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3.1 Skills development for sustainable livelihoods: Working Out of Poverty

Written by: International Labour Organization

Article Overview: It is a commonplace in debates about how to reduce poverty to assert that poor people’s main or only asset is their labour. It seems obvious that training has a critical role to play in improving productivity, incomes and equitable access to employment opportunities. Yet a striking feature of most poverty reduction strategies in developing countries is that the vocational education and training component is largely absent.

3.1 Skills development for sustainable livelihoods: Working Out of Poverty

It is a commonplace in debates about how to reduce poverty to assert
that poor people’s main or only asset is their labour. It seems obvious that
training has a critical role to play in improving productivity, incomes and
equitable access to employment opportunities. Yet a striking feature of most
poverty reduction strategies in developing countries is that the vocational
education and training component is largely absent.

Training is in crisis nearly everywhere in the developing world.
Existing systems are underfunded and widely criticized for catering mainly to the
needs of formal sector enterprises, with programmes for traditional trades
mainly taken up by those able to afford the investment of time and forgone
earnings in lengthy courses in mainly urban training centres. At the same
time, governments are gradually coming to realize the need for substantial
reforms. Training is no longer a once-and-for-all investment at the beginning
of working life, but is a process of lifelong learning in which skills are constantly
renewed and adapted.

The distinction between “education” at school or in colleges and universities
and “training” at work or through separate skill formation institutions
is becoming blurred. Ensuring that young women and men learn core
work skills that equip them for a wide variety of potential jobs is particularly
vital to the economically vulnerable and socially excluded. The foundation
of a lifelong learning approach to training is learning how to learn. It is easier
said than done, however. Governmental responsibilities for education and
training are often spread over several ministries. Employers or private and public agencies have a direct role in providing training, and in many countries
voluntary bodies such as unions, charities and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) are also active. Rationalizing these dispersed institutions
into a coherent system that is focused on the needs of working people, especially
the poor, while acknowledging the institutional interests of education
and training providers, is a major policy challenge.

The ILO is tackling these issues from two directions. First, it has
launched a major drive to help its constituents rethink human resource development
policies. In partnership with the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the ILO is seeking ways to
ensure that expansion and reform of school systems are linked to a strategy
for improving the skills needed for a productive working life. Second, it is
working on the ground in a number of countries to develop new delivery
techniques focused on the needs of the working poor.

The first step in reorienting policies for education and training was a
general discussion at the International Labour Conference in 2000 on human
resources training and development.Amongst other things, the Conference
called for a review of the Human Resources Development Recommendation,
1975 (No. 150). A first discussion on this subject will take place at the
current session of the Conference, followed by a second discussion in 2004,
with a view to the adoption of a new instrument.As part of this process, the
ILO has compiled a database on national policies on vocational education
and training providing information on different approaches to reform
worldwide. The ILO has also collaborated closely with UNESCO on the
preparation of a new Revised Recommendation concerning Technical
and Vocational Education, adopted in 2001 by the UNESCO General
Conference.

It is now widely recognized that education and training systems must
make it easier for working people, especially the economically vulnerable
and socially excluded, to take up decent work opportunities and refresh their
skills throughout their working life. The ILO has highlighted the following
key issues:
●
Recognition that the primary responsibility for investment in training
rests with governments but has to be shared with enterprises, the
social partners, and individuals so that education and training are
closely linked to economic and employment growth strategies and
programmes.
●
Urgent reforms are needed to improve basic education and literacy of
women and men in the poorest countries. The development of core
work skills (such as communication and problem solving) is an important
part of a reform package to prepare individuals for the knowledgeand
skills-based society.
●
Training systems need to become more flexible and responsive to rapidly
changing skill requirements. Reforms should focus on how learning can be facilitated, not just on training for specific occupational categories.
School-to-work schemes for young people should integrate
education with workplace learning.
●
The social partners must be more closely involved in discussions on
training policy and skills development, if the desired reforms and increased
investment are to become a reality. Experience demonstrates
that a strong social dialogue process generating a powerful political
constituency for training underpins the more successful systems.
●
People should have their skills recognized, however they were acquired,
as part of a national qualifications framework. This is particularly
important in developing countries, where many of the “unskilled”
have in fact learnt skills but do not have the certificates that many employers
require.

The foundation of the ILO’s work on skills formation for employment
and income generation for working women and men living in poverty is its
community-based training (CBT) methodology. It consists of a set of procedures
for systematically identifying employment- and income-generating
opportunities at the local level, designing and delivering appropriate training
programmes, and providing necessary post-training support services, including
credit, technical assistance and market information.

An integrated programme at community level generally requires the
support of several agencies, and vital components include an interministerial
committee and consultations with the social partners. By taking responsibility
for training of local programme staff, such bodies help to ensure that the
methodology is transferred into the national training policies. Similarly,
local training committees in the selected areas are key to identifying opportunities
and needs, and provide the best means of organizing delivery. In the implementation phase, flexibility is essential. Training should be delivered
as close to the clients as possible, with particular attention to ensuring that
women benefit fully from programmes. Important aspects in this respect are
training of trainers, selection of trainees and finding sources of credit to
make up lost income during training and help start up small businesses based
on the new skills.

Good organization, rather than large amounts of money, is needed to
apply the ILO methodology. Experience in more than 20 countries over the
last ten years shows that the rewards are considerable, with a very high percentage
of trainees using their skills to earn a better income. In addition, a number of countries, including Cambodia, Jamaica, Nepal, and the Philippines,
have integrated the CBT methodology into their national training
policies.

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Article Tags: coherent system, colleges and universities, core work, critical role, education at school, existing systems, forgone earnings, formal sector, governmental responsibilities, improving productivity, lengthy courses, lifelong learning, poverty reduction strategies, skill formation, striking feature, substantial reforms, time governments, traditional trades, vocational education and training, voluntary bodies



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