3. Kenya

by

Henry Oloo Oketch
Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme
Nairobi, Kenya

Acronyms and abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Review of the literature
3. Education and training projects for the informal sector
4. Lessons learned and alternative strategy
References

Acronyms and abbreviations

ApproTEC	Appropriate Technology for Enterprise Creation
ATU	Appropriate Technology Unit
CITC	Christian Industrial Training Centre
CRT	Centre of Research and Technology
EEP	Entrepreneurship Education Programme
EE	Entrepreneurship Education
GOK	Government of Kenya
HIT	Harambee Institute of Technology
IYB	Improve Your Business
K-REP	Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme
KTTI	Kenya Technical Training Institute
NIVTC	National Industrial and Vocational Training Centre
NCCK	National Council of Churches of Kenya
NYS	National Youth Service
TTI	Technical Training Institute
VP	Village Polytechnic
VSO	Voluntary Service Overseas
YP	Youth Polytechnic

Acknowledgements

First, my thanks go to Professor Kenneth King, the Director of the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, and staff of the Institute of Education, University of London, for giving me the chance to participate in this study. The research was rewarding, both intellectually and morally.

Secondly, I wish to thank Mr Daniel Owino and John Kuria, both formerly of Moi University, for assisting me in identifying, reading, and reviewing some of the material presented for this report.

Any errors or omissions that remain in this paper are mine.

Henry O Oketch
Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme
Nairobi
30 October 1993

1. Introduction

1.1 Background
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Objectives of the study
1.4 Study methodology
1.5 Organization of the report

1.1 Background

Kenya had a total labour force ¹ of 7.5 million in 1984, but only eighty-seven per cent of this (6.5 million) was employed (House, Ikiara, and McCormick, 1990:11). By the end of 1992, Kenya had a labour force of 9.9 million people of which about twenty-eight per cent were unemployed (Kenya Economic Survey, 1993:51). It is estimated that by the year 2000, slightly more than a fifth of the labour force will be unemployed. Table 1 shows the magnitude and structure of employment in Kenya from 1984 to the next decade.

¹ Total labour force is defined as the working age population, i.e. those between 15 and 64 years of age, who are either at work or else looking for work during a specified reference period (Labour Force Survey, 1987).

Table 1. Size and structure of employment in Kenya, 1984-2000 (in millions)

Size/Employment source	1984	2000
Total labour force	7.5 (100)	14.2 (100)
Total employment (proportion of labour engaged)	6.5 (87)	11.2 (79.6)
Number engaged in modern wage sector (as a proportion of total employment)	1.2 (15.3)	2.1 (14.7)
Number engaged in non-wage agriculture (as a proportion of total employment)	3.9 (51.5)	6.5 (46.4)
Number engaged in non-farm enterprises (as a proportion of total employment)	1.3 (17.5)	2.3 (16.1)
Urban informal sector (as a proportion of total employment)	0.2 (2.7)	0.4 (2.5)
Residual (as a proportion of total employment)	1 (13)	2.9 (20.4)

Source: Adapted from House et al (1990: 11) Table 2.

The table shows a general decline in employment opportunities between 1984 and the year 2000 in all the sectors, with employment in the modern wage sector showing a pronounced decline. It has been estimated that the size of the labour force will grow by forty per cent to 14.2 million (Ndegwa, 1991:24) between 1987 and the year 2000, while modern sector employment will only grow by a total of 0.6 million over the same period. This implies that about a fifth of the labour force will be unemployed by the year 2000. Many issues arise from this depressing prospect:

· The first major concern is the widening gap between manpower supply and job opportunities.

· The second concern is whether there are strategies that can be used to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand for labour in the country and, if so, whether this can be done soon enough.

· The third concern is whether the government has the political will and capacity to implement such strategies, even if the resources were available.

There is evidence (Manpower Survey, 1987:82) that the imbalance between jobs and the labour force in Kenya will worsen, not improve in future. The Survey indicates that twenty-five per cent of the school-age population seek employment without attending primary school. Of those who enrol in standard one, forty-six per cent proceed to secondary education, while six per cent join village polytechnics. The majority (forty-eight per cent), however, join the labour market at this point.

Similarly, the majority of pupils who complete secondary education (fifty-one per cent) join the labour market, while a fifth proceed to the university. Only about a third of secondary school graduates join skills training colleges.

The data on enrolment at each level of these education and training points suggests an increasing gap between jobs and manpower supply. The Manpower Survey (1987: 123) projects that the total demand for all occupations up to the year 2000 will be around 0.6 million jobs, of which only a small fraction (thirty-eight thousand) will be due to industrial expansion. Over the same period, the combined output from the education and training institutions is estimated to grow at 0.5 million per year. The threat of massive unemployment in Kenya is thus real.

1.2 Statement of the problem

The largest number of new job opportunities - as large as 75.7% - are increasingly being created by informal enterprises, rather than the modern wage sector or agriculture, both of which have been the major source of jobs, and consequently government support, since independence. Evidence from recent manpower surveys indicate that the share of the informal sector in total employment has increased over the years, from less than three per cent in 1980 to nearly a third (27.2%) by the end of 1992. Table 2 summarizes the growth in new employment opportunities in the modern and informal sectors of the economy between 1986 and 1992. It shows that the informal sector has been creating increasingly more jobs each year than the modern wage sector since 1986.

The jua kali (informal) sector, however, faces many constraints, which include harassment by government authorities, lack of certain basic technical and business management skills, and sometimes hostility from large businesses. The jua kali enterprises also face policy-related macroeconomic problems such as a high rate of inflation which erodes the value of their capital and depresses- demand for their products or services. All these factors make employment in the informal sector fragile, and investments risky (see McComick, 1990). Because of such problems, jua kali enterprises remain small and thus their potential in creating jobs through growth and expansion are undermined. One way to deal with these problems is to change negative government attitudes and policies towards small and micro-enterprises. Other solutions include provision of credit and certain basic technical and business management skills to the entrepreneurs to initiate, improve, or increase their abilities to manage their enterprises.

Table 2. Percentage growth in job creation by sector, 1986-1992

SECTOR	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992
Informal Sector	10.2	10.6	11.5	12.7	13.6	14.1	13.7
Modern Sector	3.9	3.5	2.4	3.0	2.3	1.4
Total	5.1	5.0	5.4	4.4	5.1	5.1	4.6

Source: Adapted from Kenya Economic Surveys, 1986-1992.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The purpose of this study is to identify the training initiatives that are being undertaken to support the informal sector, which for the last ten years or so has been the major source of job opportunities. In addition, the study evaluates the relevance and effectiveness of each of these initiatives in providing the necessary skills for paid or self-employment in the informal sector. Lastly, based on the findings of the evaluation, the study presents some long-term suggestions which could increase the entrepreneurial and employment capacity of the informal sector.

1.4 Study methodology

This study draws mostly from secondary data sources which have analyzed various policy and programme initiatives aimed at supporting the informal sector. This is supplemented by primary data collected from five programmes or projects which are involved in providing education and training to groups within the informal sector. About forty-five titles dealing with education and training opportunities for the informal sector are reviewed.

1.5 Organization of the report

This report is organized into four chapters, each focusing on a specific dimension of the training and education aspect of the informal sector. After this introductory chapter, the existing data on training and education for the informal sector from secondary sources are reviewed in Chapter 2 under four major sections, each reflecting some facet of Kenya's education and training system. Five projects with specific training and education programmes for the informal sector are discussed in Chapter 3, while the lessons from both the secondary and primary sources are presented in Chapter 4. The report also contains a list of references.

2. Review of the literature

2.1 The education system and training opportunities for the informal sector
2.2 Post-education training programmes and skills acquisition
2.3 Work experience in the modern sector and skills transfer to the informal sector
2.4 Supply and demand for skills within the informal sector itself

Attempts by the Kenyan government to re-orient the curriculum of the primary cycle of education to give students more practical skills and to prepare them towards self-employment in the informal sector are examined in this chapter. The success and failures of the system, together with specific policy strategies, are also highlighted.

2.1 The education system and training opportunities for the informal sector

When Kenya became independent in 1963, the new government decided to expand educational opportunities, with the belief that development of the economy, and thus employment of the educated, will automatically accompany such expansion. The number of children completing primary education increased from fifteen thousand at independence to one hundred and forty thousand by 1973 (Caplen, 1981). Ten years later, the figure had further increased to four hundred thousand. However, contrary to the expectation of the government at independence, many of the students leaving school after primary education failed to secure employment. This problem has been attributed to the then system of primary education (7-4-2-3) which produced graduates with high expectations but few employable skills.

The school leaver problem was formally reviewed in 1975 by the National Committee on Educational Objectives and Policies (GOK, 1975). The Gachathi report, as it is known, recognized the large and increasing number of unemployed school leavers in the country, and the reality that self-employment was the only feasible solution for many of them. The Committee recommended the following strategies to deal with the imbalance between large output from the school system and low demand for the graduates:

· that the education system be reviewed to provide students with as many skills as possible for future self-employment. (p. 8)

· that to achieve the above objective, the primary cycle be extended to nine years, and a mixture of adaptive subjects, such as agriculture, home economics, carpentry, fishing, pottery, elementary mechanics, and typewriting, be added to the curriculum. (p. 51)

· that students at the primary school be prepared as much as possible for further education to the highest level possible, through the teaching and development of numeracy, scientific and literary skills which deepen their understanding of social structures, values, and systems. The Committee made specific recommendations about the teaching of arts and crafts, woodwork, masonry and bricklaying, and business education (e.g. typing, book-keeping, commerce) in the upper primary classes.

· that technical subjects, such as technical drawing, engineering sciences, and metalwork, etc be emphasized in the secondary school curriculum.

Most of these recommendations were, however, not implemented due to lack of finances. With time, the primary school leaver problem spread to the secondary school leavers as well.

By the late 1970s, the effect of the rapid growth in the number of primary school pupils had reached secondary schools, where the output increased significantly as a result of the emergence of harambee (community sponsored) secondary schools, multiple streams in government maintained secondary schools and private (commercial) schools.

The school leaver problem worsened over the years as the number of students in primary and secondary schools accelerated while economic growth on the other hand declined steadily over the same period. The problem reached a crisis in 1984 when the government appointed the Mackay Commission to find solutions to the problem.

The Mackay Commission made many recommendations including a change of the education system from the 7-4-2-3 system introduced in 1975 after the Ominde Commission to the current 8-4-4 system whereby the teaching of technical subjects, such as carpentry, home economics, and music, are emphasized in primary schools. The proposed system of education was implemented as from 1984 following the recommendations to the Presidential Working Party on the establishment of the second university (Mackay Report 1981).

The 8-4-4 system increased the duration of primary education from seven to eight years but also eliminated the two years of learning in secondary schools after fourth form. However the period of learning at the university was lengthened from three to four years.

In addition to the changes in the number of years spent in school, the commission made significant changes to the school curriculum as well, especially in primary schools. The report in particular emphasized the need to impart not only numeracy and literacy skills to the students but also directly employable skills to students completing their learning at the primary school level. The report was especially concerned about the need to link what students learn in the classroom with potential employment opportunities in the country.

The Mackay Commission made the following specific recommendations to the government:

It recommended the teaching of practical skills in primary schools so as to facilitate direct employment, self-employment, or employment of school leavers in the informal sector.

It recommended a broad-based primary school curriculum that could provide numeracy and literacy skills in the first six years of primary education and later, in the last two years of primary education, a skills-based basic education which could enable primary school drop-outs to become self-employed.

The 8-4-4 system involved many changes in the structure and content of formal education. Since 1984 when it was initiated, the government has emphasized the teaching of technical subjects in primary schools. Consequently, a wide range of new subjects such as woodwork, metalwork, leatherwork, tailoring, and business education are being taught in primary schools. Other subjects which are also being taught in schools include arts, agriculture and home science. It is believed that this curriculum can prepare the youth for further learning and direct employment, either by self or others. The majority of primary school leavers are expected to become self-employed in the rural informal sector where most of them live.

The primary school curriculum is broken into two phases. The teaching of literacy and numeracy skills accounts for the larger part of the students' learning time in the first six years of the primary programme. The teaching of subjects such as business studies, tailoring and carpentry after class six is believed to prepare the students to understand and appreciate market opportunities and how to start and manage a small enterprise.

The government saw the need to provide a practical oriented curriculum that would offer a wide range of employment opportunities. Graduates of the 8-4-4 system at every level of the education cycle are expected to have some scientific and practical knowledge that can be utilized for either self-employment, salaried employment or for further training (Kerre 1987, Sifuna 1985). However, research findings presented elsewhere in this paper indicate that this has proved difficult to achieve.

The government also introduced further changes at the secondary level. Of the over 200 secondary schools in Kenya today, eighteen are technical training institutes, while thirty-five are industrial or vocational schools offering training in carpentry and metalwork to the students. Agriculture is offered by 130 schools, business education by 35, while home economics is taught in 106 schools. This reflects government efforts to introduce more practical subjects into the secondary school curriculum. However, the 8-4-4 system was bound to have many problems right from the start. First it was implemented quite hurriedly without proper testing to show whether it would succeed. This was done especially against the good advice of curriculum specialists and experienced educators, who had foreseen the practical implications of this system, not in terms of relevance but rather in terms of resources and organization. The argument advanced at this stage by the government or proponents of the system was that the system had succeeded in many developed countries, and thus there was no reason why it should fail in Kenya.

The proponents of the new system of education failed, however, to realize that Kenya, unlike the developed countries where the system had successfully been implemented, lacked the capacity and resources to initiate an expensive change such as this one. The truth was that most Kenyan schools lacked specialist teachers, workshops, and equipment to implement practical education in primary schools.

Other sources of failure in implementing the 8-4-4 system were due to lack of support by parents and teachers. None of these important agents in education were involved or prepared by the government in selecting and designing the 8-4-4 system. Unsuprisingly, many parents resisted or were reluctant to finance the construction of workshops and the purchase of equipment in primary schools. Even if the parents were involved at all the stages of designing the new education system, it is unlikely that many of them could have been able to make the necessary contribution given the recent decline in levels of income in Kenya. Teachers, on the other hand, were unprepared or unable to teach the new subjects and thus largely concentrated on teaching the traditional subjects in which they had experience and training. Lastly, the new system of education lacked an internal system for monitoring and evaluating its progress and relevance.

In general, the 8-4-4 system so far seems unlikely to achieve its objectives. The major failure of the system is that students' attitudes toward practical education remain negative and their mastery of technical skill after the eight years of education is poor. Instead, the focus of teaching and curriculum is still based on passing exams for further education or access to white-collar jobs. In simple terms, what the students learn in primary schools under the 8-4-4 system of education is inadequate in helping them to become self-employed or creating positive attitudes towards post-school training which can lead to the acquisition of the necessary skills. Evidence from recent studies focusing on the impact of the changes embodied in the 8-4-4 on skills and opportunities of primary school leavers suggest that it has failed to achieve its objectives.

Shiundu (1991) has studied the post-school activities of primary school leavers under the 8-44 system of education in a sample of rural areas. His findings are, however, indecisive. On the one hand, he argues that subjects learnt in schools by primary school leavers, such as Mathematics, Science and Agriculture, Arts, Crafts, and Health Science, etc. have contributed to the development of work skills. On the other hand, he presents evidence which shows that most primary school leavers from the 8-4-4 system of education acquire most of their skills through apprenticeship in jua kali businesses, or casual labour. For example, a majority of the school leavers studied, when asked to indicate the source of their skills, hardly mentioned the practical subjects taught in schools.

However, as Shiundu (1991) rightly comments about his findings, curriculum reforms in most cases have been made in ignorance of the nature of the informal sector which they seek to support or strengthen. The general knowledge of activities that go on in the informal sector seems to be the guiding factor.

In the same study discussed above, Shiundu (1991) challenges the belief that vocational education can be achieved through the formal school system. He argues that, since the specific production skills are best and most easily acquired in the informal sector itself, it would be uneconomical to emphasize complete vocational education, which requires a wide range of expensive tools, equipment, and workshops in primary education. He notes that most primary schools in Kenya currently lack such resources and are unlikely to acquire them in the future. Furthermore, he argues, if such tools and equipment are used to train the youth, this will not prepare them for the real work situation (the informal sector) where they are unlikely to have access to or use of such equipment. He argues that such an approach can, in fact, drive the pupils further away from the informal sector, where they are expected to seek self-employment. Instead, he argues, the students are likely to seek employment in the formal sector, which provides a working environment similar to the one under which they acquired their skills.

Shiundu (1991) therefore recommends the improvement in the learning of general academic subjects in schools so as to give the youth a variety of general skills and therefore a broader base for selecting and fitting in as many occupations as possible. This, he argues, is better than offering a few technical and vocational subjects providing specific skills for only a few occupations. He also advocates increasing learners' awareness of occupational opportunities in the informal sector, and how what they learn in school relates to these occupations. In his words, 'all subjects in the school curriculum, especially mathematics and those which develop communication skills have useful vocational content'. He asserts that the method of teaching is what determines what is learned and how it is applied by the students. He thus recommends that the teaching methods should be appropriate to the expected work conditions and processes.

Other studies evaluating the 8-4-4 system of education have come to the same conclusions. Owano (1988), in a study of the impact of the 8-4-4 system on employment, concludes that both the objectives and content of the new primary school curriculum are similar to those of the 7-4-23 system of education. In her opinion, the objectives and contents of the 8-4-4 system of education remain broad and too general in terms of directly employable skills.

Kerre (1987) is of the opinion that the basic problem of the 8-4-4 system of education is that the government lacks a specific policy statement on how the system is to be implemented. He notes that there is a general lack of national policy on the orientation of vocational education in the Kenyan education system. He gives, as an example, the absence of a policy statement on whether, in primary and secondary schools, vocational education should be concerned with building positive attitudes and knowledge about such occupations or whether it should be concerned with the actual transfer of such occupational skills. He recommends that the content of vocational education should be designed in the light of occupational awareness so that concepts and attitudes are positively formed towards work.

In Kerre's ( 1987) view, the new vocational subjects introduced in the 8-4-4 curriculum represent an attempt to provide a foundation for future specific skill training, rather than an attempt to impart skills which can immediately be used by the primary and secondary school graduates seeking wage or self-employment. The 8-4-4 system faces other problems as well. As argued by Owano (1988), most primary school children are at this age pre-occupied psychologically with further education, rather than learning directly employable skills which are acquired after primary school. Unsurprisingly, most of them view the acquisition of directly employable skills as a last resort, when opportunities for further education are exhausted.

The attitude of pupils to technical education at this level is further undermined by lack of basic facilities and qualified teachers to handle the practical subjects in most of the schools. Innovative attempts by some schools to use local craftsmen to demonstrate certain skills to the students have received negative reaction from the students who feel or believe that they know more than the local craftsmen. This has undermined the integrity of practical subjects in the eyes of the learners.

The pupils' negative attitude to learning directly employable skills is further reinforced by the way the government has allocated learning time between technical and academic subjects under the 8-4-4 system. In general, technical subjects form a very small part of a broad course offered in primary schools. Only fifteen per cent of the learning hours are devoted to practical subjects. When it comes to terminal evaluation of students, again the weight put on technical subjects in measuring students' performance is low. The message that pupils get from all this is that academic subjects dealing with literacy and numeracy as well as simple scientific principles are more important to learn than those dealing with practical education.

The evidence from these studies suggest that the forty-eight per cent or so of students joining the labour market at the end of primary school lack directly employable skills. Most of the analysts agree though that the new system of education has created some awareness in pupils about occupational and vocational skills and how these relate to the job market. In conclusion, the work of imparting specific vocational skills will for the time being continue to be done on-the-job through apprenticeship, and in post-school institutions such as the youth polytechnics, which six per cent of primary school leavers join after primary education.

Shiundu (1991), in the study already discussed above, also found evidence which shows that the primary school curriculum has several useful vocational elements. However, he found that students cannot link what they learn directly with employment or production because of the teaching approach. For instance, he found that many of the students were unable to write legibly or read useful government and other documents. Furthermore, many of them were also unable to calculate sums and give correct change based on business concepts such as discounts, profits, and interest, which they learn at school.

Perhaps Shiundu's view of the 8-4-4 system of education is contradictory. On the one hand, he argues that the 8-4-4 curriculum is costly and irrelevant in relation to the skills required by school leavers to become self-employed. But on the other hand, he commends the system as providing useful knowledge such as that obtained from learning mathematics and business studies which school leavers can apply in actual life.

It seems that Shiundu's problem is in drawing a line between technical and business management skills. What he seems to be saying is that the knowledge gained by school leavers from learning mathematical and business principles in school can directly be used in business management. However, one needs practical skills to engage in production. If that is indeed the case, then policy makers seem to have overlooked the possibility that the school leavers could engage in commercial rather than manufacturing activities and still become self-employed.

It is not surprising, therefore, that other researchers - who also look at self-employment as being only possible in production activities - have also supported the need to orient the curriculum towards the needs of the informal sector. Williams (1980), for example, advocates increasing the vocational content of primary education and making vocational courses more available. The author recommends the use of traditional methods of short-term skills instruction in informal apprenticeships in the primary and secondary school context as one possible alternative to make the content more vocational.

In general, the problem with the 8-4-4 system of education seems to have been poor planning and implementation, rather than its objectives or curriculum content. The system has proved costly to implement in all primary schools; construction of workshops, purchase of equipment, and training or retraining of teachers, which is critical in teaching skills-based subjects, have not been possible in more than ten years of implementation. Teachers' and pupils' attitudes to learning practical subjects have remained negative throughout the period. The emphasis on academic subjects as reflected in the content of examinations and the school time-table has reinforced these negative attitudes. Lastly, the curriculum is currently too broad, and both students and teachers are unable to concentrate on every aspect of the learning, especially technical subjects which generally require more time.

Two conclusions by House et al (1990) perhaps best summarise the role of education in skills training for the informal sector. In one of these, the authors commented that 'the most notable characteristic of the self employed is the virtual absence of public sources of training' (p.41). They also further observed that the urban labour force survey (GOK, 1988:62) shows that unemployment is highest among recent school leavers who fall within the 20-29 years age group. These are most likely to be those who have graduated from the 8-4-4 system of education since 1984.

2.2 Post-education training programmes and skills acquisition

One major focus of studies on education and training provided by NGOs to informal sector operators is the relevance of such skills to their needs. Such studies also look at the cost and impact of these training opportunities on informal businesses. Some of the evidence from these studies is presented in this section.

The rationale for Kenya's non-formal education is to be found in the thousands of youth who directly join the labour force or other educational institutions, either after completing standard eight or during secondary education. Many of them remain unemployed for a long time after leaving school. Recent labour force surveys (GOK, 1986) indicate that the average job queue for non-university graduates can be as long as six years. Non-formal education, then, is geared towards what Sifuna (1975) has called 'the unfinished business of primary schools'. Each year, the economy inherits a vast clientele of youth who fail their exams or lack the money to continue in the formal education system, and do not have the skills to become self-employed. There is a history behind this dilemma.

Technical vocational education, offered in plenty during colonial times, was resented by the Africans, who regarded it as being designed for the less gifted and inferior, and was thus labelled by them as '..education for servitude' (Kasina, 1987). Predictably, the emphasis in the post-independence period was on economic expansion, Kenyanization and expansion of education to provide the necessary skills. The government, through the Industrial Training Act (1960) and, later on, the first National Development Plan (1964-1970), introduced policies regulating the training of persons engaged in industry to achieve these objectives.

A commission of inquiry into the terms of service and remuneration of the public service (known as the Ndegwa Commission of 1970/71) also addressed the subject of vocational training. The report, with regard to the then existing secondary vocational schools, recognised the need to exploit the facilities intensively and with maximum economy in the training of people for direct employment on completion of courses. The commission specifically recommended a review of the content and duration of the above vocational courses so that they could be used to meet future manpower requirements of the country. The commission was convinced that '...the government's priorities in the field of educational expansion should lie in the development of technical education' (p.146). It seems clear from the concerns of this report that as early as the 70s the government had realised the need to encourage vocational education and training.

The strategy of teaching vocational subjects in schools, as emphasised in the second development plan (1970-1974), was considered by the government as one way to provide school leavers with skills for self-employment, and to create economic and social balance between the urban and rural areas. This shift toward vocational education, coming so soon after a negative campaign against such education after independence, was prompted basically by the realisation that the modern sector was unable to absorb the thousands of youth who were flooding the job market each year on leaving school. It was then believed - correctly so that the skills obtained from such vocational education could be used by school leavers in starting self-employment projects.

One year after the recommendations of the Ndegwa report (in 1975), the Gachathi Commission made similar recommendations, urging the government to develop a secondary school curriculum which focused on the teaching of technical subjects such as technical drawing and engineering-based classes. And in 1981, some six years later, the Presidential Working Party on the establishment of a second University recommended the co-ordination and full use of post-secondary education institutions to provide the country with larger numbers of middle level manpower. The Committee further recommended '...the expansion of post-secondary training institutes to increase the output of technicians and craftsmen both for the formal and informal sectors' (p 125).

Since then, efforts to solve the problem of youth unemployment have included the initiation or further expansion of education and training programmes for youths both in school and out of school. Among the post-school vocational training programmes recognised by the Gachathi report was the Youth Polytechnic (YP) programme, originally known as the Village Polytechnic (VP) programme. The YP programme was initiated in 1968 by the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), a non-governmental organisation, rather than by the government which had all along recognised the need for this kind of programme.

2.2.1 The Youth Polytechnic Programme (YPP)

The NCCK developed and popularised the concept of YPs as a solution to the problem of employment and education for primary school leavers. The NCCK, recognising the rapid development of a serious unemployment problem within the primary school leaver population, decided to establish low-cost post-primary school training centres in rural areas in 1966, which later became known as Youth Polytechnics. The NCCK, after a study of the school leaver problem, published a report in 1966 known as: After School, What? The report identified the rapid development of a serious unemployment problem among graduates of primary schools and recommended the development of the YP programme.

The general argument for the YP programme was that school leavers were unable to become self-employed or get salaried jobs because of inappropriate education. Consequently, the government was urged to reform education so that it promoted non-formal, practically-oriented training similar to the one provided by the YP programme.

The Village Polytechnics were originally to provide rural primary school leavers with skills which were in demand in the local economy, thereby engendering a cadre of self-employed artisans and independent work groups. The main hope was that training in the YPs would be both practical and productive. It was further expected that the training would be locally designed and thus remain relevant to local work opportunities. In addition, it was hoped that the trainees would identify work opportunities for themselves and thus select the appropriate areas in which to train. Lastly, it was hoped that the curriculum would largely be based on the job type of experience and thus be flexible. It was hoped that this kind of training would reduce the influx of school leavers into urban areas.

The YPs are small training centres which provide local youth with an opportunity to learn simple practical skills, for example, masonry, carpentry and tailoring. A survey of these centres (National Manpower Survey, 1989:91) shows that tailoring, dressmaking, home economics, and knitting were the most popular (31 per cent of students), followed by carpentry and joinery (28 per cent). There was a total of 23,972 students registered for eighteen courses in the YPs in 1989. The survey gives the output from these YPs between 1987 and 1992 at an average of 6,379 artisans per year.

In general, the objective of the YP programme is that its graduates will obtain the skills which they can use to become self-employed in the rural areas. The overall effect of this strategy would, theoretically, be to reduce youth unemployment, de-accelerate the pace of rural-urban migration, while enhancing the development of the rural economy through non-farm rural enterprises.

Initially, the NCCK was the major sponsor of the YPs. However, the YPs were gradually taken over by the government (1970-71), which mainly paid salaries for teachers. There emerged, therefore, an NCCK-Government framework in which the present YPs operate.

As mentioned earlier, the polytechnics offer courses in carpentry, masonry, tailoring and dressmaking, domestic science (eg baking), typing, poultry keeping, rabbit keeping, tinsmithery, metalwork, and plumbing, among others. The trainees are encouraged to understand the needs of the community and then to use the skills learned to design and construct goods that meet those needs, possibly using locally available materials. Over time, the YPs were expected to be self-sustaining, with the goods manufactured being sold and the proceeds used to finance the activities of the institutions. In addition, the newly acquired business training was expected to be useful to the graduates of the YPs in marketing the manufactured goods, either through cooperatives formed after the courses or during trade exhibitions.

But the main question here is whether the YP programme has been effective, and whether it has achieved its objectives and met the expectations of the public. Orwa (1982), in a study of the programme, found that it had achieved most of its objectives. He found that the YPs have been successful in changing the attitudes of young people towards manual work and technical education. The programme had also enabled many young people to be engaged in gainful employment. In addition, the students had acquired many useful technical skills, ranging from electricity and motor mechanics to bee-keeping, poultry-keeping, and plumbing.

Other studies have also noted the achievements of the YP programme. Owano (1988), in another study of the YP programme, found that most YP graduates used their skills to earn a living and even create employment for other youths. He also found that the programme had changed the youths' attitude towards rural areas and had made them regard their rural home areas as their future places of employment.

Kipkorir (1975), in a study of the development and co-ordination of non-formal programmes, observed that, when large numbers of school leavers join the labour market without any hope of immediate employment opportunities, the YPs offer temporary relief as some of the students enrol in these centres as they wait or search for jobs. In the meantime, the YPs provide the youth with some form of vocational training so that many of them are transformed from being semi-educated, unskilled, unemployable individuals to semi-skilled, employable labour.

The success of the YP programme can also be judged from its massive expansion over the years. Yambo (1986), for example, shows that in 1980, the number of government-aided YPs was 244, with a total enrolment of 14,997 trainees and a combined staff of 1,335 instructors.

Within three years, the total number of government-aided YPs had increased to 287, while the number of trainees and instructors had risen to 21,473 and 1,620 respectively. By 1985, there were 321 government-aided YPs, while the number of trainees remained high at 24,620. This growth indicates that the YPs had something useful to offer to the fee-paying trainees.

Despite notable achievements, evidence from recent studies suggests that the YP programme lost focus of its initial objectives over time. Lindsay (1986), in a study of entrepreneurship development in Kenya, found that the YPs have become more attached to the formal trades certification system, and most trainees are more concerned about obtaining certificates for wage employment rather than entrepreneurship. The study further shows that the YPs now offer courses that are unrelated to the needs of employers and industry. This means that those who trained in these YPs are. as unlikely to be employed as any other untrained school leavers.

A study of YPs by Action-Aid (1982), cited in Kerre (1987), laments that their contribution to rural development has remained under-exploited. The study notes that past assistance to YPs by NGOs was uncoordinated, resulting in duplication and neglect of certain important institutional needs. The study recommended that the government should take a lead in reviving the original purpose and direction of YPs.

Other limitations of the YPs are noted by Owano (1988), who gives evidence which shows that the YP programme offered opportunities to only a small fraction of the unemployed primary school leavers. The study also found that the focus of the curriculum in these YPs was too narrow, while some of the skills offered, such as tailoring, dressmaking and home economics, were not in high demand in the rural areas. The study further found that, while YP leavers obtained production skills in their particular trades, they received insufficient training in business management skills which undermined their chances of succeeding in self-employment.

Some of the few projects which are concerned with this aspect include the joint ILO and SIDA funded schemes, which emphasise the need for a revolving fund directed at work groups made up of YP graduates. A similar scheme is also being funded by the Kenya Association of Youth Organisations (KAYO).

In general, even though the YP programme seems to have failed to achieve a number of its objectives, it still ranks as the most accessible training programme for primary school leavers. It started as a low-cost informal training programme initiated, financed, and managed by the local community to impart practical skills for self-employment to primary school leavers. Over the years, some of its initial objectives have been forgotten. Only a small proportion of YP leavers (about 23%) become self-employed, and even a smaller percentage of this number survive (Caplen 1981). Lastly, of those who survive, the majority are unable to expand their businesses beyond a certain point.

In general, many writers on the subject of skill training for employment seem to agree that skill alone is insufficient for one to become self-employed. They all underscore the need for a credit scheme to support projects started by YP graduates. The Kenya government, which coordinated the YP programme, believes that YP leavers could solve some of these constraints by forming work groups. It has therefore urged YP management committees to operate a Leaver's Fund, from which leavers could be given credit to purchase tools and equipment to start their businesses. Leavers are also encouraged to form work groups so that they can get support from donor agencies and from the government. Several donor agencies are currently funding some of the programmes aimed at helping the YP leavers through work groups to exploit their skills.

However, some analysts have challenged the government policy on how YP graduates should be helped to start their business. A study by Owano (1988), for example, shows that while the government and donor agencies are convinced that work groups are the most viable strategy for youth employment, most YP leavers on the other hand prefer to be self-employed individually. In their view, this gives them independence and more incentive. One conclusion from this conflict of strategy is that the government should reconsider its emphasis on work groups and instead consider the views of YP leavers when planning programmes aimed at assisting them to earn a living.

2.2.2 The National Youth Service (NYS)

The National Youth Service is the second largest training programme for unemployed youth after the Youth Polytechnic programme. It was established in 1964 for youth between sixteen and thirty years of age. The recruits were viewed, first and foremost, as a disciplined force.

The objective of the programme was to place the youth in an environment that would inculcate good citizenship and at the same time provide an opportunity for education and training to make them productive, skilled workers or farmers. The original motivation was to keep unemployed youth off the streets. Most recruits were originally primary school leavers.

The recruits stay for between one and two years, work in the construction of roads, dams and flood protection and occasionally operate as a paramilitary force. They are also provided with some specialised training, for example, accounting, storekeeping, agricultural training, clerical work, and driving. The service also undertakes to improve whatever formal education level the recruit had reached on joining the service. Thus, those who join as illiterates leave after learning how to read and write. The NYS also maintains a vocational training centre in Mombasa, where recruits are trained in masonry, carpentry, motor vehicle mechanics, fitting and joinery, electronics and plumbing, tailoring/dressmaking, panel beating and welding. Those who show exceptional competence at this centre are taken to the central workshops in Nairobi for further training.

A survey conducted by Yambo (1986) shows that the NYS had an enrolment of 4,299 trainees in 1980, with 732 of them graduating in that year. In 1983, total enrolment was just under 7,000, with 3,000 trainees admitted that year alone. In 1985, enrolment was over 7,000 trainees, representing a sixty-three per cent increase over the 1980 enrolment figures.

Although the NYS was originally intended for primary school leavers, it has recruited more and more secondary school leavers each year. The courses offered are similar to those offered in Harambee Institutes of Technology, YPs and technical training institutes.

Like the YPs, the NYS programme has faced several problems in its endeavour to give specialised training to the youth. Sifuna (1975), in a study on some aspects of non-formal education in Kenya, notes that, although the programme was intended for rural economic activity, it appears urban-oriented and thus fails to address the problems of the rural youth. Kipkorir (1975), in a similar study, highlights the financial constraints facing the leavers who want to start their own enterprises. He argues that many of the NYS graduates come from poor families, and obtaining capital for self-employment and even buying the necessary tools or building workspace has been a problem for them. This has resulted in many of them drifting to the towns to seek salaried jobs.

Another setback in the programme was the diversion of its resources to train pre-university entrants. This pre-university training programme, initiated in 1984, was meant to make university students disciplined and thus minimise the incessant student riots. The programme was, however, shelved in 1990 when it became too expensive to run. In general, the operation of the pre-university programme put a big strain on the budget and facilities meant for the original entrants, and it disrupted the NYS intake of new recruits for almost four years.

2.2.3 The Harambee Institutes of Technology (HITs)

The Harambee Institutes of Technology (HITs) began in the early 1970s with the spirit of self help. The objective was to train craftsmen to meet the growing demand for skilled manpower in the rural areas.

The institutes, originally funded mainly by members of the public, were set up to provide training opportunities to large numbers of school leavers. The difference between HITs and YPs is not so much in the courses offered but in the level of training. The aim of HITs was to produce graduates equipped with good technical training to help alleviate youth unemployment. These institutes therefore represented a massive addition to the existing provision of technical and vocational training.

Originally, the HITs were designed to produce self-employable people with a higher skill and technology level than that possessed by the YPs graduates. The training lasted for three years. Some of the courses offered by HITs include:

- building construction (masonry)
- building services (plumbing)
- mechanical engineering
- business technology (accounting)
- textiles
- agriculture
- technical teacher education (for the institutes).

The students were expected to set up income generating activities when they graduated from the institutes, and provide much needed skills in the rural economy. Management skills were also included in these courses as a necessary part of self-employment. For example, builders could learn site management, business mathematics and costing. Some of these institutes had production lines for goods such as garments, furniture and machinery spare parts, which were manufactured commercially in several institutes.

The first HIT enrolled trainees in 1973, with the number of institutes rising to five by 1977, with a total enrolment of 317 trainees. By 1984, the number of HITs was fifteen with a total enrolment of 3,900 trainees.

The HITs, although administered by the local community, have attracted a lot of funds from donor agencies and the government, the latter giving support in the form of teachers and student bursaries. The HITs have provided much needed skilled manpower, both for the formal and informal sectors. They have proved the easiest avenue to reach those students and recent school leavers most likely to seek self-employment. However, like their predecessors, the HITs have had their own shortcomings.

Yambo (1986), in a study of technical training and work experience in Kenya, found that HIT leavers had a stronger tendency towards wage employment than self-employment. Because of this, they tend to drift to urban areas, where they expect to get wage employment, which undermines the original purpose of HITs. Lindsay (1986), also in a study of the HITs, found that the programme has recently added more theory to the curriculum. In addition, many students, once they graduate, fail to establish their own businesses due to lack of support or encouragement from the government. Generally, less than ten percent become self-employed.

The biggest problem faced by these institutes, however, is the employment prospects for their trainees. The skills obtained from these institutes are capital-intensive and thus the graduates require large amounts of capital to be able to start their own enterprises. This is why, rather than waste time, most of the graduates look for salaried employment.

The Mackay Report (1981), in response to the problem faced by the HIT leavers, recommended that the HITs should receive increased assistance from the government. It also recommended that the institutes should be appropriately harmonized and co-ordinated at all levels of course programmes, It also recommended the expansion of the HITs to meet the challenges of the country's development, especially in the rural areas.

In general, the HITs have, to some extent, achieved their objectives. They have greatly added to the number of employable youth with skills to start their own businesses. The outside intervening factors, for example lack of capital, are beyond the scope of HITs. The government and donor agencies should fund HITs and their graduates to enable them to achieve their objectives.

2.2.4 Technical Training Institutes (TTIs)

Apart from the above technical and vocational training institutions, there are also technical training institutes (formerly technical high schools). These institutes, while giving some introductory experience of workshop technology, are much more concerned with the subjects of basic to higher technological studies. Their focus is therefore in enabling school leavers to upgrade their basic knowledge for the National Polytechnics which are at the apex of vocational education in Kenya.

The technical institutes offer four year training programmes, part of which includes industrial attachment to some firms. However, the aim of the technical institutes, like the national polytechnics, is to produce middle-level skilled manpower basically for the modern sector. In 1986, there were twenty technical institutes and three national polytechnics.

In conclusion, it can be stated that Kenya has a strong network of over six hundred institutions involved in technical and vocational training for school leavers, ranging from youth polytechnics to technical training institutes, institutes of science and technology, national polytechnics and several private and government departmental institutions offering a wide range of programmes from artisan and craft certificates to technician's and higher diploma certificates. The YP programme accounts for one third of trainees enrolled in these institutions. What seems to be missing is a strategy to harmonize these non-formal education programmes to better achieve their goals.

2.3 Work experience in the modern sector and skills transfer to the informal sector

The relevance of work experience in the modern sector to self-employment or entrepreneurship in the informal sector is examined in this section. Some of the issues discussed include the extent to which the resources of employer-based training have been used by retirees in starting their own business.

After independence, the Kenya Government embarked on a two-pronged approach to industrialisation in the country. This included the introduction and expansion of technical education to provide the much needed skilled middle-level manpower for the modern sector of the economy. The government, at the same time, also embarked on a systematic programme of regulating training for those already employed in the modern sector. The organisation of industrial training is based on the norm that the training is mainly a non-formal rather than a formal kind of training (Kasina, 1987). It aims at equipping the employee, on a continuous basis, with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes for performing his job.

Many proponents of training for the informal sector also support employer-based training programmes, Williams (1980), for example, argues that because of the linkages between formal and informal economic activities, stimulation of the former is reflected in the latter. This is also confirmed by Lindsay (1986) who reported that many of the 'raw materials' of petty production in Kenya are the wastage of the formal sector.

The Kenya Government, therefore, in seeking ways to expand the economy, passed the Industrial Training Act (1960) and later on the first National Development Plan (1964-1970), which provided for the regulation of training of persons engaged in industry. The National Industry Training Council, established in 1975, was charged with improving the quality and efficiency of the training of personnel engaged in industry. The government, to this end, also established the Industrial Training Levy Fund for the financing of industrial training courses by venous ministries an industries.

The Ndegwa Commission Report (1970/71) also recommended the introduction of the levy fund as it was expected to have a profound effect on the administration and organisation of various training schemes. Employers normally contribute to the levy periodically and the proceeds are used to sponsor employees from contributing institutions to undertake short industrial training.

Courses available under the industrial training scheme include technician, craft and skill improvement courses. Such courses are conducted at various institutions, for example, the national polytechnic, industrial training centres, and institutes of technology A number of employers also run in-plant indentured learner and skill improvement courses.

Apart from these training schools, which are under the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour has four training institutions, one being the National Industrial and Vocational Training Centre (NIVTC) in Nairobi, which caters for craft training of apprentices sponsored by employers. Two other NIVTCs are in Kisumu and Mombasa.

The NIVTCs offer courses to apprentices in the following skill areas:

- building
- electrical courses
- mechanical courses
- motor vehicle repair, among others.

Many of the students attending NIVTCs are on short, skill-improvement courses. The training also includes on-the-job experience.

Parastatal organisations also offer training in their own institutions. The Railway Training School, for example, trains telecommunications technicians, electricians, building and civil engineering technicians, and accounts clerks etc. The Kenya Posts & Telecommunications Training School offers a two year engineering course leading to a certificate.

These training programmes have however been criticised for catering only for the present needs of employers and fail to consider the long-term manpower needs (Kasina, 1987). What has become apparent, as discussed in studies of these programmes, is that most of the trainees use the acquired skills to start small-scale enterprises, especially after retiring. A study by Oketch (1991:28) focusing on the profile of K-REP credit beneficiaries shows that nearly two-thirds of the clients had worked for wage income at one time or another. What is more revealing from this study however is that of those with work experience, only a very small percentage (2.7%) had been employed in the informal sector before starting their own businesses. This strongly supports the view that training in the modern wage sector, whether obtained through the programmes discussed above or on the job, is a big source of skills used in the informal sector.

Another study by Aleke-Dondo and Oketch ( 1992), using the longitudinal or borehole method, found in a sample of 83 microenterprise operators in the furniture and shoe making subsectors in Kibera, Nairobi, a high transfer of skills from the modern sector to the informal sector. The study found that, even among those who train in the informal sector, the majority first seek wage employment in the modern sector before later deciding to start their own enterprises. There is also evidence from this study that many informal sector operators have established small businesses while still in regular employment. These businesses are, initially, mostly open after work hours or over the weekends, and some are managed on a full-time basis by relatives and close family members. The major objective of such pre-business enterprises is to help the operators supplement their regular wage income. Many of them soon discover that they can earn more income from these over-the-weekend or after-work activities than from their wage income and that is when they resign and start small enterprises.

Among the paid urban workers, a recent survey (House, Ikiara, and McCormick, 1990) shows that fifteen per cent of women received their skills from employer-based on-the-job training, while nearly eight per cent and three per cent of men and women workers attended employer-financed training courses.

Some employers, in an effort to cut down expenditures on manpower employment, offer generous amounts of money to employees who opt to retire at the early age of forty years to become self-employed. However, this idea is yet to take root among many employees. On the whole, based on these findings, the employer-based technical education programmes, although generally geared to meet the needs of the employers, have benefitted the informal sector. Even the fears expressed by the Mackay Report (1981) that these programmes were not specifically oriented towards informal sector needs, nor supposed to prepare graduates for self-employment in the event of termination of employment, are contradicted by these findings.

2.4 Supply and demand for skills within the informal sector itself

Two types of skills training occur in the informal sector. One type is natural, arising from the demand by school leavers themselves for various types of skills for the labour market. The other type is interventionist, arising from the belief by the government, donors, and experts on the sector that jua kali operators lack certain skills which interfere with their prospects for survival, growth and expansion (Marris and Somerset, 1971). We review the skills training opportunities within the informal sector itself in this section. Various NGOs and governmental organisations have intervened to improve training within the informal sector. We also look at such interventions in relation to the use of skills provided by such programmes in the informal industry.

Starting with interventionist-based training, Marris and Somerset ( 1971), in a study of entrepreneurship and development in Kenya, hypothesise that entrepreneurs need three kinds of skills: a practical imagination to enable them to recognise opportunities new to their world of experience; an ability to order the day-to-day routine of their business so that money is accounted for, employees know their work, orders are recorded and fulfilled, the plan prepared and services, made available; and finally, enough general knowledge to support the first two skills. The authors also assert that the relevance of general education or specific vocational skills must vary with the stage of development that a business has reached. In their opinion, any attempts to teach entrepreneurial skills would have to determine exactly what handicaps a businessman has at a particular point in his growth. Nevertheless, they agree that informal sector training has many advantages.

As Williams (1980) notes, employment in the informal sector represents a substantial portion of urban employment and argues that the informal economy could generate employment at lower capital costs than the formal sector if effectively stimulated. He also details certain positive features of the Kenyan economy, which include upgrading of the labour force through low-cost development of practical skills and entrepreneurial talents. Kerre (1987), in a report on strategies and options for technical and vocational education and training in Kenya, notes that in the early 1970s, the informal sector in Kenya emerged to supply basic goods and services to low-income households. As a result of this vibrant economic sector, informal on-the-job training emerged as well, whereby individuals functioned as artisans and later started their own businesses.

This kind of informal sector training has expanded in Kenya, attracting the attention of outside donor agencies and the government. King (1975a) cited in Williams (1980) also notes the effectiveness of informal sector training. He argues that, historically, skilled workers have been trained on the job, and employers are interested in job skills rather than certificates. In this kind of training, labour intensity and adaptation and improvisation of materials and tools are the rule. King notes that training in the informal sector is quite rapid due to the teaching of skills specific to a particular product or service.

Yambo (1991), in a study on the training needs assessment of the informal sector, found that the training needs required in the informal sector included financial management, advertising and marketing, general management and, finally, technical-oriented skills.

Yambo argues that the future of informal sector training depends on the sustainability of the informal sector. He feels that the inability of the modern sector to employ the large output of labour will force people into informal activities. He therefore predicts that informal activities will increase. He reasons that the lower purchasing power of many people due to inflation will force them to buy cheap goods and services provided by the informal sector. He thus sees a great need for training opportunities for the informal sector if it is to continue in its important role of sustaining the economy. It is basically the realisation of this need that has made several NGOs and government agencies give some training to these people. House et al (1990) make the following observation on this issue:

....apart from university and college training received by those in professional occupations, the majority of self-employed who have acquired some skills have done so through informal sources, namely apprenticeship and on-job training (p 18).

In a recent urban labour force survey (GOK, 1988) cited in House et al (1990), it is shown that the majority of workers (sixty percent of males and seventy five percent of women) in the urban labour force have no formal private training. Table 3 shows the source of training by gender and employment among the labour force.

In Kenya at present, there are over fifty NGOs, donor agencies and government departments giving one kind of training or another to jua kali operations. In 1988, the government created a Ministry of Research, Technical Training and Technology which was given the role of lobbying for funds and providing training for organised groups of small scale entrepreneurs. The new Ministry established the Entrepreneurship Education Programme (EEP) in July 1990, to further its goal. This programme is funded by the UNDP but is being implemented by the ILO in collaboration with the ministry. It has the objective of introducing entrepreneurship to all students enrolled in the technical training institutes. The programme also gives small scale businessmen who are already in business some training in practical business skills.

The Ministry, through the provincial technical training officers, also conducts periodic training for small scale (jua kali) artisans and businessmen. Much of the training involves business management skills, methods of book-keeping, and entrepreneurship creativity. Part of the training also involves visits to businesses and offering practical on-the-job tips. The Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO/Kenya) is another NGO involved in the training of small scale businessmen. The organisation sends established businessmen, usually from Europe, to the small business areas to be attached to a group of businesses for two years. During this time, the entrepreneurs are given practical tips on financial management, business organisation marketing, sales promotion, and quality finishing. In addition, the volunteer businessman also trains the provincial technical training officers in the same skills so that they can continue the training when the volunteer leaves.

The UNDP also runs a training and demonstration programme for small scale enterprise owners. The project aims at enhancing the technical capabilities of such through demonstration or in raw material utilization, improving simple product design and specification, quality control, production technology and allied fabrication aspects. It also helps the entrepreneurs market their goods within and outside the country.

Improve Your Business (IYB/Kenya) is another NGO which provides training to managers and owners of small scale enterprises. It has developed simple training materials for different levels of owners and managers of small and micro-enterprises. So far, one hundred and sixty residential seminars have been held by the organisation for entrepreneurs, training over five thousand people.

The NCCK, Kenya's largest NGO, also provides training to people involved in small scale businesses. Through the Christian Industrial Training Centres (CITCs), the NCCK provides training facilities to small scale businessmen and also provides them with advice on practical business problems.

Table 3. Job training source (in percentage) among urban workers, by employment status and sex

SOURCE OF TRAINING		EMPLOYMENT STATUS
		PAID EMPLOYMENT		SELF-EMPLOYED
PRIVATE SOURCES		MALES	FEMALES	MALES	FEMALES
None		61.6	74.0	54.5	74.7
Friend relative		4.5	0.7	27.3	21.8
Apprentice		1.6	0.0	3.3	0.5
By employer:
	(a) on-the-job	15.2	6.7	4.8	0.7
	(b) courses	7.9	3.3	1.7	0.6
Colleges/Schools		9.3	15.2	8.4	1.7
TOTAL		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
B. PUBLIC TRAINING None		66.6	65.6	86.4	94.1
Vocational schools		3.2	0.9	1.9	4.3
Village Polytechnic		2.0	0.7	2.5	0.5
Institute of technology		2.4	0.4	1.1	0.1
National youth service		0.7	0.4	0.0	0.0
Polytechnic		3.8	2.6	0.6	0.6
College		15.0	23.6	1.0	0.3
University		6.3	5.7	6.5	0.2
TOTAL		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Source: House, J.W. Gerrison Ikiara and McCormick Dorothy, (1990), Table 8, p 17.

The UNDP also runs a training and demonstration programme for small scale enterprise owners. The project aims at enhancing the technical capabilities of such through demonstration or in raw material utilisation, improving simple product design and specification, quality control, production technology and allied fabrication aspects. It also helps the entrepreneurs market their goods within and outside the country.

Improve Your Business (IYB/Kenya) is another NGO which provides training to managers and owners of small scale enterprises. It has developed simple training materials for different levels of owners and managers of small and micro-enterprises. So far, one hundred and sixty residential seminars have been held by the organisation for entrepreneurs, training over five thousand people.

The NCCK, Kenya's largest NGO, also provides training to people involved in small scale businesses. Through the Christian Industrial Training Centres (CITCs), the NCCK provides training facilities to small scale businessmen and also provides them with advice on practical business problems.

Much of the training going on in the informal sector is, however, through the apprenticeship system. In this system, an apprentice gets attached to an established businessman and gets on-the-job training in exchange for his free labour or a small fee. (The kinship or social network system plays a big role in access to this type of training). After acquiring sufficient skills, the apprentice leaves and starts his own business. The duration of the course is normally the time taken to learn a particular business skill. The manufacturing subsector of the informal sector in Kenya is expanding very rapidly, and it is in this sector that many Kenyan youth are receiving practical training in short term informal apprenticeship (Williams, 1980).

Practical training in small workshops for unskilled and inexperienced job seekers offers many attractions. This training is more generally available and costs less than enrolment in formal technical courses. King (1975a) noted that apprentices in the informal sector paid between five and fifty sterling pounds for a complete course' of on-the-job instruction, and some apprentices even earned some wages. Apprenticeship systems are generally more cost-efficient than public or privately sponsored technical training courses. The system, notes Williams (1980), is also sensitive to the extracurricular obligations of the trainees and provides experiences under conditions of production which are reasonable models of what the trainee may expect when he sets up his own business.

Informal training (apprenticeship) has become important because it provides low-cost rapid skills access and broadens the economic base of the trainees. The system is autonomous, decentralised and cost-efficient, and its form or organisation is more attuned to the needs and obligations of its clients. Persons having skills from the informal sector have been shown to be capable of becoming self-employed, which in some cases generates income equal to or even higher than modern sector wages.

Yambo's (1991) study gives a sense of the magnitude of the training that occurs in the informal sector itself. Based on a sample of eight hundred and eighty eight jua kali operations countrywide, Yambo found that, in the year ending in June 1990 alone, the informal enterprises 'enrolled' a total of 79,260 apprentices. The total enrolment of students in the NYS, YPs, HITs and TTIs for the same year was just 55,200 trainees or forty one per cent of the total number of trainees enrolled in 1990 (Yambo 1991, as cited in Ndegwa, 1991:166). This led Yambo (1991) to reach the following conclusion:

....While it may not be possible to prove that the training that is offered in the informal sector is invariably superior to that offered in formal institutions, there is already evidence to show, albeit tentatively, that Kenya's informal sector does indeed provide more technical training opportunities in any given year than all the Youth Polytechnics, Institutes of Technology, Technical Training Institutes, National Polytechnics, and Universities put together (p 9).

This is impressive, but one problem with apprenticeships at present is that they are unregulated, and there are no criteria by which the quality of training can be assessed. As argued by Williams (1980), we need some system of monitoring or certification of training to protect the interests of trainees. There is also a need to update knowledge of how the apprenticeship system in Kenya operates. Terms and methods of instruction should also be studied to determine whether the trend towards shorter courses has continued or whether methods of instruction have stabilised.

Generally, training programmes within the informal sector have some constraints. Marris and Somerset (1971) argue that a training programme or an advisory service would have to call upon a wide range of experience and skills, and apply them to the particular problems which every business presents. Even if it could recruit staff versatile enough to give useful advice to many of its clients, such a service would be expensive. Most interventionist training programmes therefore just identify needs which businesses share and organise courses to meet them. Some training programmes, however, help individuals to identify and reinforce personality characteristics and behaviour conducive to business success, and effective risk taking in business (Lindsay, 1986).

In general, there is also a need to expand adult skill and literacy campaigns, especially aimed at women in rural technology programmes and projects. Kasina (1987) advances this argument by suggesting that training of owners and managers of small scale enterprises should be mainly on intermediate and adaptive technology.

3. Education and training projects for the informal sector

3.1 General comments
3.2 Appropriate technology for enterprise creation (ApproTEC)
3.3 Voluntary services overseas (VSO/Kenya)
3.4 Assistance in technical and entrepreneurship skills for Jua Kali women
3.5 Entrepreneurship Education Programme (EEP)
3.6 Redeemed gospel church inc.
3.7 Concluding remarks

3.1 General comments

According to a study recently published by the Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme (K-REP) (1993a), there are one hundred and thirty-one such projects and programmes, Out of these, seventy are involved in credit and finance, twenty-nine in education, training and entrepreneurship, four in handicraft, eight in institutions and institutional issues, ten in information and technology, three in infrastructure development and seven in policy issues.

Another parallel study also published by K-REP (1993b) indicates that the twenty-nine projects and programmes involved in education, training and entrepreneurship are institutionally distributed as follows: four are government institutions and parastatals, four are managed by private sector organisations twenty by NGOs, and one by a donor organisation. Some of these organisations engage in research, develop technologies and then endeavour to offer training for interested informal sector entrepreneurs at a fee. There are also others that cooperate with the government in identifying informal sector needs and soliciting volunteer trainees. Some of these organisations use government training institutions to train jua kali operators, while others have demonstration centres and other learning resource centres where they invite or sponsor trainees to come and learn.

We look at five projects that are involved in training in this chapter. The information presented here was obtained from key persons from the projects based on their own self-description through an open-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire asked about the activities and strategies of the projects, sources and amounts of support per year, the number of clients trained each year, and the number of these clients who have started businesses of their own. The instrument also collected data on the constraints facing these projects and the strategies used by them to deal with these constraints.

These projects were picked randomly from the list of twenty-nine projects and programmes involved in education, training and entrepreneurship already identified by K-REP. The five projects were among a list of ten projects based in Nairobi. They are the only ones which responded to our request for interviews. Other projects based outside Nairobi were excluded from the survey because of costs.

Most of these projects are not frequently monitored or their impact evaluated. We were thus unable to obtain most of the data required to evaluate their performance and impact. The information presented in this chapter is therefore based largely on their own account of activities and achievements during the face-to-face interviews.

It was rewarding, though, to notice that the interviews made some of them begin to think of the need to regularly monitor and evaluate their programmes,

3.2 Appropriate technology for enterprise creation (ApproTEC)

ApproTEC is a non-governmental organisation that was established in 1991. It designs, develops and promotes technologies for small scale enterprises. ApproTEC came into being after the Appropriate Technology Unit (ATU) of ACTIONAID-Kenya (AA-K) was closed. The senior members of ATU teamed up to establish ApproTEC as an independent NGO.

3.2.1 Activities and strategies

ApproTEC activities cover the following areas: economic feasibility studies, engineering design and development, training of equipment manufacturers, promotion and information dissemination, training of entrepreneurs and consulting for other organisations

It identifies market opportunities for small scale industries and then carries out economic feasibility studies in order to establish the market demand, the availability of raw materials, and the profitability of goods to be produced by the small scale industries.

This not only enables it to give such advice to the target entrepreneurs, but also to devise appropriate technology for those small scale industries. ApproTEC develops appropriate technology by adapting an existing technology to meet local conditions or by designing a new one. ApproTEC then does a detailed engineering design work, builds prototypes, tests the technology and then produces jig or fixtures.

In order to make sure that the designed machinery is available on the open market, and that it is manufactured to the standards required, ApproTEC looks for suitable and interested manufacturers. These manufacturers are trained on how to make the newly designed machinery at a cost.

By participating in agricultural shows, liaising with NGOs, publishing fact sheets, and organising seminars, ApproTEC promotes the new technology. It runs promotional programmes to inform possible entrepreneurs about the new technologies and to notify consumers about the new products.

ApproTEC then trains entrepreneurs, their employees and anybody else who may have invested in the equipment on how to establish viable small businesses using the new technology. The adopters of new technology are taught all aspects of the use and maintenance of the equipment. The entrepreneurs are also taught the basics of costing and marketing of the new products.

Finally, ApproTEC runs technology training programmes for other NGOs. It trains the staff of NGOs and other groups supported by NGOs. This helps to promote their technology and also to raise extra funds.

3.2.2 Support

ApproTEC receives about half a million sterling pounds from the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) every four years. It also receives funds from private British foundations totalling twenty thousand sterling pounds every year. It also makes about eight million Kenya Shillings from consultancy and training. In the past year, ApproTech has raised additional funds by implementing a large sanitation programme for the UNHCR in refugee camps in North-Eastern Kenya.

3.2.3 Achievements

ApproTEC, being a relatively new programme, is yet to evaluate the adoption rate of its appropriate technologies. It has trained over five hundred trainees but it has not yet established how many of them are still in business. ApproTEC deals with entrepreneurs who have had some working experience and who are able to raise between twenty thousand to a hundred thousand Shillings. It prefers retired civil servants or people who have been running their own business for some time. It therefor expects that most of the trainees have started or will start their own small businesses, or are now maintaining their old businesses more profitably.

3.2.4 Constraints

ApproTEC's major problem is to convince donors that there is a definite need and that it is fulfilling this need. It provides much needed skills for entrepreneurs in the informal sector, which should prove to its donors that there is a need for its continued existence. Its argument is that because of its continuous research, promotional campaigns and lobbying of government for a change to restrictive laws, its continued existence means the maintenance of small businesses in the informal sector. ApproTEC can invest in research, technology development and promotional campaigns that other small businesses may not be able to invest in.

The second problem faced by ApproTEC is one of identifying machine manufacturers. It observes that it is not always easy to find indigenous Kenyans, operating middle level manufacturing businesses, who are ready and able to invest in the new technology.

Thirdly, ApproTEC has yet to establish a monitoring and evaluation system to determine its effectiveness. However, it has recently sent about one hundred questionnaires to some of its past students to find out about the adoption rates of its technology. Unfortunately, only forty-eight of these have confirmed that they are in business.

3.2.5 Assessment

The strength of ApproTEC is that it is a results-oriented project. It is bound to be successful because it only involves itself in projects that it considers viable and which it has established as so through research. It identifies the commodity to be produced, the technology to be used, and exercises control over who produces the commodity. ApproTEC therefore only gets involved when it is sure of positive results. It deals with a mature group, a group that has money to risk and therefore is bound to take their enterprises seriously.

ApproTEC however only deals with technology that it can itself develop. Therefore, if a technology cannot be produced by ApproTEC, though their research may have shown it as needed, it is deemed inappropriate and is shelved. ApproTEC also does not deal with school leavers, who comprise the bulk of the unemployed.

3.3 Voluntary services overseas (VSO/Kenya)

Although VSO was established in 1963, its involvement in training for the informal sector is relatively new. Its training for the informal sector section has only ten volunteers as compared to other sectors like formal education which has forty-five volunteers. Its support for the informal sector is experimental, and it is being constantly reviewed. However, VSO has a firm conviction that there is a need for training in business and technical skills in the informal sector.

3.3.1 Activities and strategies

VSO is involved in training, technology transfer, costing, pricing and market research. It carries out these activities through volunteers well versed in those fields. The volunteers are attached to a group of small business entrepreneurs. They assist them in developing appropriate technology, calculating production costs for their products, setting competitive prices for the finished products and identifying market for them. Some of these volunteers are posted to youth polytechnics and training institutions, where they are involved in training the youth in a technology that has been identified as being in demand in the informal sector.

They have two programmes already going on. These are the Meru Handtool Programme situated at Kianjai in Meru and the Youth Training Support Programme with sites in Kisumu, Kakamega, Meru, and Machakos. VSO also co-operates with the government in identifying needs and looking for volunteers, and then posting them to the needy areas.

3.3.2 Funding sources

VSO is supported by ODA and private individuals in the UK. The support is in the form of personnel who are the volunteers.

3.3.3 Achievements

Since the programme began, approximately 4,080 trainees have been trained. It is estimated that all of them are in business, since they were already in business before their encounter with VSO.

3.3.4 Current constraints

The main constraint was identified as finance. VSO has yet to find alternative local funding strategies. Another constraint is communication problems. Since the volunteers are largely non-Kenyans, they are faced with communication problems due to language difficulties. It is hoped that this problem will be overcome because the VSO trainers train Kenyans, who can continue teaching other Kenyans.

3.3.5 Assessment

VSO has a high possibility of success because it deals with people who are already in business. This means that they are more likely to make use of their new skills in their businesses as opposed to beginners who may be hampered by problems of initial capital for establishing a business. VSO also liaises with the government in identifying needs and therefore it only acts in response to a need. The government representatives can maintain a follow-up long after the volunteers leave. Although approximately 4,080 entrepreneurs have been trained by VSO volunteers, detailed data is yet to be compiled on how each of these entrepreneurs is faring in business. It has not been established how many of their trainees have improved their businesses as a result of training from VSO.

3.4 Assistance in technical and entrepreneurship skills for Jua Kali women

This project was launched in 1991. It was formed especially to assist women small business entrepreneurs involved in the textile industry. The aim has been to equip women with appropriate technology, management and marketing skills. This programme deals with women who are already in textiles and fabric businesses.

3.4.1 Activities and strategies

UNDP is involved in entrepreneurship development programmes Kenya Youth Polytechnics and the Kenya Women Finance. It has facilitated acquisition of loans for small enterprises and payment of staff and personnel in training institutions. UNDP acts as a guarantor for small scale entrepreneurs so that they are able to get loans from banks. Barclays Bank is one such bank. UNDP holds seminars and workshops aimed at sensitising banks to the need to offer loans to small business entrepreneurs.

Through the ILO, UNIDO, FAO, World Bank and other UN agencies, UNDP offers funds and technical help to training institutions. It believes in the need to develop human resources. The project gives women (jua kali) money with which to buy tools. They are also given compensation to encourage them to go for training. They are given a voucher of Kshs. 3,000 with which they can buy goods from the project's demonstration centre during the training. This encourages many entrepreneurs to come for training.

The project runs training and export promotion programmes to cater for the African market. The target group is jua kali women involved in the textile industry. Some of the areas covered include: designing, dyeing and weaving, printing, machinery repair, construction, marketing and how to maintain a business. The training takes about three days, two of which are used in follow up. One other way in which training is offered by the project is through organising for the small business entrepreneurs to attend trade fairs. While at such trade fairs, the entrepreneurs not only learn new trade and technical skills, but they also get a chance to market their products. The project also runs demonstration and training programmes for the jua kali sector. It has national co-ordinating officials, and has also employed experts in textile, dying, printing and machinery repair, who actually conduct the training of the entrepreneurs.

The Ministry of Research, Technical Training and Technology has set aside about Kshs. 600,000 per year for this project. It also makes its workshops and other resources available to be used by the project. The project has been allowed the full use of the Kenya Textile Training Institute and the resources at the Centre of Research and Technology (CRT) at Karen, Nairobi. This project therefore has the backing and co-operation of the government of Kenya. SIDA also gives Kshs. 2,000,000 per year towards this project.

3.4.2 Achievements

Since inception, the project has trained 175 small business entrepreneurs. All of them were already in business before the training. In 1992 alone, the project trained 91 people. The project has managed to export goods outside Kenya, especially to PTA countries.

3.4.3 Current constraints

It has been established that the women small business entrepreneurs lack management skills. They do not know how to keep proper accounts. The project has responded to this by offering training in business management, accounts and bookkeeping. The women also have a problem of securing loans from banks. The project has responded to this problem too by teaching them how to come up with good business plans that can be used for accessing credit from banks, and also by convincing the banks that by giving credit to these people, they are giving them an incentive for managing these projects. Initially, UNDP had proposed funding this project for a period of 2 years, after which they would withdraw and then it would continue on its own. But the process of securing loans from the banks had a slow take off. The programmes were therefore extended by another year. In the beginning, there was government suspicion. The project organisers had to exercise patience and engage in awareness campaigns on the need to train women entrepreneurs. They eventually secured acceptance. Sometimes there has been political interference on projects. The organisers have had to be firm in their decisions.

The banks have also had a negative attitude towards funding small enterprise programmes. The project therefore has embarked on an awareness campaign. The aim is to convince the banks that investing in small enterprise programmes will create employment.

Market fluctuations have been another problem. This has been due to changes in seasons and the attendant needs that arise with them, ea. the demand for uniforms normally increases during the school season, especially in January. And during the Christmas season, fancy clothes are in high demand. The entrepreneurs are therefore encouraged to diversify their products with the changing times. They can therefore sell a diversity of products such as uniforms, bags, belts, keyholders, table mats, aprons and others. The strategy is to add more products to the basic ones.

It is envisioned that at some time the donors will pull out. The project co-operates with the Ministry of Research, Technical Training and Technology and trains Kenya Technical Training Institute (KTTI) trainers so that these will continue offering training even after the donors pull out. The participants in the training programmes are also encouraged to go out and train others on a cost recovery basis.

In response to financial problems, the project has established a retail shop in Muthaiga, Nairobi. This is in a bid to raise capital to help in training. Plans are under way to help the women form an association which can assist them in purchasing materials from factories. In this way, the project hopes to sustain itself even after the donors have withdrawn.

3.4.4 Assessment

This is a promising project. If the tempo is maintained, the direct beneficiaries of the programme may graduate into the formal private sector. This would add to the economic growth and formal tax revenue of the country in a significant manner. That is the expressed hope of the project.

3.5 Entrepreneurship Education Programme (EEP)

This project began in 1990. It is supported by the ILO and the University of Illinois, but is being implemented by the Ministry of Research, Technical Training and Technology. The objective of the project is to introduce entrepreneurship skills to all students enrolled in the Ministry's technical training institutes.

3.5.1 Activities and strategies

The Entrepreneurship Education Programme (EEP) has many activities. It is involved in developing the curriculum and teaching materials, conducting training of trainers in entrepreneurship education institutions, conducting awareness forums for policy makers, conducting research in entrepreneurship education, conducting post-graduate entrepreneurship education programmes, establishing small business centres in Technical Training Institutes, and backing the Ministry in implementing EEPs.

EEP invites trainers, resource persons and organisations to contribute ideas for the development of the curriculum and teaching materials. It holds seminars, workshops, attachments, research, outreach and exposure forums for the purposes of enhancing the training of trainers course.

Through seminars, workshops and exposure forums, EEP creates awareness for policy makers. It carries out research to establish priority needs in Entrepreneurship Education (EE).

Masters students are engaged in research on key issues and in the evaluation or review of previous studies. There are also students undergoing postgraduate studies (MEd) in Entrepreneurship Education at Jomo Kenyatta University College. At present, there are forty students who have completed their Masters while eight are doing PhD degree courses.

EEP collaborates with the University of Illinois to offer postgraduate education in EE. Local universities are also being incorporated into the system in an attempt to institutionalise EE. EEP is also involved in providing small business centres with basic equipment. Their efforts to back the Ministry in implementing EE policies is done through establishing an Entrepreneurship Development Unit at the Ministry of Research, Technical Training and Technology, aimed at focusing on EE.

3.5.2 Funding source

The EEP is supported through government and donor funds. This is given in the form of personnel and operations. Donors contribute about US$300,000 per year.

3.5.3 Achievements

EEP has reached forty thousand persons since inception. In 1992, it reached twenty thousand. However, since the first graduation will be in 1993, none of the trainees is yet in business.

3.5.4 Constraints

EE, being a new phenomenon in Kenya, was at first looked at with general scepticism. People did not believe in the concept of entrepreneurship education, nor in the possibility of its success. EEP has therefore embarked on an intensive awareness and exposure campaign to improve its image.

In trying to assess the performance of EE, results have been expected too soon. The EEP tries to show that the implementation of EE is gradual, and that the results will also be gradual.

The EEP attempts to solve its financial constraints through cost-sharing of training programmes, encouraging small business centres to look for alternative sources of funds and lobbying for increased government contributions.

3.5.5 Assessment

There is general optimism and good will for the programme. It however needs constant support and patience from various quarters. Since this is a relatively institutionalised programme, and bearing in mind the large bulk of trainees, it will be interesting to see how the follow up will be conducted. If successful, this might have the greatest influence on the Kenyan informal sector.

3.6 Redeemed gospel church inc.

The Redeemed Gospel Youth Polytechnic offers training to school leavers in the following fields: tailoring, carpentry, welding, leatherwork, and secretarial studies. It employs teachers to teach school drop outs. It also runs its own workshops in which the trainees can learn and practice their skills.

3.6.1 Funding source

The project is self-supporting. It raises funds by charging its trainees a fee of Kshs. 500 per month. Initially, the project was supported by World Vision International which contributed about Kshs. 240,000 per year. They phased out the project after 8 years according to their policy of supporting projects for only a limited period of time.

3.6.2 Achievement

The project has trained one hundred and twenty trainees each year since 1983. Sadly, despite the programme's long existence, it has not established how many of its trainees are in business. There has been little or no follow up done. The only attempt at follow up has emerged when there is a need to write papers for seminars and other forums.

This, then, is one long-term programme which has been unable to evaluate or assess its achievements. A lot more than just occasional, half-hearted attempts at evaluation is needed if the programme is to realise its initial objectives.

The project helps trainees from very poor families who cannot raise the five hundred Shillings a month. The Redeemed Gospel Church Inc., in an attempt to keep the project running, picks 20 of the poorest students each year and sponsors them. The project organisers also occasionally lobby for funds from donor agencies and sympathetic individuals or private organisations They have also been repairing furniture for schools at a fee. Supplying uniforms to school children has been their other way of raising funds.

3.6.3 Assessment

The project deals with the youth aged 16-20 years. This group forms the bulk of the unemployed. It also constitutes a large percentage of the consuming - and non-productive citizens. Their training for self-employment is therefore very important.

The Redeemed Gospel Inc. also offers tools to their best students in each of the disciplines. It is therefore rather discouraging that little is known about their trainees after leaving their training institution. It is especially worrying since the project deals with children from some of the poorest families in Kenya who are unlikely to secure salaried employment. Such students have neither education, nor rich relatives through whom they can secure jobs. Many of them have either to join the informal sector or perish. The organisation should therefore make every effort to ensure that these trainees manage to engage in meaningful employment or business entrepreneurship.

3.7 Concluding remarks

In general, it must be noted here that the above assessment of these projects is based on information supplied by the organisations themselves. It is obvious that these may not be objective, and may even represent an attempt to portray themselves positively to the outsider. The last project, the Redeemer Gospel Church, seems an outright failure. It is hard to believe that the project has not had any in-house evaluation ten years after its inception. The few assessments that it undertakes are basically for the consumption of the donors and other reporting agencies. It is the case, therefore, that the said evaluations are really estimates, and not actual evaluations.

4. Lessons learned and alternative strategy

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Sources of education and training for the informal sector
4.3 An alternative strategy

4.1 Introduction

From a humble recognition in 1972, the informal sector is now in the spotlight as the only part of the Kenyan economy which is growing. Employment in the jua kali sector has grown at fourteen per cent per year since 1983. This is more than three times the rate at which the modern wage sector has created employment. Its share in the employment has consequently increased from three percent in the early 70s to a third by the end of 1992 (Economic Survey, 1993).

It is now being realised that even more employment in the jua kali sector is possible if only a number of constraints currently facing such enterprises could be removed. Three of the major constraints identified by most studies investigating the sector include lack of adequate technical and managerial skills, lack of access to credit, and the indifferent and sometimes hostile attitude of the government towards the sector.

This study has reviewed strategies that individuals, the government, and non-profit seeking institutions are using to improve or increase the technical and management skills of jua kali operators. A recent survey gives the number of persons trained in the jua kali sector by about fifty organisations in Kenya over the years (Aleke-Dondo, 1993) as 40,759. Another 24,280 have received credit amounting to KSh. 115,776.55 million.

4.2 Sources of education and training for the informal sector

Skills for self-employment in the informal sector are being provided through nine different types of agencies or processes. Six of these are controlled or influenced by government policies in one way or another. This study has identified attempts by the government to provide skills for self-employment in the informal sector through the formal education and training system, including the 8:4:4 system of education, Youth Polytechnics, Harambee Institutes of Technology, the National Youth Service and Technical Training Institutes.

Of the nine processes, the two which are based on the initiatives of jua kali operators themselves, either through change of occupation from wage employment to self-employment or apprenticeship, are the most popular, and apparently most successful. A significant contribution to skills transfer to the informal sector is also being made by non-profit seeking development institutions through special training programmes, The number of people that can be reached by these training projects are, however, limited due to the cost per contact.

The experience with each skills and training strategy in Kenya is summarised in detail in the following paragraphs.

4.2.1 The Education System

As early as 1965 (hardly two years after independence) the imbalance between the demand and supply of education, on the one hand, and the demand and supply of manpower, on the other, was evident. This imbalance has worsened over the years despite several attempts to deal with it through educational planning and change. Most recently, the manpower survey (1987:123) estimates the annual increase in manpower supply at 0.5 million per year. This is many times more than the total 0.6 million jobs that are expected to be created up to the year 2000.

There have been six major reviews of educational policy in Kenya since independence, starting with the Ominde Commission of 1963 and ending with the most recent (by Ndegwa, 1990). The objectives of nearly all these commissions have been to suggest alternative models of education and training which could make education cost-effective and more relevant to the needs of the economy.

Recent changes in the education system evidenced by the introduction of 8:4:4 in 1984 underscores the failure of previous strategies to make education relevant. The quality of an education system depends on the relevance of the process and content learned by students, including its costs. It also depends on the skills that students acquire. Lastly, the quality of education depends on the attitudes of the learners during and after they graduate.

Education is relevant if the knowledge acquired by students can enable them to adjust and exploit their talents and environment in a sustainable manner. The objective of the 8:4:4 system of education was to make it more relevant to the students, society, and the economy. The specific objectives of the new system were to influence the attitudes of students towards self-employment and strengthen the link between practical subjects and self-employment. The Mackay Report (1989), which advocated the new system, recommended the teaching of practical skills to primary school pupils so as to facilitate their direct employment in the informal sector. There were changes in structure, content (syllabus) and learning time to implement the new learning strategy. The new system emphasises the teaching of woodwork, metalwork, leatherwork, tailoring, and business education. Other subjects taught at the primary level include arts, agriculture and home science.

Despite good intentions, the 8:4:4 is likely to fail to achieve its objectives. While the structure and content of the curriculum has been changed to emphasise the learning of practical skills, the strategy is unfortunately based on an inadequate assessment of resources and other important aspects of education such as the ability of the students to learn certain concepts and skills at certain ages or times. The current system was introduced in the absence of teachers with experience and skills in teaching the newly introduced practical skills. The government also ignored or underestimated the cost of financing the teaching of practical subjects in schools. While the learning content was indeed made practical in the 8:4:4 system, many schools lacked the workshops and equipment which are basic to a skills-based education (Shiundu, 1991). Introduction of new concepts in public finance, such as cost-sharing, have failed to produce the level of support expected from parents to build the said workshops and buy equipment, mainly because the new system was imposed on them by the government.

The system has also failed because of the me-shod of assessment of learning. Little weight has been placed on passing the technical subjects in the school examinations. The examinations are still oriented towards theory.

Lack of trained teachers and relevant teaching materials are further responsible for undermining the impact of the 8:4:4 system of education. Recently, there is also a general feeling that even the students who proceed to the university are unprepared for further education because of inadequate learning at the primary and secondary levels of education.

In conclusion, the 8:4:4 education system will not provide training for self-employment among school-leavers. Two comments by House, Ikiara, and McCormick (1990) summarise the impact of the 8:4:4 system on the imbalance between the supply and demand for manpower in Kenya. The first of these says that:

...the most notable characteristic of the self-employed is the virtual absence of public sources of training (p 41).

The second of these has the following words:

...Evidence from the urban labour force survey, 1988, p.62 shows that unemployment is highest among the most recent school leavers falling within the 20-29 years age group.

It is unlikely that the education system will provide directly employable skills to the students, unless a new approach to teaching is adopted.

4.2.2 Post-School Training Opportunities

The supply of post-education training opportunities for self-employment is dominated by government agencies. As observed by Sifuna (1975), the objective of non-formal education has been to complete the 'unfinished business of primary schools'. Post-education training opportunities in Kenya have focused on youths who have completed primary or secondary education, but who either dropped out of school or lacked the skills to become self-employed or employable.

There have been four different post-education training programmes which focus on skills for self-employment. These include the Youth Polytechnics (introduced by the NCCK in 1968, and later supported by the government), the National Youth Service (established by the government in 1964), the Harambee Institutes of Technology (initiated by politicians through tribal-based organisations and Technical Training Institutes (converted from former Technical Schools in 1986). The impact of these post-school training programmes was demonstrated in Table 3.

The table showed that, among the self-employed workers, vocational schools were the second most important source of skills (about two percent of male workers and four percent of female workers) after an assortment of public colleges. The role of Youth Polytechnics in providing employable skills among the self-employed workers is also evident, with nearly three percent of male urban workers and about one percent of women having benefited from them. The contribution of vocational schools and Youth Polytechnics is perhaps even larger if we consider those in informal enterprises only. Table 3 shows that, among the paid employees, the two sectors provided skills to about three and two percent of male urban workers and about one percent each among female employees. The role of HITs is also significant, given that slightly more than two percent of urban male workers obtained their skills from this source, while about a half of the total percentage of women relied on the same source.

In general, evidence shows that the biggest constraint to the use of skills learned from these programmes is lack of start-up capital. The other major weakness of these post-education training opportunities is their failure to emphasise and integrate technical skills with business management or entrepreneurial skills. Even when the graduates of such programmes start their enterprises, performance is often undermined by lack of business skills.

The problem of graduates of these programmes is well summarised by Caplen (1981) where evidence shows that only a small proportion (about 22.5%) of graduates become self-employed, and an even smaller percentage of this number survive in business. He also gives evidence which shows that, among those who survive in business, the majority are unable to expand their business beyond a certain point due to lack of entrepreneurial skills. Many studies of skills training in the post-school programmes seem to agree that skill alone does not ensure employment. They also show that most graduates of post-school training opportunities tend to drift from rural to urban areas in search of jobs in the modern wage sector, rather than self-employment opportunities in rural areas. Two factors are associated with this trend. Even among the YPs, which are arguably the most relevant for rural economies, the policy of certification encouraged by the government among these programmes has influenced students' attitudes towards the modern wage sector.

4.2.3 On-the-Job Experience and Apprenticeship

The evidence reviewed in this study shows that apprenticeship is the largest sources of skills training for the informal sector. Yambo (1992), for example, estimates from a sample of 888 jua kali enterprises countrywide that in the year ending June 1990 informal enterprises enrolled a total of 79,260 apprentices. This was almost fifty-nine percent of the total trainees learning skills in that year. King (1975a) explains the popularity of this method of learning skills on the basis of its cost-effectiveness. He notes that 'apprentices in the informal sector paid between five to fifty pounds sterling for a complete course based on on-the-job instruction, and some even earned some wages'. Williams (1980) on the other hand argues that the system has been popular because it is sensitive to the extra-curricula obligations of the trainees and that it provides experience under conditions of production, which are reasonable models of what the trainee may expect when he starts his business.

However, all studies seem to agree that the quality of skills and experience from on-the-job or apprenticeship training varies from one student to another, depending on who provides the learning environment.

4.3 An alternative strategy

This study has revealed the long-term effects of educational policies. It has taken so long to reverse the attitude of Kenyans formed soon after independence in 1963 towards the teaching and learning of vocational skills.

This study has further demonstrated the critical role that goodwill amongst parents, teachers, and pupils can play in making changes in existing educational systems. It has shown, for example, that unless these stakeholders are involved and prepared to accept and support new changes in education, there cannot be any progress.

Lastly, this study has indicated that availability of resources to implement changes in education should be evaluated and the objectives of the proposed system, however good, reconciled with this.

The following specific recommendations are based on the above observations, with a view to offering an alternative strategy to the existing formal educational system.

4.3.1 Recommended curriculum review

It is recommended that the primary school curriculum be reformed from a broad-based system to a focused integrated curriculum where the teaching of directly relevant skills and knowledge is central. The only academic subjects to be taught during the first four years of school should include maths, reading, writing and communication skills in English and Kiswahili. Emphasis should be based on the teaching of environmental science, cultural and moral values, certain aspects of social and political organisation at the village level, and the character of the local economy.

During the second phase of primary school education, extending from class five to eight, learners should be taught basic skills in business management and various aspects of production, such as carpentry, masonry, farming, tailoring/dressmaking, simple civil engineering, etc. as the core subjects. In addition to these, further development of ideas learned during the first phase regarding the environment and local resources, including social organisations and values, should continue. The knowledge links which can be made in the second phase include the connection between the environment, primary health care, and food production and how these are affected by existing social structures and values. The students should, in this second phase, be introduced to the links and relationships between their local community and others in the country.

The teaching of maths and some aspects of physical and biological sciences, such as gravity, social erosion, the connection between sunlight, plants, and soil formation, should be integrated. Mathematics should be taught in the context of actual work experience. For instance, in tailoring and dressmaking, students should learn about maths through measurements and calculation of how much material is required, and this could further be integrated in teaching business management skills by showing the students how to do costing and the implications of the process for their ability to survive in business. Furthermore, the opportunity to teach communication skills should be exploited to teach the role of marketing in business management in the same lesson.

All evaluation and monitoring of learning should be skills-based rather than knowledge-based. The ability of students to do proper costing and do maths can, for example, be evaluated through case studies. This can further be integrated by asking students to make a dress which is evaluated on the basis that it is bought by a customer in a distant town.

The school system should have two components after the primary cycle. Those students who wish to pursue further education can go to special schools, while those interested in pursuing skills training should do so through another component.

The vocational schools could be modelled on the existing YPs, HITs, or TTIs. The students following this line should learn for four years, depending on the courses they select. The curriculum should include all areas of occupations which offer employment opportunities in the economy. The government should subsidise the skills-based education component. Those students wishing to pursue knowledge-based education should go to schools modelled on existing secondary schools. This component should have six years of education, sequenced in two phases: lower secondary (four years) and upper secondary (two years). The government should not subsidise this form of education.

The proposed system of education is portrayed graphically in the diagram overleaf

4.3.2 Review of implementation design

It is recommended that the government involve the community as much as possible in initiating the proposed changes in education. Both should work together through district-based education reform committees composed of elected parents, teachers, community leaders and education officers. The major objectives of the reform committee would be to assess education resources within the district and then prepare a schedule of what is adequate, what is missing, and what is desired. Some of the issues to be discussed by the reform committee should include the following:

- Teacher-pupil ratio
- Experience and skills of existing teachers in the district
- Classroom-pupil ratio
- Distribution of schools within the district and average pupil walking distance
- Additional resources required and how they can be mobilised
- Content and process of learning, considering the suggestions made in 4.3.1 above.

PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF EDUCATION

Unlike in the past when many important details were assumed, it would be necessary to include in the new strategy a timetable of (1) developing and producing the teaching materials for teachers (2) developing and producing the teaching materials and processes for pupils (3) mobilising resources, and (4) constructing or re-allocating available classrooms and workshops among schools and communities in the villages before commencement of the new programme.

The most important stage in reforming the current educational system would be in involving and preparing all concerned (parents, pupils, teachers, government officers, employers, etc) in making and implementing the reforms. The biggest challenge, on the other hand, would be for the government to have the political will to respect the needs of the people. In the past, the government has killed all positive community initiatives in making social, political, and economic reforms, even those it has initiated itself. It seems, given the current political, social, and economic problems facing Kenya, that educational reforms would depend a great deal on how these other problems are resolved.

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