6.3 Participatory skill development: For-profit and NGO training activities

'Participatory skill development' is perhaps the best term to describe the underlying rationale of an altogether new approach to skill development among the poor that has been adopted by many NGOs. This approach draws heavily on the educational philosophy of the late Paulo Freire who criticised the 'banking education' of government schools and training institutions as being profoundly conservative, elitist, and dysfunctional for the large majority. This is because formal education and training acts as a selection mechanism for the usually small minority of children, most of whom are from mainly privileged socio-economic backgrounds, who manage to get 'good jobs' in the formal sector.

Faced with this situation, the response of an increasing number of NGOs has been to develop forms of non-formal education and training that encourage and empower the poor to challenge the unequal social relations that result in mass poverty. Freire highlighted the fundamental importance of literacy in this process of consciousness-raising and emancipation, but this has been extended to other forms of training.

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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