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4.1.1 Survival enterprises: The demand for training

Written by: International Labour Organization

Article Overview: 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.

Free Download - References: Learning to change: Skills development among the economically vulnerable and socially excluded in developing countries By International Labour Organization
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4.1.1 Survival enterprises: The demand for training

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

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Home > African-Accounts > International Labour Organization > 411 Survival enterprises The demand for training
Article Tags: compulsions, critical mass, daily basis, employment and training, food preparation, incomes, independent services, informal sectors, international labour office, labour force surveys, livelihoods, main objective, numerical terms, paul bennell, poor women, skill activities, skill requirements, street vendors, survival enterprises, transformative approaches

About the Author: International Labour Organization
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As the world's only tripartite multilateral agency, the ILO is dedicated to bringing decent work and livelihoods, job-related security and better living standards to the people of both poor and rich countries. It helps to attain those goals by promoting rights at work, encouraging opportunities for decent employment, enhancing social protection and strengthening dialogue on work-related issues. The ILO is the international meeting place for the world of work. We are the experts on work and employment and particularly on the critical role that these issues play in bringing about economic development and progress. At the heart of our mission is helping countries build the institutions that are the bulwarks of democracy and to help them become accountable to the people. The ILO formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labour rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment and other standards addressing conditions across the entire spectrum of work-related issues.

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