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6.3.1 Indigenous skills and knowledge: For-profit and NGO training activities

Guest post by: International Labour Organization

Article Overview: The following discussion summarises the basic premises and key features of this new approach.

6.3.1 Indigenous skills and knowledge: For-profit and NGO training activities

The following discussion summarises the basic premises and key features of this new approach.

Despite policy pronouncements to the contrary, the commitment of most governments and public bureaucracies to creating the much discussed 'enabling environment' for the informal sector and the poor in general remains limited. Partnerships with the state are frequently possible but, ultimately, the poor and disadvantaged can only transform their livelihoods by directly challenging unequal and exploitative social relations. This requires concerted political action.

Promoting an effective process of skills development among the poor is fundamentally different from other groups in society. Conventional training inputs can, in fact, seriously undermine skill development among the poorest and most disadvantaged. In the main, training for the poorest groups must be for immediate specific work needs.

Lack of knowledge and skills is not, however, usually the most critical problem for the poor since most already have the necessary survival skills. The views of de Soto and his followers have been particularly influential. They argue forcefully that "the main constraint is not lack human capital but the impediments put in their way by state policies and practices"(Harper, 1996:107). An inability to access credit on reasonable terms is one of the most serious of these impediments. More traditional approaches have regarded training as a prerequisite in order to provide the poor with skills that can then be utilised through the provision of credit. The new approach, on the other hand, effectively reverses this traditional sequence of 'training and then credit'. Given that the key skills are already available, credit is the most critical input precisely because it "releases the potential contained in these (indigenous) skills" (Kabeer, 1994:230).

The poor do not need, therefore, to be 'trained' by outside instructors. They can manage their own process of skill development largely through their own efforts. Local people have developed a wide range of skills that enable them to develop effective coping strategies at both the household and community levels. "Poor rural women are experienced and knowledgeable managers of their local environments in need of material assistance from governments rather top-down 'education' instructions" (ibid:265). However, these indigenous knowledge and skills are rarely recognised and acknowledged by 'outsiders' who seek instead to introduce inappropriate technologies and other improvement strategies which are based on simplistic notions of top-down skills transfer using conventional training techniques.

In certain key respects, therefore, this new approach also draws heavily on farming system research methodologies which were first developed during the late 1970s. Proponents of FSR argue that most sustainable improvements in the incomes and productivity of small, resource poor farmers are incremental. The role of research and extension is to work closely with farmers, understand and respect their skills and knowledge and identify key constraints that can be addressed fairly quickly through mainly 'adaptive' research. Carefully targeted interventions (including training) should be made in support of these efforts at productivity improvement.

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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Article Tags: constraint, critical input, critical problem, de soto, followers, impediments, indigenous skills, informal sector, key skills, lack of knowledge, livelihoods, new approach, policy pronouncements, prerequisite, public bureaucracies, skill development, state policies, survival skills, traditional approaches, traditional sequence



Related Forum Posts
looking for training grant info - Hello All, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'll go for it anyway in case someone can guide me appropriately. I want to increase my skills training as an add-on to my current abilities and found a perfect program through the Institute of HeartMath in California. Does anyone know of training grant money that might be available for women entrepreneurs? I don't need much, only about $3000. Thanks, Nancy
Franchise Choice - I would: .Spend time evaluating what my passions in life were and how i could take more time to be doing those things - work or social or family .spend time evaluating what would help me get to where i wanted to be - not concentrating on moving away from something i.e a job . Look at what skills I have and where i needed training i.e sales.business management/retail management e.t.c - what ever is needed. I would then invest in myself and acquire those skills on the open market from reputable training providers . Set up my own business doing something i loved . Invest the money saved into me, sales and marketing and mentoring from succesful people who had done what i was trying to do.
Important Franchisee Qualities - All of these skills are important Yasunori but I think good people skills is the most important. If you're good with people you're likely able to listen to them and be coached. With franchises you get training and a system to work with so you don't need as much general business skills. There are also programs for getting capital to fund franchises so access to capital isn't as big an issue as it used to be. It's still important but if you aren't the right fit and you don't have a good rapport with the owners, you won't have a successful franchise.
Training Budgets - Louis, When I first started out there wasn't any money for training. Everything went into making the product and trying to close a sale. Now that I have staff I'm starting to look at professional development as an investment in them. It helps keep them motivated and hopefully they bring back some skills that can help my company. Do you have any suggestions on what a good target % would be to spend on training / professional development? Jennifer.
Training - Louis: Some regulated industries mandate that you attend training. However, even then, finding time to meet those requirements becomes an issue. This may explain the growth of tele-seminars. To answer your questions though, ROI is very important and everyone needs to sell or market no matter what they do. The best tip I ever got on training is not to pitch training as training b/c even big companies have limited budgets for training but training rebranded as "sales support." It makes the ROI argument that much more appealing. Hope that helps. Good luck.


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