Case study A: VETA-ILO-GTZ pilot programmes for informal

5.5.1 Background

Tanzania’s Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) realizes that the task to prepare the more than 600,000 new entrants to the labour market who are not ab- sorbed in the formal sector, for self- and other types of employment in the informal sector, will need concerted action from public and private sectors. It is seeking for a model to evolve for this pilot activity to support traditional apprenticeship training that would evolve that could subsequently be included within its regular training programmes.

VETA has identified a number of constraints for skills development in informal worksites through training by mastercraftspeople:

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there is no uniform training system nor training plan which ensures the transfer of a set of relevant skills from the mastercraftspeople to the apprentices

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training is not a priority and the mastercraftspeople lack pedagogical skills requi- red

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skills transfer is limited to technical skills and does not include business skills, nor knowledge about occupational safety and health

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training is not based on a contract and often not even on a clear understanding of the duties and rights and both parties - often there is a family relation between the master and the apprentice, in other cases the fee is waved on the understanding that the apprentice will contribute cheap labour

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training takes place at the present technological level of the IS and does not pre- pare the MSEs for the skills required to meet the new quality standards following trade liberalization and globalization

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apprenticeship training does not lead to certification so that the quality of the training provided remains uncertain for both present and future trainees as well as potential em- ployers.

5.5.2 Pilot programmes

In the past three years VETA, together with support from the ILO (1998-99) and GTZ (since 1999, ongoing) has been implementing pilot programmes to improve tradi- tional apprenticeship through building the technical skills and training capacity of infor- mal sector master craftsmen. The pilot programmes focuses on the Dar es Salaam region

The programme worked through 15 groups, including associations and self-help groups in Temeke, the least developed and assisted district in Dar es Salaam. It purposely sought to include both male and female mastercraftspeople, for which reason it focused on manufacturing (carpentry, tinsmithing, welding), services (car and electric repair, body work and panel beating) and trade (food vendors and traders). A training needs as- sessment was carried out by the trainers from VETA and other institutions among 95 mastercraftspeople (including 14 women), who were training some 200 apprentices (see VETA 1998). Some of the findings included: 75% of the craftspeople had completed pri- mary education and the rest less than that (with 5% never having gone to school); and 92% of them had obtained their skills through apprenticeship and practice without for- mal vocational training, while 8% had followed a training at a vocational training centres, 7% a grade-III trade test and 1% a trade I test certificate. A further analysis of the skills of the ‘masters’ showed deficiencies in technical quality assurance, costing, business skills and pedagogical skills. In all a training needs assessment was made of 44 apprentices.

Together with GTZ and DANIDA, VETA has started to develop and test new ap- proaches to the informal sector (see Pfander and Gold 2000). They include the following:

Unit-based Training Approach

Present training courses pretend to be comprehensive and take too long. There is an enormous need for short, modular training curricula. People who are already en- gaged in self-employment or informal jobs do not have the time to attend long

tual training needs of the trainee. A preliminary assessment indicates that these modules are cost-effective, provide adequate training and are successful in integrat- ing non-VETA members in training for the informal sector.

Training for target groups in the informal sector

GTZ is also assisting VETA to develop innovative training offers for special target groups in the informal sector. The main points of departure for this type of training are formed by:

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identification of market niches (or, conversely, trends of saturation) so that the training offers reflect the situation on the labour and product markets

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a local or at most regional perspective aiming to develop an efficient linkage bet- ween local producers and the regional market

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prevalent characteristics of the intended target group (e.g. age, sex, education and work experience), together with their socio-economic environment

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existing local training and post-training support infrastructure

Some successful pilot activities have been undertaken in the areas of safe meat dress- ing and sale, mushroom production and street food vending. It was found that the costs involved in this type of training (e.g. trainers and training materials) are comparatively low.

Traditional apprenticeship

A study undertaken at the request of GTZ/VETA concluded that apprenticeship training is widespread in Tanzania, but still takes place in relatively unsophisticated formats (Nell and Shapiro cc. 1999, see also above). The study advises not to inter- fere with supplementing training courses for informal sector apprentices because the system does not seem to be stable enough nor sufficiently developed. Rather than directed at the trainees, it would seem future assistance could be aimed at the mastercrafts(wo)men themselves. Some of them indicate to lack expertise in the ar- eas of craft skills, management, finance and bookkeeping, and marketing.

5.5.3 Preliminary results

The pilot activities are closely monitored so as to facilitate further modifications. So far this information is only available in internal documents. On the basis of some of these25_{, the results}

and experiences can be summarized as follows:

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a participatory approach, involving the trainees, should be used to plan the trai- ning courses

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ITC ILO Occasional Paper

25 _{The information pertains to pilot activities carried out in ‘apprenticeship training’ (from Oct 1997-March 1999),}

‘mama/baba lishe operators’ in trade, restaurants, manufacturing and agriculture and fishing (Nov 1999-May 2000), ‘training for safe meat dressing & selling’ (1999) and ‘training for carpenters’ (2000).

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training concerned a mix of technical and business skills (record keeping, pri- cing, marketing and customer relations) - 80% of the training was practical

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training was conducted for both workshop owners and workers, but they were fo- und to have different training needs: it is more effective to develop separate trai- ning packages

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all training was subsidized, with the contribution from the trainees varying from own payment for travel and lunch to TSh. 500 - 1,000 per day (of 3-4 hours of trai- ning)

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it is difficult to break the gender-based male or female dominance in particular trades

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mastercrafts(wo)men do not want to be trained in front of their apprentices

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training resulted in improved quality of the goods and services produced by the IS firms, which in turn positively influenced sales and profits

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in the carpentry course, 20% of the employees gained so much confidence that they opened their own workshop

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training for the butchers and abattoir workers proved catalytic for subsequent support from others (e.g. City Council)

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accreditation through certification is important

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there is a need for VETA to link up with credit and other MSE service providers. In sum, while clear progress is being made in the VETA/GTZ pilot activities in the development of new modes to provide training to the informal sector, a lot of ground still needs to be covered. Moreover, the financial sustainability of GTZ/VETA training inter- ventions for the benefit of the informal sector so far appears to be still decidedly low.

In document OCCASIONAL PAPERS. TRAINING FOR WORK IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR: new evidence from Eastern and Southern Africa (Page 92-95)