It is widely argued that training systems in developing countries should meet the training needs of the poor in an effective and equitable manner. "The bulk of new jobs are being created in micro and small enterprises. Consequently, the training system should prepare people to be productively employed in these sectors" (ILO, 1998:57). The continuing lack of training opportunities for the poor and disadvantaged is, therefore, a constant refrain in the VET literature.
Public training institutions, in particular, are criticised for being both elitist and ineffectual. The principal beneficiaries are urban males from relatively well off background who attend training institutions in order to acquire qualifications that give them access to high paying professional and technical jobs in the formal sector. These institutions, it is argued, have neither the capacity nor the incentives to re-orient their training services to support the poor. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are 'closer to the people' and are generally better able to support the training needs of the poor. However, they remain at the margins of the training system and lack the resources to make a large-scale, sustained contribution.
Inadequate institutional adjustment is seen as a universal problem. Even in Latin America which, as a region, has probably the best record for providing training to the poor, there have been "long delays by government in formulating strategies for the informal sector" (CINTERFOR, 1998). Claudio de Moura Castro is even less sanguine: "Solid training institutions failed to adjust and the misfit between supply and demand became endemic" (Castro, 1996: 2).
Given the level of concern about the limited reorientation of VET systems, it is surprising that so little attention has been devoted to analysing the various constraints that have prevented any such reorientation occurring. Even more serious, few, if any, commentators are prepared to say just exactly what this reorientation should entail. The result has been a vague and, at times, rather sterile debate which has lost any real sense of purpose and direction since it was first initiated over a decade ago.
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PAPERS 43 Learning to change: Skills development among the economically vulnerable and socially excluded in developing countries Paul Bennell Employment and Training Department International Labour Office Geneva First published 1999
To learn more about this author, visit International Labour Organization's Website.
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