5.2.1 Training outputs: Public sector training
5.2.1 Training outputs: Public sector training
Training projects and programmes for the poor have generally replicated the policies and practices of supply-driven training for the formal sector. As a consequence, they have had the following characteristics:
· A largely 'top-down' process of skills transfer with little or no involvement of trainees in the identification of training needs and the design of training programmes. As passive recipients, there has been little sense of ownership and, by failing to recognise the knowledge and skills of the poor, training has been a disempowering, even "infantilizing" process.
· Attempts to forge training partnerships with other organisations and groups have been rare. There have only been limited attempts to provide training as part of an integrated package of services. Poor communication and frequent "turf wars" among government ministries responsible for these services are endemic in many countries.
· Most training has been delivered at training institutions. In common with the mainstream programmes of these institutions, there has been a heavy emphasis on longer duration pre-employment courses for unemployed youth and other disadvantaged groups, especially the disabled. In many countries (particularly in SSA), governments have preferred to establish a parallel network of mainly rural based training institutions specifically intended for training for self-employment (e.g. Youth Polytechnics in Kenya, Youth Training Centres in Zimbabwe, Brigades in Botswana).
· Traditionally male-dominated artisan training courses (plumbing, metalwork, carpentry etc.) have predominated in most countries. Training in social and business skills has been fairly limited. In her review of programmes of assistance for women entrepreneurs in Africa in the early 1990s, Kuiper concluded that the acquisition of business skills was a "seriously neglected area... the skills taught remain limited to vocational skills and, in the case of women's groups, organisational skills" (Kuiper, 1991:61). Lack of business training has had serious consequences for income generating projects. Other authors have come to similar conclusions (see Bakke-Seeck, 1996; Burckhardt, 1996).
· Fees drive away the poorest. In Ghana, for example, even at government-funded vocational training centres in remote rural locations, the majority of students come from relatively well off urban backgrounds (see Bennell, 1998). Given the massive excess demand that exists in most countries for post-school education and training, training intended for the poor and other disadvantaged groups is invariably 'captured' by better qualified school leavers.
· The provision of short courses for MSE operators and workers remains very limited. Instructors usually have little or no understanding of the problems of doing business in the informal sector. Governments have often created parallel organisations for the development of MSEs (especially Enterprise Development Institutes), but these tend to cater for non-poor clienteles. Training targeted at individuals, (especially women in survival enterprises), has been the exception rather than the norm.
· The design of training projects, especially in post-conflict situations, has tended to be too rushed so that planning ends up being carried out simultaneously with implementation. The ILO-supported 'Start Your Own Business ' Programme in Mozambique is a good example. Training objectives were seriously underfunded and insufficient information was collected in order to able to identify properly training needs in local labour markets. Serious shortages of trainers in rural areas meant that training was generally of poor quality and the skills acquired could not be effectively utilised mainly due to lack of credit and market opportunities (see Bryant, 1997).
· In SSA, training programmes for the poor have often been the result of donor initiatives. As separate projects and programmes with their own funding and management structures, they have rarely been effectively institutionalised on a sustainable basis.
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
521 Training outputs Public sector training - To learn more about this author, visit International Labour Organization's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Free Download - 5.1 Employment, productivity and social dialogue: Working Out of Poverty |
Despite a chronic lack of supporting evidence, most training for the poor provided by public sector training institutions has been widely criticised for being inaccessible, irrelevant and of poor quality. These limited training efforts, it is argued, have been based on a simplistic modernisation paradigm which, drawing heavily on human capital theories, identifies the skill deficiencies of individuals who are poor and disadvantaged as the key constraint which, once addressed, will result in major increases in productivity and incomes. Thus, the belief in individual agency - the ability of each individual to overcome their state of poverty - is of central importance.
Training projects and programmes for the poor have generally replicated the policies and practices of supply-driven training for the formal sector. As a consequence, they have had the following characteristics:
· A largely 'top-down' process of skills transfer with little or no involvement of trainees in the identification of training needs and the design of training programmes. As passive recipients, there has been little sense of ownership and, by failing to recognise the knowledge and skills of the poor, training has been a disempowering, even "infantilizing" process.
· Attempts to forge training partnerships with other organisations and groups have been rare. There have only been limited attempts to provide training as part of an integrated package of services. Poor communication and frequent "turf wars" among government ministries responsible for these services are endemic in many countries.
· Most training has been delivered at training institutions. In common with the mainstream programmes of these institutions, there has been a heavy emphasis on longer duration pre-employment courses for unemployed youth and other disadvantaged groups, especially the disabled. In many countries (particularly in SSA), governments have preferred to establish a parallel network of mainly rural based training institutions specifically intended for training for self-employment (e.g. Youth Polytechnics in Kenya, Youth Training Centres in Zimbabwe, Brigades in Botswana).
· Traditionally male-dominated artisan training courses (plumbing, metalwork, carpentry etc.) have predominated in most countries. Training in social and business skills has been fairly limited. In her review of programmes of assistance for women entrepreneurs in Africa in the early 1990s, Kuiper concluded that the acquisition of business skills was a "seriously neglected area... the skills taught remain limited to vocational skills and, in the case of women's groups, organisational skills" (Kuiper, 1991:61). Lack of business training has had serious consequences for income generating projects. Other authors have come to similar conclusions (see Bakke-Seeck, 1996; Burckhardt, 1996).
· Fees drive away the poorest. In Ghana, for example, even at government-funded vocational training centres in remote rural locations, the majority of students come from relatively well off urban backgrounds (see Bennell, 1998). Given the massive excess demand that exists in most countries for post-school education and training, training intended for the poor and other disadvantaged groups is invariably 'captured' by better qualified school leavers.
· The provision of short courses for MSE operators and workers remains very limited. Instructors usually have little or no understanding of the problems of doing business in the informal sector. Governments have often created parallel organisations for the development of MSEs (especially Enterprise Development Institutes), but these tend to cater for non-poor clienteles. Training targeted at individuals, (especially women in survival enterprises), has been the exception rather than the norm.
· The design of training projects, especially in post-conflict situations, has tended to be too rushed so that planning ends up being carried out simultaneously with implementation. The ILO-supported 'Start Your Own Business ' Programme in Mozambique is a good example. Training objectives were seriously underfunded and insufficient information was collected in order to able to identify properly training needs in local labour markets. Serious shortages of trainers in rural areas meant that training was generally of poor quality and the skills acquired could not be effectively utilised mainly due to lack of credit and market opportunities (see Bryant, 1997).
· In SSA, training programmes for the poor have often been the result of donor initiatives. As separate projects and programmes with their own funding and management structures, they have rarely been effectively institutionalised on a sustainable basis.
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
521 Training outputs Public sector training - To learn more about this author, visit International Labour Organization's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
|||
Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to International's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
 |
 Top Author Mistakes Leadership Audit For Business Make Attitude Your Ally NichePreneur Mindset Radical Green Business |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Productivity Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
 |
Top 50 Diversion Blogs
Top Diversion Blogs of 2009 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||