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The common characteristics of successful vocational training for self-employment programmes include:
· they apply self-employment focused criteria and practices consistently throughout the self-employment training process;
· they use approaches that are based on enterprise-based training, traditional apprenticeships and other on-the-job training techniques;
· they use training methodologies that help their clients develop enterprise networks;
· they actively involved in local markets and local communities, and they are active members of local institutional networks;
· they offer only limited follow-up assistance, but use training approaches and operational practices that help their clients gain access to a broad array of follow-up support from local businesses and institutions.
The following sections offer design and management recommendations that seek to incorporate the characteristics of successful programmes.
This investigation into vocational training for self-employment has highlighted a number of adaptations of enterprise-based training technologies. The case studies have demonstrated the diversity of design detail and operational practice that is possible within even a limited sample of training programmes. A number of principles have emerged which underpin the practices of successful programmes, and a number of conceptual tools for applying these principles have been offered.
No attempt is made to distil this evidence into models or blueprints. There is thought to be little likelihood of doing so successfully. While there is an emerging sense of what constitutes best practice, this is accompanied by evidence that models based on the limited experiences of individual projects defy replication elsewhere (Grierson and McKenzie, 1996) and warnings that, in any case, the "large-scale delivery of standardised training programmes is not likely to be viable" (Middleton et al., 1993). Hence, it is thought most useful to conclude with general guidance on programme design, management and evaluation rather than with detailed descriptions of individual projects or models.
This chapter uses the tools that have been presented in earlier chapters to draw together the evidence from the case studies and the small enterprise literature into a consolidated framework for planning, managing and assessing vocational training for self-employment. The primary purpose of this framework is to help planners, managers and evaluators focus on basic principles and basic issues. Though the planning framework presented here makes few assumptions about the details of individual programmes, it has been strongly influenced by evidence that enterprise-based training is the cornerstone of many successful vocational training for self-employment programmes.
The Consolidated Planning and Assessment Framework that follows draws together best practice evidence, basic concepts and critical issues into a single planning and management device. The component parts of this framework are reviewed below:
· There are three principal stages in the training for self-employment process:
Selection Stage, Training Stage, and Enterprise Stage.
· There are three key issues that influence the design components at each stage of the self-employment training process:
Cost, Relevance, and Equity
This complexity of elements is consolidated, in Figure 2, overleaf, into a framework for planning and assessing vocational training for self-employment.
Figure 2
CONSOLIDATED PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR SELF-EMPLOYMENT
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VOCATIONAL TRAINING for SELF-EMPLOYMENT |
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SELECTION STAGE —® |
TRAINING STAGE—® |
ENTERPRISE STAGE—® |
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COST | | | |
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RELEVANCE | |
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EQUITY | | | |
The guidelines that follow assume that most vocational training for self-employment programmes will have been created to address specific problems, and that as they respond, each programme will become involved in institutional networks comprised of other agencies with similar goals and responsibilities. Both of these factors exert considerable influence on the design details of individual programmes.
Self-employment training programmes do not take place in a vacuum. They are but one of a wide variety of influences on the informal sector and the unemployed. Ultimately, the most important of these influences are the array of economic opportunities available in local markets, and the characteristics of the enterprises that will be involved in the self-employment training process. But there will also be many local institutions and agencies - banks, NGOs, business associations, community organisations and others - which can and should complement the efforts of self-employment training programmes. Taken together these form the networks that provide the market access and training opportunities that constitute each programme's strength and range. The specialities and capacities available within this network will have a direct and continuous influence on the details of programme design.
When this all-important context has been established, operating standards and the working details of programme design will begin to emerge; guided by the dictates of best practice, the application of basic principles, and the experiences and "culture" of the programme itself. It is at just this stage that the basic principles of vocational training for self-employment become most important and exert the most influence. They are repeated here, to set the stage for the process of determining design details and operational practices that follows.
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TRAINING FOR SELF-EMPLOYMENT DESIGN PRINCIPLES 1. Be consistent throughout the training for self-employment
process. |
This section uses the Consolidated Planning and Assessment Framework (Figure 2) to structure and present planning, management and assessment guidelines in terms of cost considerations (Table 1, overleaf), relevance considerations (Table 2), and equity considerations (Table 3). Costs, relevance and equity are considered in relation to each of the three stages of the vocational training for self-employment process.
Table 1
VOCATIONAL TRAINING for
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
Planning Assessment
Guidelines
COST CONSIDERATIONS
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SELECTION STAGE —® |
TRAINING STAGE —® |
ENTERPRISE STAGE —® |
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· selection for enterprise potential increases overall cost-effectiveness and impact |
· training programmes should concentrate on their "core competency": training |
· training programmers: should strictly limit the range of support services they offer directly |
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· self-selection works best when the programme's objectives are fundamentally economic, and there are strict criteria mandating selection based on 'self-employment potential' |
· training approaches should minimise manpower, equipment, infrastructure and materials costs |
· direct follow-up support should concentrate on liaison with local enterprises and institutions |
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· self-selection can be weak in terms of equity and relevance |
· programmes should share costs with trainees, network members, and local enterprises |
· training approaches that build enterprise networks increase self-employment start-up potential and reduce follow-up costs |
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· selection systems should seek to identify current market demand in the local economy |
· there should be clear incentives for all parties to participate |
· follow-up should stress |
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· trainee participation in course selection and design increases the likelihood of self-employment success; requiring trainees to identify their own training courses can be an effective self-selection mechanism |
· training approaches should maximise the economic benefit of existing productive resources |
· follow-up services can do little to correct for errors of inconsistency in the selection stage or the training stage |
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· complex selection procedures are costly and time consuming; however, a careful selection process can increase overall cost-effectiveness |
· enterprise-based training is an effective cost-sharing technique; one that makes efficient use of the productive capacity of local businesses for training | |
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· attempts to "lead the market" or to create new markets are relatively high risk; in such cases little use can be made of local enterprises as trainers | |
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· training should be short |
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Table 2
VOCATIONAL TRAINING for
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
Planning and Assessment
Guidelines
RELEVANCE CONSIDERATIONS
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SELECTION STAGE —® |
TRAINING STAGE —® |
ENTERPRISE STAGE —® |
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· selection criteria must be consistent with the designated development objective |
· training must impart flexible skills that reflect current demand in local markets |
· all programmes should regularly trace a sample of their trainees to continuously monitor success in employment |
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· (within any specified development objective) selection criteria should seek those with 'high self- employment potential' |
· course determination should respond to the insights and aspirations of the trainees |
· good self-employment programmes can expect a significant portion of their trainees to become self- employed immediately after training or within a very short period (usually between 1 - 6 months) |
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· selection, criteria, training approach and outcome objective must be consistent |
· training courses should build upon and complement the business ideas of the trainees |
· the level of successful self- employment (measured as a percentage of all trainees) is the best simple measure of both course and programme relevance |
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· as a general rule, the best course selection method is to seek out, assess and respond to the ideas of those who will receive self-employment assistance |
· as a rough "rule of thumb" one-third of all trainees can be expected to use their training to start become self-employed within six months after training; good programmes do much better |
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· the training design should make maximum use of local resources |
· a declining rate of self employment start-up is a good simple indicator of declining market demand or of inappropriate or irrelevant training |
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· training methodologies should facilitate early direct market involvement and quick transition to self- employment |
· vocational skills depreciate rapidly trainees should be encouraged to start self- employment as soon as possible following training |
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· training should be as similar as possible in style and content to the self- employment that is expected to result from training |
· many trainees will work after training; there are many good reasons for this to refine skills, to accumulate capital, to further self-employment planning, and to build the enterprise networks |
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· training methodologies must facilitate the establishment of enterprise networks |
· follow-up must facilitate a rapid "weaning" process; new microenterprises must not depend on support programmes for markets resources or skills |
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· market simulations, such as "production units" and "sheltered workshops" are never as effective as the market itself |
· follow-up must enhance market skills not attempt to substitute for them |
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· there should be clear incentives for all parties to participate |
· all follow-up assistance should be demand driven |
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· course offerings must be continuously assessed in terms of demand, cost and new self-employment that results |
· follow-up assistance should not be mandatory |
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· the business ideas of prospective trainees the level of trainee demand (measured as a simple multiple of training places available), and trends in trainee demand are all good basic indicators of current local market demand |
· access to follow-up sup port should be based on need, entitlement |
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· the level and trend in demand for individual courses, and the level and trend of self-employment outcome for each course, must be monitored continuously |
· follow-up assistance should be available on demand, not on a scheduled or sequenced basis |
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· access to one type of assistance (e. g. credit) should not require completion of another type (e.g. training) |
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· as a general "rule of thumb", the most effective and efficient form of follow-up is "liaison" with local markets and local institutions |
Table 3
VOCATIONAL TRAINING for
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
Planning and Assessment
Guidelines
EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS
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SELECTION STAGE —® |
TRAINING STAGE —® |
ENTERPRISE STAGE —® |
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· selection criteria must be consistent with the designated development objective |
· training methodologies should be suitable for those with only modest levels of educational |
· programme support, to 'facilitating access' to follow-up assistance, may be needed to ensure equitable access to support services from specialist providers |
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· standards of equity are influenced by the development objective and the designation of the target group |
· literacy and educational requirements should be set as low as possible |
· equity motivated follow- up at the enterprise stage can do lime to compensate for "errors of inconsistency" at the selection and training stages equity assurance measures are most effective at the selection and stages |
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· selection mechanisms and criteria may need to be structured to ensure equitable access |
· training should use local or indigenous languages whenever possible |
· equity cannot be added late in the process through follow-up assistance or long-term subsidy; ultimately those who aspire to be self-employed, from all target groups, must be able to survive unassisted in local markets |
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· self-selection will usually favour those with drive, access or ability |
· training structures and schedules should be designed to accommodate both multiple social roles(including family care responsibilities) and diversified economic strategies | |
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· when using self-selection, special attention may be needed to define the development objective and specify the target group, if equity considerations are to be emphasised |
· training sites should be as physically close as is practicable to both trainee's homes end local markets | |
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· equity considerations must be introduced early and applied throughout the training for self- employment process |
· training venues should be as similar as possible in style and facilities to the enterprises that are expected to result from training | |
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· training venues, languages, and practices should be familiar and non threatening in terms of style, choice, complexity and cultural appropriateness | |
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· most forms of private sector training tend to reinforce existing social patterns; special provision might be needed to address equity issues |
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Self-employment is about very small enterprise. Vocational training for self-employment is about helping those with modest resources but great need acquire the skills and opportunities to become self-employed. Effective self-employment training programmes have close links with local institutions and local markets. They use both sets of linkages to help their trainees become self-employed. Enterprise-based training and traditional training practices are the most effective tools training institutions have to develop linkages with local markets.
Even the most modest enterprises need something to sell, the opportunity to sell, and help when problems or opportunities arise. Traditional forms of enterprise-based training can help provide all three. Enterprise-based training is particularly effective when it takes place in very small enterprises that are similar in style and scale to those that trainees hope to start following their training. Traditional forms of enterprise-based training are a well known, widely available, inexpensive and culturally appropriate means of imparting self-employment skills. Though imperfect, traditional practices are highly effective. Perhaps the most important single aspect of their effectiveness is the degree to which they facilitate the formation of the enterprise networks needed to identify, test and validate self-employment opportunities, and to start and sustain self-employment.
Enterprise networks are the diverse and dynamic relationships that all businesspeople, including those in the early stages of self-employment have with customers, competitors, suppliers and support agencies. Enterprise networks are a normal and natural source of training, capital and counsel. Traditional training practices combine skills training and network formation in a flexible package that provides marketable skills, access to market opportunities and a helping hand with business problems.
There is much that remains to be learned about the subtleties of traditional training systems, and about how these systems can help serve the millions seeking self-employment. This purpose of this book is twofold: to show how a few programmes have used traditional training practices to help create self-employment, and to provide some practical guidance for the many other programmes who are certain to follow in their footsteps.
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