In simple numerical terms, 'survival' enterprises predominate in most informal sectors. The general view is that the skill requirements for most tasks undertaken in this type of enterprise are minimal and/or are relatively easily acquired on the job. Women are particularly heavily concentrated in very low skill activities (most notably street vendors and food preparation). It is difficult, therefore, to see how conventional training services could significantly increase productivity and/or incomes in these kinds of occupations. "Within the household subsector and independent services subsector, training, in itself, has little impact in breaking the low income trap" (ILO, 1998: 103). In addition, "economic compulsions" and "acute vulnerability on a daily basis" keep the poor (and poor women, in particular) out of conventional training. Although most labour force surveys show high levels of "under-employment", most poor people are, in fact, too busy working to have time to enrol on training courses of any kind.
Faced with so little scope for improvement among existing activities, more 'transformative' approaches have often been tried by both governments and NGOs. The main objective here is to provide a critical mass of skills and resources to targeted individuals and groups that will enable them to transform their livelihoods. Again, however, most interventions of this kind have not been successful mainly because the resources and time needed to start new enterprises are well beyond the means of the poorest and, more generally, they have failed to address adequately the complex array of constraints that keep the poor in poverty.
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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