54. The three case studies selected for first hand investigation within the research project were chosen on the basis that they would:
- cover a broad spectrum of experience, in terms of size, geographical distribution, economic and social development and forms of development interventions;- be supported by local competent consultants;
- enable useful insights to be achievable during a short study visit; and
- provide findings of direct relevance to ODA.
55. South Asia and southern Africa were obvious areas for investigation, meeting in particular the last of these criteria. Countries which had already been the objects of substantial research were excluded. Project team contacts enabled competent and well respected local consultancy organisations to be identified in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, two countries which met all the above criteria, In consequence, The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and (in Zimbabwe) Symacon (Pvt). Ltd. were approached to provide local support. Both agreed to do so.
56. The third case study presented rather more difficult selection problems. The Latin American countries have taken a distinctive approach to the central problems of linking employers and TVET providers, through national and regional employer-led training and development centres. One of the structures most lauded in the late 1980s in the development literature was in Costa Rica, a small country in the upper quartile of developing world economies, with a variety of current development interventions. This provided a Latin American case study to compare and contrast with the African and Asian studies, and consultant/interpreters were recruited to support the investigation.
57. The research team explored the notion of the labour market information system which might be developed where there is little or no existing infrastructure. One project team member (Geoffrey Hurley) had recently undertaken a consultancy for the Asian Development Bank in Cambodia, and this experience was used to provide the fourth case study, incorporating reflections on ways in which a LMI system might be constructed ab initio.
Methodology
58. The methodology adopted by the project team for the three field investigations took the form of a matrix (Figure One), which identifies on one axis a number of key user groups of labour market information:
- government departments and agencies
- employers and employer organisations
- labour organisations and associations
- training and educational institutions.
The other axis of the matrix comprises a series of questions or issues, summarised in Figure One and expanded in Appendix Two.
59. This framework was discussed with the local consultants and adapted to meet local conditions. A series of interviews in each case study country was arranged with the help of the local consultants in advance of the study, so that within a short period of time (each case study comprised about ten days) the available time could be effectively utilised. The visits all took place over the same period of time, during the last week of October and first week of November, 1994. Details of the field investigations are reported in Appendix Two.
60. Inevitably, despite careful plans, some hitches occurred. Political unrest in Bangladesh, including a series of strikes, meant that it was impossible to interview representatives of labour organisations within the timescale of the project visit. Where it proved impossible to undertake certain interviews during the period of the visit in Costa Rica and Zimbabwe, the local consultants completed the schedule and sent the information back to the UK. The Ministry of Higher Education in Zimbabwe refused to meet with the consultants, although the other government ministries approached all agreed to interviews. (Interviews at the Ministry were eventually completed by the local consultants in March 1995).
61. The project team was able, in December 1994 and January 1995, to study the four case studies, using the questions in Figure One's matrix as a framework. From these, the main problems and lessons identified from the research were developed, and used as a basis for Chapters 5, 6 and 7.
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GOVERNMENT AGENCIES |
EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYER ASSOCIATIONS |
LABOUR ORGANISATIONS |
TRAINING INSTITUTIONS |
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Why is LMI collected? |
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What LMI is collected? |
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Who collects LMI? |
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What techniques are used |
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Who uses LMI? |
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Who benefits from LMI? |
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What are the costs of LMI? |
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What are the training needs? |
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Figure One: Labour market information investigation matrix
