This paper explores the role of training in assisting individuals who are economically vulnerable and socially excluded (EVSE) in developing countries. Roughly speaking, almost one in four of the population in the developing world lives in absolute poverty and this number continues to increase rather than decrease. Poverty reduction is now at the top of the policy agendas of most bilateral donor agencies and international development organisations within and outside the United Nations system as well as a growing number of governments. Ambitious targets to halve poverty by 2015 have been set by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD (see UNDP, 1998; OECD, 1997).
1.1 Training and the poor 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. "Knowledge, skills and competencies of all men and women have become the cornerstone of personal growth and employability, enterprise competitiveness, and society's economic and social sustainability" (ILO, 1997: 5). Statements of this kind are backed up by a large body of research that clearly demonstrates that poverty is directly correlated with the level of human capabilities. Self evidently, therefore, there is enormous need to upgrade the knowledge and skills of the EVSE. According to Ducci, training for the informal sector is "a vast and promising area for future action" (Ducci, 1994:183).
However, a particularly striking feature of most government and donor 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. For example, in the UNDP's Human Development Report, training is not treated as "basic social service" for all (unlike primary education and basic health care), although it is acknowledged that there is an urgent need "to strengthen the institutional capacity for delivering these services" (UNDP, 1998). Apart from the ILO, the invisibility of training for the poor as a priority issue is equally apparent in most other high profile reviews of poverty alleviation and human resource development which have been produced by both bilateral and multilateral donors (see World Bank, 1995; DFID, 1997; UNICEF, 1998).
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. Certainly, the standard definition of 'basic education for all' which emerged from the Jomtien Conference in 1990 does cover "all the skills and knowledge that people need if they are to lead a decent life". These "basic learning needs" include early childhood education, primary schooling, and non-formal literacy and other programmes for youth and adults including vocational training that helps to provide basic life and employment skills (UNESCO, 1991).
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.
Some would go so far as to argue that VET is in danger of becoming a Cinderella sector as donors and governments focus their efforts on basic education and other forms of intervention, most notably microfinance. While the standard definition of 'basic education for all' does clearly include provision of basic vocational skills, this key areas of skill formation has been largely excised from the poverty reduction discussions and debates within the donor community during the 1990s. This process of policy exclusion needs, therefore, to be carefully analysed.
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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