NN37, May 2006
Special Theme on Education and Training out of Poverty? A Status Report
SKILLS FOR WORK? FROM SKILLS DEVELOPMENT TO DECENT LIVELIHOODS IN GHANA?S RURAL INFORMAL ECONOMY
By Robert Palmer, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh.
In developing countries, skills development has been neglected. Skills development does not appear in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or in many poverty reduction strategies and has been side-lined in favour of investment in primary education. However, it is hoped that recent discussion of skills development in the 2005 Global Monitoring Report and the World Summit in September 2005 will refocus attention on skills. Indeed there is evidence that those development partners who still prioritise support for primary education are now also thinking about the need to invest in at least one sub-sector of skills development, vocational education, as a means to support the MDGs (Levesque, this edition of Norrag News).In Ghana skills development has received too little support on the ground, despite the rhetoric of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I, 2003-2005), the new Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II, 2006-2009), and more than one hundred and fifty years of preoccupation with making education more relevant to the world of work. A new Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy Framework is nearing completion which proposes to dramatically expand the formal TVET sector. The inclusion of informal apprenticeship in the government TVET definition is a positive and historic step forward in acknowledging the importance of informal skills acquisition in Ghana.
Nonetheless the current state of, and recent trends in, skills development opportunities, especially in rural Ghana, fail to adequately address the multiple occupational pathways of the youth, and especially the poor, as they attempt to become fully and productively engaged in decent livelihoods in the rural informal economy. Government skills development interventions follow a top-down strategy, with programmes having little labour market relevance, and post-training support that is either absent or weak. For example, the recent Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) has been criticised for being too centrally run, out of touch with labour market demand, and not providing sufficient post-training support to STEP graduates. Moreover, the duration of training, 3-12 months depending on the trade area, is not considered long enough, especially in trades like welding and carpentry, leading to the creation of ?half-baked? apprentices. Meanwhile support for skills development in the informal economy ? for example in the form of traditional apprenticeships ? which is by far the largest destination for school leavers, is virtually non-existent.
Operators of various micro-enterprises in Ghana?s rural informal economy have reached their current positions along different education and training pathways, including periods at school, in (formal or non-formal) training centres, in short-term modular training, as apprentices, or otherwise as learners on-the-job. Each different pathway involves a number of distinct training providers, each with their own strengths and limitations.
A skills development strategy in Ghana needs to recognise the multiplicity of these education and training pathways in order to adequately improve the education and training situation for Ghana?s rural youth. But such a skills development strategy has to be closely linked to the development of a supportive informal economy strategy. Indeed, the underlying assumption of the Ghanaian skills development agenda, that skills training in ?employable skills? solves un/under-employment and leads to economic growth and poverty reduction, will not be realised unless an effective and innovative pro-poor, and gender aware, informal economy strategy is developed in order for skills development to result in livelihood outcomes that are both decent and productive.
Promoting an enabling environment in the informal economy, including having an explicit strategy and supporting decent work, is crucial if education and skills development in Ghana are to be translated into positive developmental outcomes. Without such a supportive environment, many of those entering the informal economy after competing basic education and, perhaps, some form of informal skills training are likely to find themselves in a largely static situation that is poverty-perpetuating, not poverty-alleviating. Hence, there needs to be more government focus on the creation of a supportive enterprise environment for all, and not simply a focus on education and training and an ?enabling environment? for the few in the formal sector or in more dynamic informal enterprise activities.
Equally important is for an informal economy strategy to recognise the multiple nature of, and multiple pathways to rural livelihood activities. The issue of occupational pluralism (multiple employment), a widespread phenomenon in Ghana?s rural informal economy, is not fully acknowledged in the new GPRS II. This has implications for skills training interventions in Ghana?s rural informal economy. It points to the need to have skills training opportunities that are both flexible and highly responsive to labour market demand. Given that public skills training is slow at responding to market demand, more promising results may come from improving existing private informal skills training, in traditional apprenticeships, and in trade and farm informal training, which react quicker to market demand. But, as was noted earlier, any improvements that might be made in informal skills training have to be carefully applied so as not to undermine the strengths of the existing informal systems. Improvements are also needed in the quality of and access to basic education in rural Ghana, as this is considered to be essential for improving informal skills training and outcomes in the rural informal sector.
In 2006, there are hopeful signs that a new informal sector strategy is being developed, but it should be remembered that Ghana?s history is strewn with the wreckage of unsupportive micro- and small-enterprise (MSE) strategies and projects. In particular, the history of support to MSEs in the informal economy has not revealed much action beyond the political and policy rhetoric.
See: Palmer, R. (2007) Skills For Work? From Skills Development to Decent Livelihoods in Ghana?s Rural Informal Economy. International Journal of Educational Development (forthcoming).