NN37, May 2006
Special Theme on Education and Training out of Poverty? A Status Report
VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES AND DISADVANTAGED YOUTH IN LATIN AMERICA: A BALANCE OF STRATEGIES IN THE LAST DECADE
By Claudia Jacinto, IIEP-UNESCO, CONICET, Buenos Aires
The nineties have been years of structural adjustment and opening in economies in Latin America. The impact of the adjustment was observed in the increasing levels of unemployment, underemployment, deterioration of working conditions and poverty. As youth, especially the disadvantaged, was one of the most affected groups by this situation, the expansion of secondary education and the implementation of many social and employment programmes have been focused on them. Most of these interventions were oriented to give vocational training targeted to the poorly educated youth who normally don?t have access to conventional training provision.They were funded and provided by a range of agencies. A large series of programmes were developed by Labour Ministries, most of them funded by the IDB and some of them by the World Bank. They provided short-term training combined with internships in the formal sector.
Other types of programmes, related to Social Ministries or International funding agencies, have been developed and implemented by NGOs, foundations, churches, national training agencies, local governments, etc. These programmes were oriented to the informal sector and self-employment. Some of them often included other components beyond just training, such as personal and labour orientation, citizenship education, etc.
This summary focuses on the evaluation of the strategies and results of the most relevant of these programmes. Comparing the different approaches, it has been possible to highlight good practices and weaknesses of these experiences.
On the one hand, the training programmes designed by the labour ministries have been short, not expensive training combined with placement and they have had reasonable levels of employment post training. They promoted the creation of new training providers and more market-oriented training. However, being more flexible than the traditional training institutions, these providers are weak and poorly sustainable. The courses have been addressed to traditional areas, and many of them have had weak quality. They used improvised materials in courses which are offered everywhere in the world.
On the other hand, programmes related to NGOs, and churches, generally have had more integrated approach of training combining the teaching of technical skills with social skills (including skills for the citizenship) and job-seeking or labour orientation. These considered both educational needs of the poor youth with the demands of an unstable labour market. But they have been less worried about the outcomes in placing the trainees after the courses and they are not adequately focused in real niches in the informal sector. They also often neglect the difficulties of young people to cope with self-employment due to their lack of experience and age.
Between these two models, it is possible to detect some emerging partnerships and approaches which mix both models. They are in many cases geared by NGOs (not little, weak organisations but professionalised ones) or private organisations or churches, sometimes funded by the national or local state, which achieve strong partnerships in the local level. They combine resources and services, and promote the links with the mainstream education and training (focusing on lifelong education) and with real niches of work. Some of these experiences show interesting linkages between public resources, employers and target groups.
The conclusions emphasize a number of important issues which remain problematic. Disadvantaged youth who begin vocational training programmes without having finished their secondary education, are often lacking key basic skills, not only because they dropped out at a certain level, but also because the schools they attended were not good enough. In order to achieve the socio-economic inclusion of disadvantaged youth the interventions must give them the opportunity to develop a solid base of human and social capital, and multiple livelihood skills.
In general, the interventions remain uncoordinated; they show evidence of the lack of a strong local and national network towards the disadvantaged youth in and between different educational, labour, social, and health sectors. One main concern refers to the weak linkages that these approaches reveal between formal education and training. Another key concern refers to the scope and impact of these initiatives in an increasing inequality and difficult labour market.