In the fight against the shortage of skilled workers on the German labor market, young people will in future be trained in Berlin’s partner city of Windhoek in Namibia. A new training center is to be built in the Namibian capital under the technical management of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK), as the IHK announced.
First of all, it should be about professions with a high need for skilled workers, such as commercial or industrial professions and the hospitality industry. “We want and we have to take new paths to close the growing skills gap,” said IHK President Sebastian Stietzel to the German Press Agency. In Berlin alone there would be a shortage of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers and workers in the next ten years.
“Our goal is for the “Talent Bridge” to develop into a model for other regions and thus become another instrument for securing skilled workers.” According to the IHK, young people in Namibia should be tested according to German standards and they should learn German before and in parallel with their training. “Lengthy recognition procedures are no longer necessary and the trainees can move from Windhoek to Berlin immediately after passing the exam and be integrated into the local labor market,” it says.
There will definitely not be a “brain drain”, i.e. the multiple exodus of well-trained workers. The need to combat the need for skilled workers in Germany as well as youth unemployment of around 50 percent and the generally low level of education in Namibia should be combated. It is assumed that not all trained young people wanted to come to Berlin immediately.
The relevant authorities in Windhoek supported the project. According to the IHK, the partners include the city of Windhoek, the Namibia Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Berlin Senate. A declaration of intent is to be signed in the Namibian capital this fall so that construction of the training center can begin promptly. Next summer the city partnership between Berlin and Windhoek will celebrate its 25th anniversary.
