sEnsibilidAd A dAÑos

The review of the experiences in the design and implementation of NFE and voca- tional training programmes for the rural areas in Southeast Asia has made it clear that there is an important although facilitating role for external assistance. It has been shown that such assistance achieves the most positive results when it supports existing, locally ini- tiated programmes - while respecting local decisions with regard to their operation.

A prime area for useful donor support concerns capacity building of local organiza- tions. This can, for instance be done through the financing of training programmes, semi- nars, study tours, exchange visits and specific bursaries. External assistance has been found to be valuable in the area of strategic planning, which is surprisingly often neces- sary to help local organizations to determine the vision, mission and actual support ser- vices. It is also sometimes easier for outsiders to initiate collaboration between organizations and to organize lobby groups and other fora for advocacy.

Another major area for donor assistance concerns the development and/or intro- duction of new training methodologies and delivery modalities, together with providing seed capital for the financing of pilot activities to test new approaches on an experimental basis. Most local organizations would also greatly benefit from the sharing of experiences from other countries and, indeed, access to international good practices.

Monitoring and evaluation are both financially and methodologically usually be- yond the immediate capability of -especially smaller- local organizations. As a result this usually ends up at the bottom of the priorities list, seriously hampering the process to im- prove the quality and effectiveness of the programmes. Donors can help in setting up rele- vant monitoring and evaluation systems (including computers).

Some other areas where external financial and technical contributions would be helpful are: (i) funding of investments in simple training facilities and equipment, (ii) provision of information developments in education and training (e.g. journals), and (iii) tailor-made, short term, intermittent technical assistance to select training equip- ment, to improve programme management, financial and administrative system, etc.

9.10 Final observations

In all it would seem that training for the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa has made only limited progress in relation to the situation reviewed in the 1987 ILO Turin

damental changes are required in the training systems in these countries and the roles and approaches of the different training providers. Some of these changes are already be- ing realized by those concerned or have already been set in motion - even though the ac- tual results are rather slow in coming and possibly still inadequate when they do materialize.

This study would be too small a basis for extensive recommendations. However, there are a number of salient points that stand out for further research. First, there is an urgent need for further analysis of the exact training needs of informal sector operators, taking into consideration the segmentation of the informal MSE sector. Simple self-employment income-generating activities will probably require a different set of tech- nical and business skills than running a small informal business with a number of perma- nent workers. Only on such a basis will it be possible to design differentiated vocational training interventions for the informal sector. Without such a differentiation, training in- terventions will not become cost-effective. Similarly, the need and scope for support to dif- ferent training providers should be further examined.

Future role for the public sector

With respect to skills training for the informal sector, exactly the issues of the roles of public vs. private sector VTCs, training for pre-employment vs. skills upgrading and cost-recovery through training fees, are too complex for a general approach of ‘mar- ket-based’ service provision. In the case of pre-employment training, for example, one can expect that poor youth most likely do not have savings or access to capital (except from family and friends), and in view of low-cost or even free general education it could be argued that minimal fees ensuring a clear commitment to skills development would suf- fice. On the other hand, in the case of skills upgrading of small producers who are already in business, it would appear to be reasonable that a substantial share, if not all of the cost, should be borne by the beneficiaries.

Training for ‘decent work’ in the informal sector

Another issue that requires further research concerns the role that train- ing-for-the-informal-sector can play towards the promotion of ‘decent work’. At the Inter- national Labour Conference in June 2000, the conclusions of the Committee on Human Resources Training and Development were adopted. In relation to the informal sector they state that

“training can be one of the instruments that, together with other measures, address the challenge of the informal sector…. Informal sector work is unprotected work that is, for the most part, characterized by low earnings and low productivity. The role of training is not to prepare people for the informal sector and keep them in the informal sector; or to expand the informal sector; but rather it should go in conjunc- tion with other instruments, such as fiscal policies, provision of credit, and exten-

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sion of social protection and labour laws, to improve the performance of enterprises and the employability of workers in order to transform what are often marginal, sur- vival activities into decent work fully integrated into mainstream economic life. Prior learning and skills gained in the sector should be validated, as they will help the said workers gain access to the formal labour market”.

While some donor-funded programmes have experimented with incorporating ‘de- cent work’ elements in training programmes, the results so far appear to be mixed. Ex- actly in Tanzania an ILO informal sector project carried out pilot activities that clearly indicated the potential of introducing occupational safety standards and health protec- tion for informal sector operators (van Ginneken 1995 and Forastieri et al. 1996). Other reports indicate various problems in doing so (eg. Haan 2001a). More research and pilot activities are necessary to develop practical approaches in this area.

International donors and organizations in this area on the basis of existing knowl- edge and experiences could do much more. ILO projects, for instance, have elaborated over the years a number of reports and manuals that document its experiences in the ar- eas of community-based training, rapid market appraisal, participatory technology devel- opment (called user-led innovation), enterprise exchange visits, and others, which hold relevance for those involved or interested in the provision of technical training and tech- nology dissemination for the informal sector. The ILO could even become involved in a type of franchising of modular technical training programmes, in a way similar to the SIYB system for entrepreneurship and management training.

Opportunities for use of ICTs

Finally, it would seem that recently developed information and communication technologies (ICTs) also hold a vast potential for training for the informal sector. Already in Latin America use is made of videos for the conduct of technical training courses (eg. FUNDES in various countries and SENATI/IPACE in Peru). Further adaptation of these technologies can be made, such as for instance training counselling via internet, post-training business counselling via email, and dissemination of technological and mar- ket information. All this would facilitate low-cost training delivery to a wide variety of in- formal sector operators, especially in the rural areas. No evidence at all of the use of such technologies in the area of skills was found in the countries visited in East Africa.

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Florida State University,

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