Assessing skills in the informal economy: A resource guide for small industry and community organizations
Assessing skills in the informal economy: A resource guide for small industry and community organizations
English
ILO
The International Labour Organization is the tripartite U.N. agency that promotes Decent Work through employment, social security, labour standards and social dialogue. Its work on skills development is guided by the conceptual framework on Skills to improve productivity, employment growth, and development agreed in 2008 by representatives of Governments, Employers’ Associations and Workers’ Associations. Research, policy advice, and pilot projects and technical cooperation programmes to apply good practices in different circumstances across its 185 member States aims to boost the employability of workers, the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises, and the inclusiveness of economic growth. The ILO Secretariat in offices in 40 countries works with Ministries of Labour, employers’ organizations, and trade unions to integrate skills development into national and sector development strategies in order to better meet current labour market needs and to prepare for the jobs of the future; to expand access to employment-related training so that youth, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups are better able to acquire skills and secure productive and decent work; and to improve the ability of public employment services to provide career guidance, maintain labour exchange services, and deliver active labour market programmes.For more information regarding the ILO’s work on skills and employability go to: http://www.ilo.org/skills/lang--en/index.htm; for ILO/Cinterfor's Knowledge Management Plarform, see: http://www.oitcinterfor.org
Case studies and good practices
Case studies that document good practices and illustrate the benefits and lessons learnt of particular approaches or methods in real practice.
This guide is part of a series of ILO publications on skills and upgrading apprenticeship in the informal economy. It is based on nine case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America and demonstrates that bottom-up skills assessments are feasible and yield multiple benefits, yet need to be managed well to be effective. A common feature across the cases is that processes are initiated by small industry and community organizations (SICOs) themselves, and therefore standards are designed, agreed upon and enforced by local labour market actors.
The guide is divided into three main parts: Part A is more analytical and contains an overview of skills assessment practices of small industry organizations, and discusses why SICOs engage in skills assessments. Part B provides practical insight into how to initiate, organize and implement skills assessment, which potential stakeholders to involve, and how to link assessment with formal skills systems. It also discusses some important constraints and how to deal with them. The resource guide concludes with Part C – a section on lessons learnt.
