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Skills for improved productivity, employment growth and development
education, on the one hand, and work-related training, on the other, reveal some good
practices that might be adapted more generally. These are:
ɽ
Link local and national training institutions. In Honduras, Education for Work
Centres (Centros de Educación para el Trabajo – CENETs) provide education and
training primarily for poor women in rural and urban communities with low levels
of education. They build on local needs assessments and community participation,
but are also linked to the national vocational training institution INFOP. The
training combines core skills, such as training in literacy and gender issues,
technical and vocational training (in agriculture, agro-industry, trade and services)
and entrepreneurship training. A recent impact assessment found that employment
in the communities rose by 136 per cent following training, increased investment
and introduction of new technologies (Rosal, 2007; Ooijens et al., 2000).
ɽ
Combine remedial education and employment services with technical training. The
Training for Work Programme (Programa de Capacitación Laboral – CAPLAB) in
Peru (1997–2006) integrated poor underemployed and unemployed young people
and women into the labour market by matching vocational training to the
experience and motivation of trainees, targeting demand in the labour market,
primarily of local small enterprises, and including on-the-job experience. The
programme is based in formal training institutions and emphasizes training of
trainers in new technologies and training methods, and in ways of combining
technical training with remedial education where necessary and linking training to
decentralized employment services. Originally donor funded, the programme was
incorporated in the General Law on Education in 2003 (CAPLAB, 2007).
ɽ
Take women’s training needs into account. Programmes that target women, or men
and women, need to take into account the particular circumstances that influence
women’s abilities to take advantage of training opportunities, such as family
responsibilities and workload, the seasonal character of work or ability to travel to
training centres. Some of the ways in which public policy can meet these criteria
for targeting women workers stem from experimentation in the private and non-
government sectors, where women have taken the initiative to organize training in
ways that are accessible and meaningful to them. For example, teleworking in the
small office/home office (SOHO) industry appears to be growing in some Asian
countries. It is a new type of working space, which appears to be particularly
relevant in helping women improve their access to the technical and core skills
development, networking and employment benefits traditionally associated with
formal economy work.
22
ɽ
Target young adults who have missed out on good secondary education. So-called
“second chance programmes” target adults who, for whatever reason, did not
receive an adequate education at a younger age. Such programmes generally offer
flexible timing, short duration courses and social services, where needed, to
facilitate entry into the formal labour market. For example, the Chilecalifica
programme launched in 2002 by the Chilean Ministries of Education, Economics,
and Labour aims to improve the level of schooling, the quality of technical
training, national certification of skills and competencies and labour market
information. Between 2002 and 2004, some 74,000 people were certified through
the programme; for those who completed the course, income levels increased by
22
For example, see information about “eHomemakers” in Malaysia that provides professional training on
business development, financial planning, shariah law and networking to women working from home in ICT and
other office support work (available at http://www.ehomemakers.net).
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