenda. However, Johnson (2015) affirms that many black South African women do not engage in meaningful work activities and live in poverty because of inadequate training. Without adequate training, women cannot participate in the labor market. Therefore, the mandate of ACET must epitomize the general outlook of women's training as an enabling tool for achieving sustainable development goals.
Indeed, women face a severe lack of work-related skills and hostile socio-economic situations coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has marred South Africa's sustainable development goals (Odey et al., 2021). For South Africa to achieve its development goals, ACET, among others, must ensure that its students are skilled with productive skills. ACET is in practice, yet, the problem of a lack of skills persists. Therefore, the study sought to investigate whether or not it provides appropriate skills training programs for women. In addition, are the women satisfied with the programs of ACET? Likewise, are educators qualified to teach work skills? And lastly, what challenges prevent the women from being trained in practical livelihood skills? This investigation is necessary because effective skills training help individuals solve problems now and into the future. It is indispensable if women are economically active to improve their well-being and help South Africa achieve its goals nationally.
After two decades since South Africa emerged from apartheid and colonial rule, much has been done to improve the quality of life of poor black citizens. Great expansion work has been done to reduce extreme poverty, expand access to schooling, and address gender discrimination. Indeed, the country seems to be on track in achieving its SGDs goals. However, with the unexpected explosion of covid-19, South Africa has seen economic digression instead of progression (Ekwebelem et al., 2021). And with the chronic lack of work skills, it is doubtful that the country can achieve its goals in totality and empower women, particularly rural dwellers, to be economically active citizens.