In the context of mass poverty in most developing countries, the critical role of training in furnishing badly needed skills to improve productivity, incomes and equitable access to employment opportunities seems particularly obvious and straightforward. Certainly, pronouncements abound on the fundamental importance of skills and capacity building in the development process, especially in the fight against poverty. However, a particularly striking feature of most poverty reduction strategies in developing countries is that the role of vocational education and training (VET) in its wide variety of forms is largely absent. This neglect is puzzling not only because of the extent of absolute poverty in most countries, but also because it is widely accepted that training is an essential instrument of public policy, especially for the most vulnerable groups in society. For many, it is precisely because the vast potential of training has not yet been realised that the role of VET has become so marginalised in most poverty reduction strategies. We are confronted, therefore, by what looks like a major contradiction: Just as governments and donors have begun to give due recognition to the need for concerted efforts to build the human assets/capabilities of poor, training is being accorded less and not more importance.
The main objective of this paper is to analyse the reasons for this alleged failure of national VET systems to provide the main target groups among the poor with the knowledge and skills needed to increase significantly their productivity and incomes. With such a large literature on training to overcome economic vulnerability in both developing and developed countries, one may wonder whether this is really necessary. However, despite widespread concerns about the performance of training institutions, particularly in the public sector, remarkably little attention has been focused on trying to understand the precise nature of this training crisis, and, more important still, what should be done to resolve it.
The first part of the paper focuses on the two main dimensions of this crisis, namely the failure to re-orient 'training systems' to support the poor and the limited outputs and impacts of most training interventions. While in many countries, low impact and limited reorientation are closely inter-related, the failure to separate clearly between the two has resulted in considerable confusion. Given the received wisdom that training for the poor has had fairly limited impact and training systems have not been reoriented to meeting the need of the poor, the key question is 'what is the scope for improvement with respect to both these dimensions of the training crisis?'
The paper discusses why the prevailing mood amongst most expert commentators is so pessimistic. Two types of pessimism are identified. 'Training impact pessimists' maintain that training interventions for the majority of the poor are only ever likely to be effective under the most exceptional circumstances. Consequently, there is little point in trying to reorient public training systems in support of these groups. Instead it is better to concentrate on areas of training that have high pay-offs (which are mainly in the formal sector) and provide other types of support for the poor (such as micro credit, primary education and health services) that have much greater impacts on poverty reduction. 'Training system pessimists', on the other hand, argue that, while the training record has not been good, considerable scope still exists to develop training interventions that can effectively address the skill needs of the poor. However, this can be achieved on a mass scale only if training systems are themselves comprehensively reformed. Their pessimism stems, therefore, from their assessment of the poor prospects for significant re-orientation of national training systems in the foreseeable future. Of particular concern is that, while the number of people living in absolute poverty continues to grow, the capacity of the state to support appropriate training appears to be declining in many developing countries. More generally, given dwindling resources and other pressing demands for training services from other sectors, there is a sense of being overwhelmed by the enormity of the skills challenge in support of the poor.
The report also considers other factors that have further compounded the pervasive concerns about lack of impact and/or re-orientation. In particular, there is considerable confusion about what exactly "training to overcome economic vulnerability" actually refers to and the availability of hard evidence on training provision, outputs and impacts, in itself, amounts to an information crisis. A clear distinction is made between the traditional formal training courses of both public and private sector providers and new types of 'participatory skill development' that emphasise the distinctive nature of skill formation among the poor and are premised on the belief that the poor already have many of the skills they need in order to improve their productivity and incomes. The efficacy of group empowerment is also central to this more radical approach.
The last part of the paper considers some of the main reforms that are needed in order to create a 'pro-poor' national training system. It is argued that the need for fundamental reform of VET provision in most developing countries is compelling and should, therefore, be addressed by governments and all other major stakeholders as a matter of urgency. However, remarkably little serious attention has been devoted to analysing what exactly the main features of a pro-poor training strategy and related national system should be. Current debates are excessively preoccupied with the 'higher' skills needed to achieve international competitiveness in a rapidly globalising world economy. The ILO should take the lead in initiating a more balanced and well- informed dialogue about skills development for the economically disadvantaged and socially excluded. The ILO's own conventions and recommendations on training will need, therefore, to be carefully scrutinised. It is suggested that serious consideration should be given to the formulation of new international labour standards (convention and recommendation) that specifically address training for the poor and other disadvantaged groups.
In thinking about what a pro-poor training strategy should look like, two sets of issues are considered in detail, namely overall resource availability and the development of the training system itself. The main functional components of this system (governance, planning, funding and actual delivery of training services) are discussed.
There is an emerging consensus that skills development for the poor must be part and parcel of community-based economic and political development. Communities need to mobilise around specific "development alternatives" that address key political, social, and economic constraints. Skills delopment should be driven by a 'people-centred' pedagogy' which mximises locally available skills and empowers the poor to learn for themselves. Support for skills development should be directly linked to the actual skills needs of the poor and, invariably, will need to be closely related to on-going production activities. However, many of the key characteristics of market-driven VET reform strategies can and should be incorporated into the design of pro-poor training strategies. In particular, the state should perform a largely regulatory and facilitatory role while actual training provision should, wherever possible, be contracted out to independent training providers.
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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