Abstract: Training of individuals is one of the direct strategies to promote the informal sector which provides employment to the bulk of the urban population and is second only to smallholder agriculture as a rural employer. This paper reviews a wide range of training approaches employed to support new entrants into the informal sector, upgrade existing skills and assist disadvantaged groups. Apart from direct funding, the government is expected to formulate policies that would create a favourable environment for the private sector and NGOs to participate in the provision of training. The paper concludes by underlining that there are limits to what can be achieved through training alone. Successful training Programs are often an integral part of small-enterprise promotion packages which attempt to address several interrelated needs simultaneously.
Most African countries have focussed nearly all their attention on encouraging and subsidising the formal sector in a variety of ways. However, the anticipated growth through the development of large-scale industrialisation has failed to materialise (McLaughlin 1990). Policy makers in Africa are now turning to the informal sector in order to promote economic development and create employment for the rapidly growing population. The reasons for paying greater attention to the informal sector range from employment generation and entrepreneurial development, to poverty alleviation and regional development.
By definition, the informal sector consists of a heterogeneous set of activities, many of them in trade and services. It is characterised by ease of entry, reliance on indigenous resources, family ownership of enterprises, small-scale operation, labour-intensive and adapted technology, skills acquired outside the formal school system, and unregulated and competitive markets. The sector is capable of competing with large-scale formal enterprises as it offers cheap and appropriate goods in a market dominated by low-income consumers.
The informal sector in developing countries represents about 50 percent or more of full-time workers and produces 40 to 60 percent of the national income (Chickering and Salahadine 1991). Informal enterprises provide the bulk of urban employment and are second only to smallholder agriculture as rural employers. The sector is expanding in an environment that offers little encouragement. Entrepreneurs in the informal sector engage in a wide range of activities: agriculture, manufacturing and repair, trade, and construction. They also provide transportation, water, communication, training and financial services. In the rural areas the informal sector operators may be small-scale farmers, agriculturists engaged in off-season non-farm activities, or full-time providers of products and services to the countryside. In the cities they may be migrants from rural areas, members of traditionally business-oriented ethnic groups, school-leavers, workers redeployed from public service or private firms, or public service employees seeking to supplement their official incomes. Many operate in the open air, or are forced to `squat' without permits and full legal rights. Most of them pay taxes of one kind or another to operate (ILO 1994).
The informal sector uses labour and domestic raw materials more intensively than the formal sector. Informal sector technology is simple but flexible. Informal sector operators are innovative particularly in their ability to recycle scrap materials. In Ethiopia, for example, artisans in Mercato (the major market centre in Addis Ababa) make kerosene lamps and charcoal cooking stoves from thin metal plates hammered from old oil drums. The informal sector thrives because of its responsiveness to market forces and because of its close links with grass-root institutions. Ease of entry and exit makes the small informal firms an outlet for the skills of entrepreneurs from all sections of the society. For women, the poor, and minority groups, the informal sector is often the only such outlet.
Despite the dynamism of the informal sector, it is neglected and remains very poor (Chickering and Salahadine 1991). The challenge is how to expand the informal sector which harbours the numerous entrepreneurs in developing countries.
In many African countries, ever larger numbers of young people, many of them school leavers, enter the labour market in search of modern-sector wage-employment. However, they rarely succeed in finding jobs in the formal sector. They are often forced to create their own employment as informal sector workers.
Individuals in the informal sector acquire their skills on the job through trial and error or by watching and helping others. Many start out as apprentices to experienced entrepreneurs already established in particular trades. Family ties and friendship are often more decisive than formal education in securing employment. However, for many employees of the informal sector, it is not possible to acquire skills through formal training because formal training institutions are limited in number and the scope of services they render to the public.
Formal schooling and vocational schools in most African countries are oriented towards the modern sector. For instance, the educational system in Ethiopia is heavily biased in favour of the formal sector, appropriating the entire budget or leaving virtually nothing for informal educational training. Formal training institutions usually suffer from irrelevance and poor quality of education and reach only few people. Different types of training methods are needed to train people cost-effectively in a wide spectrum of skills and to offer incentives for self-employment, and these have been lacking.
Training may mean a myriad of things. It may refer to formal, technical, and vocational training for post-primary students or school leavers without a job history. Training may also concern people who have worked all their lives. Some training programs link directly with the informal labour force, while others constitute indirect routes to informal sector employment and self-employment. More broadly, the term training applies to any transfer of knowledge, skills or attitudes which is organised to prepare people for production activities, or to change their working behaviour (Fluitman 1989). It covers vocational, technical, managerial, entrepreneurial, social and other useful skills. In short, training could be divided into: (a) formal training which refers to the "hierarchically" structured and chronologically graded educational system; and (b) non-formal training which refers to a varied assortment of organised and semi-organised educational activities operating outside the regular structure and routine of the formal system. The latter is aimed at serving a variety of learning needs of different sub-groups (Coombs 1974).
Non-formal training may be directed to people who never went to any school, school dropouts and school-leavers for whom there was no room at the next level, graduates who never obtained the job they hoped for, women solely responsible for feeding their family but never trained because men were supposed to do the earning, peasants pushed off their land (by fellow men, population pressure or natural disasters), workers replaced by machines or redundant civil servants, handicapped people, refugees and so on. Informal training for self-employment, unlike the formal training for wage-employment in the formal sector, is characterised by its intimate relationship with production, and its delivery of immediate outcomes (Zaudneh 1994).
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the training approaches aimed at promoting the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. The specific objectives are to:
i. review training programs and approaches that can be used to promote the informal sector in Sub-Saharan African countries;
ii. identify critical promotional follow-up, institutional and financial issues for productive training at various levels.
iii. draw policy implications on the provision of effective training services for the informal sector.
Rich countries owe their economic success mainly to the presence of labour that is skilled in production, that can operate sophisticated machinery, and that can create new ideas and new methods in economic activity (Ray 1998). Not surprisingly, training is viewed as the basic instrument to support the informal sector. Training which is properly conceived and administered can help change the lot of people who are insufficiently skilled or lack the skills required to make a decent living. Such training may be pre-service training or skill upgrading. Training may also be designed to assist disadvantaged persons.
Workers of the informal sector may acquire their skills through both conventional and non-conventional systems. The conventional approaches comprise traditional apprenticeships, formal vocational training courses and training obtained in the formal sector. A variety of non-conventional training programs has also been designed and implemented in developing countries, especially in the larger cities. Many of these courses are prepared for fees, while some are organised by NGOs free of charge. Their content is highly technical with the view that participants apply newly acquired skills to their employment or self-employment. Some of the non-conventional training programs are backstreet colleges and after-hour formal vocational programs. This section provides a review of both conventional and non-conventional training approaches.
Formal technical schools demand a minimum entry qualification such as two years of high school education or successful completion of national secondary school exams. This effectively excludes the bulk of the youth group in Africa who had no formal education or only a few years of it. Skills necessary for employment would have to be acquired through a non-formal apprenticeship system. In many African cities, one learns a trade by observation and through non-formal apprenticeship systems (Kishindo 1993).
Apprenticeship has long been organised as a major means through which the young enter the informal sector. It is, of course, the oldest and the traditional mode of training. Few initial skills and little experience are needed to benefit from it. Through their labour, the apprentices assist the master in producing products or services. In time, the apprentice will pick up skills by observing and doing simple tasks. Eventually, he/she will be expected to complete complex tasks. The training is intensively practical, focussing on immediate problems of the work itself. Apprenticeship is often the only way of learning a trade for most young people in Africa. It is also more common in West Africa than in eastern and southern Africa (Fluitman and Sangare 1989).
Apprenticeship is governed by legislation in some African countries. But the rules in the legislation apply only to a very small number of young people who have managed to find work with a large, formal sector employer. These apprentices may receive free board and lodging and sometimes pocket money or an occasional bonus. The large number of apprentices in the informal sector, however, work under unfavourable conditions. Some pay for their training while others forgo income for the work they do. Apprentices are usually teenagers. However, workers well over 20 years of age may also work as apprentices. The duration of apprenticeship may range from a few months to a few years, and sometimes continues for as long as a decade (Fluitman and Sangare 1989).
Apprentices in highly technical trades usually develop little theoretical knowledge of the systems or processes with which they work, except when their training is supplemented through a repair manual or personal textbooks (McLaughlin 1990). It is also argued that apprenticeship involves an element of "cheap labour" and it is therefore sometimes viewed as "exploitative" (Allen 1982). Nonetheless, technical skills can best be enhanced by working within the context of the indigenous apprenticeship system, particularly in the craft and workshop sectors (Herschbach 1989). Formal vocational training centres are often found to be less successful than informal sector apprenticeship (Fluitman and Sangare 1989).
Employment in the modern formal sector firms constitutes an important indirect source of skilled labour for the informal sector. Many informal sector workers have previously worked in formal enterprises. Such transitions form formal sector employment to informal sector self-employment have been common in the past and have become more pronounced as a result of the retrenchment of public employees and/or denationalisation of public enterprises under economic reform programs.
Unlike traditional apprentices, formal sector workers are more likely to be drawn from the ranks of graduates of formal vocational training program. Those with no training may have been given on-the-job training and possibly obtained a certificate from one of the formal trade certification bodies. Such workers, especially those from new trades such as automotive or appliance repair, may be expected to be successful upon entering the informal sector. Nevertheless, there could be a tendency among these individuals to regard themselves as white-collar "engineers" who perform managerial duties, hence showing limited enthusiasm for self-employment in the informal sector.
The classical institutional training approach is based on establishing pre-employment technical education and vocational training institutions. It is geared to the training needs of the formal sector. The vocational centres fall mostly under the jurisdiction of government ministries such as the Ministry of Education or Ministry of Labour. There are also examples of sectoral training centres in areas such as construction or engineering which may come under direct or indirect government control. One can also find large enterprises, or in some circumstances, groups of smaller enterprises, managing independent training institutions for themselves.
Formal vocational training programs offer introductory technical courses to young labour-market entrants. Until recently, almost every graduate of formal vocation training programs in developing countries expected to be absorbed into wage-employment in the formal sector. Because of sluggish growth in the economy and inappropriateness of the training, the expected jobs have failed to materialise. Trainees with diplomas were more interested in pursuing white-collar employment, while the kind of training imparted tended to be far too capital-intensive for local employers. Like some forms of higher education, training has not become an automatic passport to formal employment (Kasliwal 1995, 157-159).
Formal training programs have been, with some exceptions, ineffective in creating employment in the informal sector. Most national systems for technical education and training have experienced inadequacy of funding, inability to upgrade training equipment, limited practical and industrial experience among instructors, rigid entry requirements, and inflexible and outdated curricula with little regard for the needs of the labour market. In addition, most systems suffer from internal efficiency (i.e., low workshop utilisation, low teaching load, high per-capita training costs) and low external inefficiency (i.e., difficulties in placing graduates or long waiting periods, slow earning or productivity gains) (ILO/Vocational Training System Management Branch 1994).
Notwithstanding these shortcomings, formal training may nonetheless yield some benefits to those looking for opportunities in the informal sector. The main problem in many African countries is the fact that the training centres are limited in number and the level of enrolment for such training remains astonishingly low (Herschbach 1989).
Many graduates of vocational training centres have been forced to consider self-employment in the informal sector as an alternative option. The inability of the formal manufacturing, trade and services sectors to provide a satisfactory rate of growth in employment has put inordinate pressure on the informal sector in recent years. Set-up costs are relatively low, and licence fees and advance tax payments may not be necessary (Ray 1998, 347).
Special `after-hours' programs are established using infrastructural resources of formal educational and vocational institutions for individuals who, because of their lower educational attainment, cannot qualify for the institution's regular full-time courses. The aim is to take advantage of a normally vacant time period in the afternoon and evenings when the institution's facilities and equipment are not in use. The courses are open to anyone who can pay the required fees.
Lower level certificates are offered upon completion of the courses, which largely match the instruction process of the regular courses but are adapted to the particular educational level of the lower-qualified group. In this regard, African countries need to learn from the successful experience of Asian countries such as Pakistan, where `after-hour' training courses in automotive and air conditioner repair, electrical wiring, dress design, construction, accountancy, and food-processing are offered (McLaughlin 1990).
The reliance on modern laboratory equipment and textbooks may limit the effectiveness of these special programs in preparing trainees for practical problems in the informal sector workshops. Nonetheless, the less educated participants may find it easier to make the transition to "blue-collar" self-employed work than the more formally educated trainees in the regular certificate courses (McLaughlin 1990).
Backstreet training systems have sprung up in large cities to fill training gaps not covered by other existing skill delivery systems. A variety of informal "backstreet" courses are available in many countries, especially in the larger cities. Training usually consists of technical job skills and tends to be organised along the lines of formal school and vocational colleges rather than those of traditional apprenticeship. The quality of training is highly varied, ranging from first-class accounting to fourth-rate computer courses, from local branches of international correspondence courses to garage-schools mixing training with production (King 1989).
Backstreet training establishments may be registered with the Ministry of Education or some other responsible body, but this has not usually led to any kind of support. In Ethiopia, for instance, the number of private schools in the area of computers, garments, auto-mechanics, electricity, etc., has increased sharply in the major cities, especially Addis Ababa, following the 1991/92 economic reform measures. In spite of their critical importance, the attempt to promote or improve the services provided is minimal (Dawit 1997). The critical issues of vocational standards, testing and certification, and the related problems of quality control have yet to be addressed in Ethiopia.
Backstreet colleges may not be well equipped with the full range of tools, machines, and testing devices found in government technical colleges and are sometimes dismissed as fee-paying and exploitative. Yet, backstreet training systems are often more accessible than the formal training centres. Unlike the national training system with its rather uniform standards and strict entry requirements, backstreet colleges are usually open to anyone who can afford the fee, which varies depending on the quality and duration of the programs. They are available at times that suit full-time workers.
The reason for retraining and upgrading the skills of those already working in the informal sector is that these are commonly inadequate, as may be seen in productivity problems, low incomes and inadequate working conditions (Fluitman 1989). Upgrading technical skills and entrepreneurial development are the common support programs used for improving the technical skills of informal sector operators. Such technical upgrading may include: on-location skill upgrading, distance learning, participatory self-training programs, and training through technology development and diffusion centres.
On-location programs are mainly directed to already operating small enterprises. Delivering skill training to artisans on their own premises has the advantage of overcoming the natural reluctance of busy w orkers to leave their workshops.
The automotive advisory service established for small-scale "wayside" mechanics in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, was intended to improve the technical capacity of private automotive repair enterprises and their workers. This was done through programs of short but regular visits to workshops in a panel truck equipped with full-set tools, instruments, power equipment and blackboard and chalk. This allowed the team to tackle any repair problem that the operator was finding difficult to solve (McLaughlin 1990). In Zambia, on-location training is executed by the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) under contract to the Zambian Federation of Employers and the Small Industries Association. It is aimed at existing small industrial enterprises, whose productivity it appears to enhance (UNDP et al.1988).
Participatory training programs were initiated in French-speaking African countries with the aim of promoting the participation of artisans in improving their access to productive resources. Individual artisans were approached by project staff to express their needs and motivations as objectively as possible. Top priority was given to supporting efforts which the artisans themselves were prepared to make in the search for realistic, practical solutions to their problems, and ways of implementing them. The main areas of assistance included the provision of work permits, savings and credit in Kigali (Rwanda), access to new markets and new products in Bamako (Mali), and collective storage and management of raw materials in Lome (Togo) (Maldonado 1990).
Distance training is an approach in which training is broadcast to trainees in the informal sector in the form of the correspondence courses dispatched by mail or through other media such as radio, television, video and computers. For many years this form of training delivery has been used to transfer knowledge rather than skills because of its heavy dependence on printed matter. However, the advent of television and video has opened up distance learning to skill development.
Programs that focus on technological aspects of production constitute an important means of upgrading the skill proficiency of the informal labour force. It is assumed that technological improvements in the form of new processes, materials, tools, or machines, can cut down on costs, increase production or open up new product lines for untapped markets. Institutions have thus been established in a number of countries to develop technological innovations and disseminate them to small-scale enterprises.
One of the technology development centres that has succeeded in developing and transferring new technologies is the Technology Constancy Centre (TCC) in Kumasi, Ghana. TCC's main aim was to provide assistance to a growing number of requests from small producers who wanted the Centre's help in solving technical problems, or investors who wanted new technological processes for application in small-scale enterprises (McLaughlin 1990). Many similar institutions, however, have frequently failed to gain widespread adoption of innovation among small producers (Gamser and Almond 1988). For instance, the Centre for Appropriate Technology in Burkina Faso has achieved no commercially applicable technical development work or rural outreach. Likewise, the Kilimanjaro Industrial Development Centre in Tanzania, the Industrial Development Centre in Nigeria and the Rural Industrial Development Centres in Kenya have not been effective (UNDP et al. 1988).
The ineffectiveness of research centres appears to stem from a combined lack of incentive equally from target groups or beneficiaries and training institutions. The latter see no obvious reason why they should serve small firms or farms on which they are not financially dependent, while the former often consider the centres as remote and unresponsive to their needs (UNDP et al. 1988). This is aggravated by the lack of appropriate institutional links between the research centres and the target groups (people employed in the informal sector).
The manager of a small business is at the same time a carpenter, metal worker, electrician engineer, toolmaker or other operator in his enterprise. He/she may have technical skill but often no management or business skill. Without management know-how, optimum use of available resources can rarely be guaranteed (Harper 1984, 69).
The business aspect of small enterprise development is an important class of training strategies in the informal sector. This approach attaches greater importance to the ability of participants to manage wisely all the factors of the production process than to acquire purely technical job skills. Recognising its importance, many technical skills training programs have also added entrepreneurial development of business management components in recent years. However, business oriented programs differ widely in terms of scale, target audience and mode of delivery. Some limit their activities to entrepreneurial training, while others rely on a comprehensive package of inputs and technical assistance.
Many small business-lending schemes have experienced high rates of default. The blame is often ascribed to inappropriate lending procedures and the borrower's belief that the lending institution will not rigorously press for repayment of arrears. However, the main problem may lie in the failure of the borrower to manage his/her enlarged enterprise. The right approach is therefore perceived to be to offer training before finance so as to enable the owner of the small business to use a loan more effectively (Harper 1984).
A business-advice extension service can be organised by a government or association of small enterprises. It can be effective in building the management capacity of small businesses, if properly organised. Operators in the informal sector receive valuable assistance in formalisation procedures, loan applications and business advice.
A pilot Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) was launched in Ethiopia in 1994. EDP was organised by the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce with the financial assistance of UNDP and the collaboration of UNIDO and UN/DDSMS. The aim was to introduce the EMPRETEC model of entrepreneurship through short-term training. In total 122 potential entrepreneurs were trained and became a new generation of Certified EMPRETEC Entrepreneurs. The training was intensive and involved a deliberate exercise of entrepreneurial behaviour and motivational exercise. After the training, all left with a different makeup, inspiration, and enthusiasm to succeed (Andualem 1997).
In general, programs for entrepreneurial development and business advice are rarely valued or effective in their own right, but only through the support of some other promotional efforts such as bank loans, savings and loan associations and technical skill upgrading. The real challenge is the fact that not enough is known about what determines successful entrepreneurship to be able to teach those who are believed to be potential entrepreneurs.
The disadvantaged groups comprise landless rural households, women, youth, homeless street youth, neglected ethnic groups, and handicapped groups. Training schemes for these groups are crucial in the effort to generate employment in the informal sector. The social isolation, physical remoteness, extreme poverty, and lack of education of these groups often present special barriers that require outside intervention to establish viable income-generation activities. Individuals from the disadvantaged group often under-invest in training because of lack of information or failure of credit markets. Rural non-farm activities positively influence the performance of agriculture by providing farmers with cash to invest in productivity-enhancing inputs (Pooley 1983).
The plight of the non-farm enterprise sector in rural areas and the connection between the deprivation there and the employment problems in cities are often overlooked. The aggravation of urban unemployment by the large and continuing migration of rural residents to urban areas is of course caused by the lack of off-farm income-generation activities in rural areas.
Rural training centres can promote rural development in a number of ways. They can contribute to the utilisation of locally available resources as a basis for self-reliant development of villages, by the production and testing of the adaptability of simple agricultural tools and equipment, production of home furnishing equipment and energy-saving devices, basic literacy instruction, formation of groups and co-operative, provision of safety and health services, establishment of communal workshops for production purposes, and establishment of repair and maintenance services in some rural areas. They can enhance social and economic awareness of rural workers (ILO, International Training Centre 1993).
The Rural Trade School in Salima, Malawi, is a typical example of a successful training scheme aimed at providing skills, mainly for self-employment. In order to instil self-confidence, self-discipline and independence, the trainees are required to make their own tools and equipment. The trainees take the tools which they have made together with a small supply of raw materials when they complete their training. Many graduates start their businesses in small towns and villages (Harper 1984).
The Department of Adult and Continuing Education of the Ministry of Education in Ethiopia used to run a training program in handicraft technologies for farmers. By 1991, a total of 480 Community Skill Training Centres were operating in different parts of the country with financial support from Swedish International Development Assistance (SIDA) and UNICEF. The program envisaged that the trainees, after completion of the course, would go back to their respective communities and start their own handicraft activities. The impact of the training programs has never been assessed, but the restrictive policies of the former government must have seriously constrained its effectiveness. Many of the Centres were looted and destroyed following the collapse of the government in 1991 (Mulat and Gijsberts 1993).
Rural youth movements and associations in many countries have been preparing their members for entering the labour market. For instance, the Brigades Movement in Botswana focussed on employment needs of rural school leavers who have often been left with little means of making a living once their education ends. Training is given to 16 to 18-year old school-leavers and is mainly centred on local occupations. The training covers, among other skills, mechanics, electrical wiring, textiles, community vegetable gardening, and tree nursery management. One day (out of five training days) is spent on academic upgrading and trade theory, compared to four days on practical work. Brigades receive financial assistance from the central government and also from foreign donor agencies. In addition, income is generated through the sale of items made by the trainees in the course of their training (Herschbach 1989).
Many youth training schemes for farming in Sub-Saharan Africa have not been successful. The majority of the trainees do not wish to go back to the family subsistence farm, others do not have capital to start business on their own. For instance, graduates of the youth polytechnic in Kenya have had a marked tendency to migrate to urban informal sector enterprises and jobs (UNDP et al. 1988). With limited employment opportunities in the surrounding communities, rural-urban migration could be intensified by such schemes, rather than being arrested by them.
Mobile training programs are associated with schemes where the basic equipment and teaching staff are transported to remote areas of the country to impart skills to the rural people who have little or no access to facilities of a vocational training centre. New technology may be demonstrated in an attempt to increase the productivity of disadvantaged groups (Hurley 1987).
Women are generally disproportionately represented in informal sector occupations. Unable to gain higher-level and better-paid jobs in the formal sector, they often turn to self-employment in the informal sector as their sole source of income. In urban areas of Tanzania, for instance, about 80% of the total female labour force is self-employed and 53% of all informal sector workers are females (Shields 1980). Increasing numbers of women who are economically active have come up against a lack of opportunities for stable employment and have turned to the informal sector (Berger 1995).
Skill training programs show a marked division between sexes. For instance, in Zambia, girls were segregated in programs for sewing/home craft, shop assistantship and nursery school assistantship training. The participation of girls and women in vocational education and training has been limited (van der Wees and Romijn 1995). Courses in carpentry, agriculture, electrical repairs and maintenance, upholstery and tin-smithing were exclusively for boys. Such division of roles is instigated more by traditional views as to what is a "proper" way to keep youths occupied than by a careful assessment of current employment opportunities. Home-craft/sewing courses usually did not succeed in preparing trainees for self-employment. Moreover, the employment potential of these courses was seriously questionable. Moreover, the girls were not given training in essential business skills to own and manage their sewing services (Haan 1989). As long as women are confined to training and/or work experiences in a narrow range of low-productivity occupations, the businesses they establish will have limited potential for growth and income generation (van der Wees and Romijn 1995).
Another problem of women in the informal sector is the orientation of training centres to the literate, and those who have the mobility and time to attend centre-based courses of a relatively longer duration. Since their educational attainment is low, training for those who need it most may have to use methodologies which are not dependent on the written word and which are participatory in nature and promote group or self-training. Action-oriented or group-learning techniques, mobile training and the use of mass media have been found useful in reaching women (Haan 1989).
A study commissioned by the Women's Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs in Botswana (Dirasse 1987) pointed out the need to make provision for support services which enable women to free themselves from household and child-care responsibilities in order to take advantage of improved training and employment opportunities. It also showed that socio-cultural attitudes towards women's roles and stereotypes regarding their `expected' behaviour may have a negative influence on the performance of their business. Women need support and assistance to help them overcome external pressure.
It should also be noted that raising income levels through `income-generation' projects for women has rarely been effective. This is largely attributed to lack of relevant training and productive experience. Basic business and entrepreneurial capacity as well as business orientation are said to be critical in the success of income-generation schemes (Goodale 1989). The Tototo Home Industries of Kenya, an NGO that has achieved widespread renown for its training program for low-income women entrepreneurs, combines two main services: training in leadership and group dynamics, and training in business skills, both very much adapted to an African context (Awori 1995).
The handicapped, the youth and neglected ethnic groups are examples of population groups which frequently fall through the meagre safety nets of developing countries unless they are the beneficiaries of specially targeted effort. Programs for such groups offer skill training in conjunction with literacy training, basic education and other support services. For example, the Freetown Boys Society in Sierra Leone runs job-related literacy Programs for street boys alongside practical training, and plans to assist the trainees in finding work after completion of their training (McLaughlin 1990). The Social Service Department (Sierra Leone) operates an adult blind training institution, one institution for the care of the aged and infirm and two remand centres for boys and girls. It also collaborates with the Ministry of Education in the supervision of the schools for blind and mentally retarded children (ILO/JASPA 1990).
Disabled persons can establish themselves as entrepreneurs or wage-employees if given the necessary training. Special training centres may sometimes be required to adapt to the needs of the disabled persons. However, their success in business or in the labour market is often constrained by negative attitudes of society to their training. It is thus important to ensure, through legislation, that disabled persons are not subjected to discrimination in the job market or in benefiting from assistance and services normally offered to small enterprises (ILO 1994).
Training of individuals in the informal sector is one of the direct strategies to promote or assist the sector. However, there are operational issues which should be addressed. How should training be organised to make it more effective? What are the characteristics of a good trainer? Is there a need for post-training and follow-up services? What should be the role of the government, NGOs, and private voluntary organisations in promoting the informal sector? These are some of the critical questions addressed in this section.
Training alone is not sufficient for a successful informal sector business. It should be noted that informal training is often one component of a larger promotional and development package for the informal sector. Small enterprise promotion packages involve the provision of credit or facilitation of credit from some other source, improving business management and skills, identifying markets, maintaining supplies of raw materials or spare parts, and controlling quality. Some programs also attempt to improve infrastructure in areas where the enterprises are located.
In the 1980s, the Government of Malawi initiated a promotion which can be regarded as one of the most comprehensive models of small business promotion to-date in Africa. The Malawian Entrepreneurs Development Institute (MEDI) integrates technical skill training, business management training, and entrepreneurial selection/training and follow-up, thus creating and expanding the indigenous Malawian entrepreneurial community. The program was designed to expand employment in the informal sector for the growing number of young educated Malawians entering the labour market. Vocational training in automotive, skills electrical installation, etc., and training in business management and entrepreneurship are offered by the Institute. The cost of the program is partly covered by selling the products and services produced by the trainees. Follow-up technical advice from experts, and assistance in gaining access to other sources of credit act as an incentive to encourage new business operators to overcome the initial hurdles of self-employment. The program is generally viewed as a success by the expanding population of MEDI-trained entrepreneurs who appear to have businesses with a high sales volume, employ more workers and use more modern facilities (McLaughlin 1990).
The Association of People for Practical Life Education (APPLE), based in Ghana, is another case of a comprehensive approach to business promotion. Established in the late 1970s, APPLE helps to establish and advise on association of rural industries in primarily agricultural areas of northern Ghana. The Association consists of an aggregation of artisan and trade groups, including bakers, bee-keepers, salt sellers, seamstresses, welders, and blacksmiths. The different groups act in concert through the Association when it comes to the purchase of raw materials, interaction with government officials, and the marketing of their products. Although the Association may resemble a co-operative on the surface, it actually serves as the setting for informal technical and business skill training conducted by association members and APPLE organisers. The program has made substantial progress in facilitating the development non-farm enterprises in the rural areas (McLaughlin 1990).
Between 1985 and 1991, the South African government financed an integrated job-creation scheme which included labour-intensive public and private projects, support for the small business sector and training of unemployed persons. Training contracts were entered into between the Department of Manpower and registered training centres. A fixed course fee was payable to the contractors, and daily allowances were paid to unemployed persons. Courses were specified to last not less than one week and not more than three weeks. Nonetheless, the scheme failed as there was confusion about objectives and institutional responsibilities. The design of the program was such that it created rising expectations that stood to be frustrated. There was a lack of forward planning and poor supervision and administration leading to low productivity, job displacement of permanent workers, inappropriate wage rates, lack of clarity about interpretation of the guidelines and inappropriate use of funds resulting in cash-flow problems (Chisholm 1993).
The importance of improving the professional standing and capabilities of trainers should be recognised by governments, private enterprises and donors. Effective training can only be conducted by trainers who have a good balance of technical and pedagogical knowledge and skills. Moreover training large number of informal sector workers requires a variety of actors on and behind the scene: initiators, facilitators, mangers, and trainers.
Good trainers are one of the most crucial ingredients of effective informal training. However, qualified trainers are usually in short supply. Informal sector training schemes may therefore have to train their own trainers or think of other means to train the trainers. Successful former trainees or local master-craftsmen may be considered as trainers. In all cases, improving the pedagogical and technical competency of trainers through continuous training programs promotes the training process in the informal sector. It is worth noting that trainers need not always be professionals in the sense of making training their main occupation. There are obvious advantages in relying on people who combine training with practising their trade.
One additional requirement in informal sector training is the conduct of post-training follow-up services to ensure success and sustainability of the programs. Training is a never-ending job. There are aspects of training that need continuous follow-up. It is important to note that once trained, people are not necessarily trained for a lifetime. Technologies and markets change and people need to be trained to adapt to new environments. The follow-up of past trainees should be regular, substantive and result oriented. In essence, it should take the form of technical assistance and management guidance to help former trainees run their businesses more effectively.
A number of institutions are involved in training entrepreneurs and workers in the informal sector. These include government and other public sector agencies at both the national and local levels, NGOs, private business associations and large-scale private enterprises. Many governments have accepted the need to co-ordinate the training program and facilities and establish some form of national training system (department within a ministry or committee or board) to ensure that the training policies and programs are in accordance with government plan (Hurley 1987). Government agencies are generally responsible for action of formulation and implement favourable economic and financial policies, for providing adequate infrastructure and for the design and application of standards and regulations.
The provision of support services by public sector institutions such as small enterprise agencies, subsidised development banks, training centres and technology development institutes has not been particularly effective. Such services often suffer from centralisation, limited operating funds and weak institutional linkage and capacities (ILO 1994). While the long-term aim should be to encourage the private sector to provide training and other services to the small business sector, existing government agencies should continue to supplement the private sector in the short run. Direct funding by the government may represent the major source of finance for many training institutions in Africa. The funds may come from government budget allocated for training and/or a training tax levied on enterprises. More importantly, public training institutions should be encouraged to generate all or most of the revenues and resources they need for their operation and manage their training programs cost-effectively and efficiently. The institutions (formal or informal) could be converted into semi-autonomous profit-making enterprises which will sell services at cost-recovery rates.
The role of NGOs in employment and training is still limited in most countries (ILO/Vocational Training System Management Branch 1994). They are usually involved in training in the informal sector as part of their role in humanitarian assistance, community development and promotion of self-reliance. In this context, they often offer composite programs. They are involved in literacy training, eliminating gender bias, group formation and promoting productive activities. NGOs provide skills, credit and technical support which are mixed to provide a ready package for vulnerable individuals and groups. In many cases, NGOs have attempted to bring training to the people, not people to the training centres. Most prominent in these efforts have been the German aid organisations which have been very active in supporting associations of small enterprises in Africa (Levitsky 1993).
NGOs can provide training and other services, but have so far done so on a relatively limited scale. They may also suffer form a tendency to put more emphasis on "welfare" than on "business". They often concentrate on "the poorest of the poor", instead of assisting small enterprises with the largest business potential (UNDP 1988). For instance, the Hope Enterprise in Ethiopia offers one-year training in areas such as wood technology, metal work, electricity, etc., mainly to orphans. Similarly, the Opportunities for Industrial Craftsmanship International (OICI) in Ethiopia provides marketable skills in building trades to orphans and youth from poor families (Zaudneh 1994).
The private voluntary organisations are powerful vehicles for organising shared interests and objectives and for encouraging co-operation and participation by the informal sector in economic and social activities. Such organisations play an important role in assisting the informal sector to organise itself. They participate in various training activities which enable members to improve both their skills and the quality of their services. Private voluntary associations can contribute to the financing of training programs by levying some contribution on members in order to finance specific programs. The Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists runs an active program of short courses and claims to offer an advisory service on financial management, legal matters and exporting. Membership fees and donor funds cover some 65 percent of its budget (Levitsky 1993).
Associations of small enterprises provide opportunities for systematic consultation on the needs of their members. In several French-speaking African countries, small enterprise associations have organised training programs in which master craftsmen from among their own members give technical training to employees of member enterprises (ILO 1994).
Lack of training, both technical and managerial, acts as a constraint on efficient use of resources. The failure of most small firms to expand and survive the competition coming from large firms can be ascribed to lack of technical and managerial expertise. Given a conducive policy environment and adequate skill transfer systems, small enterprises have been found to perform most strongly not only in low-quality activities but also in those requiring a relatively high degree of skill and sophistication.
Formal training systems in developing countries are often too small and are aimed at serving modern sector establishments. In many countries, formal training is for jobs and may not be demand-driven. More emphasis is increasingly being given to training the youth for self-employment in the informal sector and to training the people already in the sector.
This paper has attempted to review a wide range of skills training programs for promoting the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has considered various training approaches and practices employed to support new entrants into the labour force (pre-employment training); upgrade existing skills; and assist disadvantaged groups and areas. The diversity of the programs suggests that training for work in the informal sector should be broadly conceived to apply to any organised transfer of knowledge or skill which people use to earn an income. It may or may not be recognised by the government; it may employ conventional or non-conventional training approaches; it may involve first-time learners or people who have worked all their lives; it may include illiterates, semi-illiterates, school drop-outs, school leavers or graduates with no job opportunities in the formal sector as well as disadvantaged groups like women and handicapped people; it may last for a few weeks or take several years; it may cover vocational, technical, managerial, entrepreneurial, and other useful skills; and it may be fee-paying-in which case trainees may spend their family savings on fees for backstreet colleges or correspondence courses or it may require forgoing wages for work done.
Training for work in the informal sector is closely linked with production. Trainees are often practitioners such as artisans and entrepreneurs. Informal training received by entrepreneurs and workers to improve their technical skills or business management is more practical than formal education. However, informal training programs face a variety of problems such as poor quality of training materials, shortage of qualified trainers, limited complementarity and follow-up services, unaffordable training charges, and imbalances such as those between urban and rural areas or between training for men and women. These problems require the active and direct involvement and support of government.
One of the main tasks of government is to formulate and implement enabling institutional and policy measures such as creating incentives to increase the supply and demand for technical training. The private sector must be encouraged to invest in training institutions. The public sector must also play the leading role in establishing a suitable network of training institutions by initiating a national co-ordinating committee which organises training in the informal sector and attempts to minimise duplication of effort. Special programs of training for the disadvantaged in the informal sector, particularly women, members of landless rural households, youth, the disabled, etc., need to be expanded.
Governments should spend on both formal and informal training efforts including training of trainers and issuing vocational standards and certification. Training of trainers in the informal sector is an important part of the capacity building effort to which African countries should give proper emphasis. Government funding is also critical for a regular follow-up service as well as research and monitoring of training needs and an assessment of the match between training areas and real opportunities. Government and NGOs are expected to assist groups or people who fail to pay fees charged by private profit-driven training schools. In fact, establishing well-defined educational priorities and investing effectively in education and training systems is a responsibility to which world heads of state and governments have committed themselves in the 1995 World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
It is clear that there are limits to what can be achieved through training. Training does not create jobs by itself. Intervention packages which address training with access to credit, technology, markets, etc., are more crucial than programs focussing on training alone. The promotion package approach generally rests on the premise that assistance to small enterprises can be effective only if several interrelated needs are simultaneously addressed.
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