Training for informal workers in tourism, best practices

TRAINING FOR INFORMAL WORKERS-BEST PRACTICES 1

TRAINING FOR INFORMAL WORKERS-BEST PRACTICES

2 TRAINING FOR INFORMAL WORKERS-BEST PRACTICES TRAINING FOR INFORMAL WORKERS-BEST PRACTICES 3

This collection of TVET best practices and lessons learned is one of the five publications developed to support development professionals to run practical market-driven HIGH IMPACT TRAININGS for the informal economy. This document has been developed within the frame of the High Impact Tourism Training (HITT) programme, an initiative implemented by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) with the fi nancial contribution of the European Commission’s (EC) Investing in People programme. SNV would like to thank Lisa Gordon Davis from Kundiza, Jos van der Sterren from MDF, and Alice Penet from SNV, for their valuable contribution in developing this publication. Many thanks also to Katy Williams and Kiran Maharjan who edited and designed it. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the SNV team members of the HITT programme in seven countries for contributing the best practices and learning for this publication. In particular our thanks go to Rem Neefjes, Marta Saya, Duyen Anh Phan, Hung Cao Dai, Bibek Shrestha, Tanguy Cariou, Jonathan Demenge, Federico Vignati, D’bora Carvalho, Mawuko Fumey, Victor Caeser, Gerrit Bosman, Sabine Mengue, Alice Penet, Pierre Gravel, and AminataDoucoure. Finally our highest appreciation to the HITT programme national partners: the Benin Ecotourism Centre (Eco Benin) and the Fonds de Developpement de la Formation Professionnelle Continue et de L’apprentissage (FODEFCA) in Benin; Mith Samlanh in Cambodia; the Opportunities Industrialization Centre Ghana (OICG) in Ghana; the Centre de Formation Professionnelle Aoua Keita (CAK) in Mali; the Instituto Nacional Do Emprego E Formacao Profissional (INEFP) in Mozambique; the Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN) and REACH in Vietnam who were actively involved in the testing of the HIT approach in their home countries and brought on board key sector actors in the implementation of the HITT programme.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


INTRODUCTION 6

The informal economy and poverty 6

Skills training for the informal economy 7

The HITT programme 7

Goal of this document 7

TARGETING SELF-EMPLOYED INFORMAL WORKERS 8

Best practice 1: Tailoring training to self-employed

needs: mobile part- time training 10

Best practice 2: Reward mechanisms forinformal guides 11

Best practice 3: Empowering self-employed workers 12

Best practice 4: Support TVET providers to provide high impact training 13

Best practice 5: Involving the self- employed in curriculum design 14

TARGETING INFORMAL EMPLOYEES 15

Best practice 1: Overcoming industry resistance to train informal workers 17

Best practice 2: Professional development motivates informal employees 18

Best practice 3: Involving employers in the training delivery 19

Best practice 4: Increasing employability of trainees through placement agencies 20

TARGETING EMPLOYERS 21

Best practice 1: Linking small companies with new markets 23

Best practice 2: Mobilizing and strengthening

links between employers and employees 24

Best practice 3: Allowing employers to gain formal recognition 25

TARGETING UNEMPLOYED AND NEW GRADUATES 26

Best practice 1: Linking unemployed with employers through internships 28

Best practice 2: Training new graduates 29

CONCLUSION 30

Bibliography 31

TABLE OF CONTENTS


In very general terms, the informal economy is the unregulated non-formal part of the market economy that produces goods and services for sale or for other forms of remuneration (Becker, 2004). The term “informal economy” thus refers to “all economic activities produced by workers and economic units that are – in law or in practice – not covered or insuffi ciently covered by formal arrangements” (ILO, 2002). The informal economy is largely characterised by:

Low entry requirements in terms of capital and professional qualifi cations Small scale operations Skills often acquired outside of formal education Labour-intensive methods of production and low levels of technology.

Informal employment includes both remunerative work – self-employment and wage employment – and non-remunerative work undertaken in an income-producing enterprise.

Growth in the informal economy is often linked to a downturn in the formal economy. This has been the case in some Asian countries where the informal economy has indeed declined during economic boom and increased during economic recession. However, the informal economy appears to be more stable in countries where incomes and assets are not equitably distributed. It seems that if economic growth is not accompanied by improvements in employment levels and income distribution, the informal economy does not shrink (Chen M. A., 2012).

Informal employment comprises 48% of non-agricultural employment in North Africa, 51% in Latin America, 65% in Asia and 72% in sub-Saharan Africa. If South Africa is excluded, the share of informal employment in non-agricultural employment rises to 78% in sub-Saharan Africa. (Chen M. A., 2012). Although the average revenue generated by the informal economy is low, collectively these revenues represent a signifi cant share of gross domestic product (GDP) of many countries – between 27% and 41% (ILO, 2002).

The informal economy and poverty

Despite their numbers and their contribution to the economy, most workers in the informal economy face greater risks and fewer opportunities than their counterparts in the formal economy. Firstly, their working conditions are more risky. Secondly, they have fewer benefi ts (lower wages, no social security). Thirdly, they have fewer opportunities (reduced access to training, fi nancing or information about markets). Finally, they have fewer rights and less means to enforce them (Chen M. , Cadre stratégique d’appui aux travailleurs de l’économie informelle, 2006).

Despite the heterogeneity of the informal economy, people involved in it are broadly divided into three categories of employment / work: a) employers b) self-employed, and c) employees (including employees of informal enterprises, casual workers, home workers, domestic workers and workers without a formal contract of employment (Chen M. , Cadre stratégique d’appui aux travailleurs de l’économie informelle, 2006).

The HITT programme

The European Union-funded ‘high impact training for jobs and income in tourism’ (HITT) programme, implemented by SNV, aims to delivering market-driven training to informal and potential workers in the tourism industry, with particular focus on women, young people and the unskilled and semi-skilled, as such groups are almost always excluded from vocational training. The programme, implemented in seven developing countries in Asia and Africa, has the following objectives:

To expand access for disadvantaged groups to practical and market-oriented vocational training

To facilitate direct links with industry actors to maximize opportunities for production, income and employment for participants

Trying to tackle the challenges identifi ed by the ILO in the provision of accurate trainings to informal workers, the programme has developed a HIGH IMPACT TRAINING (HIT) approach to guide development professionals in the development and implementation of a practical market-driven vocational training system for the informal economy. The HIT approach has two major components:

An approach to enabling the country environment for facilitating market driven TVET for the informal economy (EE approach)

An approach to learning.

As a group, informal workers are diverse and unsettled. Economic contexts are various and evolve constantly. How can training empower informal workers to improve their economic situation, while working closely with formal and public actors? The HITT programme, in collaboration with local actors, has developed original solutions to this question. Some are very concrete: offering a way to deliver training that is compatible with informal workers' constraints. Others are more conceptual: raising the interest of both formal employers and informal workers about the empowerment of informal workers in enterprises. Together they can bring ideas of how to conceive and implement a TVET programme for informal workers.

Goal of this document

This document presents some of the original strategies developed through the HITT programme to conceive appropriate curricula, deliver trainings using relevant methods, target and mobilize women, youth and poor, empower informal workers and build capacities of training providers, etc. All these strategies respond to key challenges identifi ed by the ILO. This document looks at how to target self-employed workers, employees and employers as well as unemployed people and fresh graduates, who are the most in need of market oriented skills. Most of the examples are drawn from the tourism sector, in which the HITT programme was implemented.

Tourism-related jobs do not necessarily require high level skills: two-thirds of tourism-related jobs are low-skilled (Holman, 2011). However, soft skills are extremely important and demanded by guests throughout the world. The variety of jobs and the low/semi-skilled nature of the work, makes the industry attractive to new entrants into the labour market and groups prone to unemployment such as young people, women or disadvantaged people, with minimal education and/or formal qualifi cations (UNWTO, 2009). These characteristics, added to the exceptional growth of this economic sector in many developing countries, make the industry especially suitable for vocational trainings. However, the best practices and lessons learned, outlined below, can be adapted to many different economic contexts and sectors.

INTRODUCTION


TARGETING SELF-

EMPLOYED INFORMAL WORKERS

Self-employed tourism workers tend to work alone or with the help of unpaid workers, generally family members. Many examples of the self-employed poor in tourism are commonly seen in tourism destinations: street vendors, masseurs, luggage-carriers, shoeshine boys, individual guides, tuktuk drivers, etc.

Self-employed people fi nd their own work rather than being provided with work by an employer. They earn income from a trade or business that they operate but are different from employers in a sense that they do not hire or fi re staff but work independently. These workers have specifi c characteristics that may be addressed through tailored and private sector vocational training:

Most work on an irregular basis

They seldom use fi xed assets or accumulate capital

They seldom operate in networks or associations, but work individually

In many destinations, the self- employed poor combine tourism income with agricultural activities in the off-season.

They are usually working to scrape out an existence and rarely have a business strategy that uses marketing or higher technical skills. They have a permanent shortage of cash and their income strategy is based on meeting these shortages by whatever means.

This allows them to operate freely, in a fl exible way, and to a certain extent, at the margins of the law.

The self-employed are not often willing or motivated to participate in long training sessions unless there is a direct relation to earning higher income. However, they will participate in vocational training. In addition, obtaining a degree or certifi cate is often less relevant than increasing their income through improved skills.

If self-employed workers are concerned that time spent in training will prevent them from bringing home enough income every day, they won’t be able to concentrate on the training. Moreover, they might fear losing their clients or jobs if they cannot attend work.

These issues require specifi c approaches in designing and implementing vocational training programmes. Solutions in the HITT programme relate to part-time modular training during low season periods, and on the spot where they operate (in the markets, on the street). Also, training content should be designed in collaboration with experienced self-employed informal workers, since they best know the skills required to increase income and access to better-paid jobs.


Best practice 1: Tailoring training to self-employed needs Best practice 2: Reward mechanisms for informal guides

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

In developing countries, street food vendors are usually poor, numerous and mainly women (in the HITT programme rates were 95% in Ghana, and 91% in Mali). They usually lack basic skills that could help them to earn more. While they may be interested in improving their skills, several obstacles may prevent them from attending training.

First, some of them are unlikely to leave their work place as someone could take their spot or they could lose customers. Second, there is the money issue: they cannot afford to earn nothing for several days especially if they have to pay transport costs or training fees. Third, they might worry about going back to school, especially when they have a poor level of education and have diffi culties in writing/ reading. So training must be adapted to their needs.

So TVET programmes must fi nd an original way to deliver trainings to street food vendors. The HITT programme in Mozambique involved informal workers as much as possible in the training development, so these challenges were taken into account when designing the delivery strategy, The training modules were designed to be delivered over 8 to 10 days in sessions of 2 hours each. Other aspects of the training were adapted such as locating trainings onsite so trainees could keep an eye on their stall and even serve customers; allowing trainees to bring their own materials, and to use their local language with very limited written materials. Trainers applied active learning techniques. The training content itself focused on how to increase income. Trainers adapted basic business management examples and calculations to real scenarios.

In this way trainees practised what they learnt in their own business before debriefi ng the following day with the trainer and the other trainees.

Ways to grab vendors’ interest included door to door (stall to stall) visits in pre-identifi ed areas (clusters), which mobilised many informal poor workers. However, many trainees just came through word of mouth, seeing the trainings taking place…which was much more effective for the target groups than, for example, advertising in newspapers.

Trainees expressed high satisfaction regarding the training content and methodology. Training materials attracted their attention, helping to generate discussions among the group. Demonstrations and role plays helped to make training interactive, especially as trainings were delivered in their local language. By the end of 2013, HITT Mozambique had trained 400 food and beverage street food vendors in Maputo and Inhambane.

This kind of on-site training, using innovative training materials, requires meticulous preparation by the TVET provider. It is hard to fi nd a TVET provider used to working with illiterate adults or familiar with adult learning techniques. Involving the training provider in the design and development of the training materials is thus very important so that it is fully prepared for the training.

It’s important to plan enough time for designing and developing the materials since a participatory process, involving the TVET providers and future trainees, takes time as does the development of high impact training materials. HITT Mozambique spent about six months on the process, including the training of trainers.

English for tourist workers training was designed with the help of the Malian guides’ association. Topics covered focus on communication and marketing skills in order to help trainees fi nd clients in spite of the security crisis. The total duration of the training, decided together with the guides’ association, is 60 hours, so the commitment is high. The schedule chosen by the guides consists of half day courses, over 2-3 weeks. However, it is not easy for them to commit for this time period, because they will have no secured income and will also need to respond to customers.

Mainly dedicated to guides and future guides, this training can also suit a range of tourism workers, including waiters, receptionists, handicraft sellers and taxi drivers.

The strategy adopted was two-fold: fi rst, ensure offi cial recognition of the certifi cate and second, ensure benefi ts for guides who received this certifi cate.

Through close cooperation with the National Direction for Vocational Training (DNFP), the curriculum “English for tourism workers” got offi cial recognition. When a national course for guides or tourism workers is developed, then this certifi cate will count as 4 credits.

The second step involved the National Tourism Offi ce (OMATHO), which is in charge of the offi cial recognition of tourist guides. OMATHO decided to use this training to provide offi cial recognition for pre-selected guides.

The reward mechanisms enabled trainees to participate in the training, as it was seen as an investment for their future. The curriculum, exercises, and examples, were tailor-made for tourism workers, so that every guide, despite his starting level, could learn language and skills for his daily occupation. This resulted in very small drop-out rates.

Providing incentives for informal self-employed workers to attend training can make them overcome challenges such as availability, lack of income, fear of learning etc.

Building the training with informal workers, as well as with the public authorities with the power to recognize this certifi cation was key to answering the needs and constraints of trainees. However, one should not underestimate that the quality and relevance of training also motivated trainees to attend.


Best practice 3: Empowering self-employed workers Best practice 4: Support TVET providers to provide high impact training

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

Informal self employed workers do not often belong to professional networks. Their networks are informal, word of mouth, social or family links, but are not aimed to promote their professional interests. Thus, they are not used to defending their interests or promoting their rights.

Bringing the self-employed together for several days of training creates a feeling of membership amongst the trainees. Although they might all be competitors, they are usually happier to share problems and solutions rather than fi ght for customers. The training is a special occasion to empower trainees and multiply its profi table effects.

There are several examples of empowerment from the EU funded HITT programme. In Mali, the small restaurants owners / cooks of the inner Kayes region decided to create an association in order to benefi t from other trainings, share ideas and promote their interest towards local authorities.

In Mali, Cambodia and Ghana, some associations used the training as an incentive for non-members to become members with training representing a concrete benefi t of membership. In Mozambique, the involvement of public authorities as stakeholders in the programme encouraged dialogue between informal workers and the municipality. For instance informal food and beverage vendors at the fi sh market successfully lobbied the authorities to improve waste management and security at the market.

This outcome is an indirect benefi t of the training. But for this to happen, it requires that TVET providers encourage trainees’ empowerment. This means being aware of trainees’ needs or challenges, informing them about opportunities and the way to use them and supporting them (e.g., in creating an association, in discussing with authorities).

For this, TVET programmes should include trainees’ empowerment in the TVET providers’ objectives and tasks, and give them useful tools and tips to achieve this.

A household business and informal sector survey conducted in 2007 in Ghana (Accra, Tema and Kumasi) revealed that informal workers face precarious operating conditions and have no access to public services or premises from which to run their business; that their working conditions are poor (e.g. long working hours) and social security coverage is non-existent. Street vendors in particular, by improving their business management and sales skills, could increase their revenue and profi ts, if trainings were adapted to their livelihood situation.

However, in Ghana neither public or private TVET structures tailor vocational trainings for informal workers’ needs. The local HITT partner, OICG, one of the most knowledgeable in technical and vocational training for industrial occupations, recently started creating opportunities for the informal sector to access training through apprenticeship models in selected geographical locations in Ghana.

HITT opted for strong investment in capacity building and hand-holding of OICG. Its involvement in the situational analysis, enabled OICG to increase its understanding of the living conditions of street vendors. It took part in the training development process, and then followed a twofold training of trainers - one about adult teaching methods and the other about technical aspects of the training. This investment allowed OICG to deliver on-site trainings to 319 food and beverage servers / vendors on the streets in Accra, Takoradi and Kumasi, using specifi cally adapted training methods and materials.

Through the HITT programme OICG has shaped its way of training people, adapting its strategy to a new target group (street vendors) with a new learning method (active learning) and strengthened its institutional capacities.

Furthermore, sustainable access to these training structures has been enhanced through the practical experiences gained: OICG is in the process of accessing the Skills Development Fund for the street vendor modules, by upscaling the intervention to a national level.

High impact training for informal workers is achieved through innovative approaches, such as active learning methods, the use of specifi c materials (fl ash cards, flip files), and original delivery. To achieve this, strong capacity building for the local TVET is often required. This reinforcement should include advice for TVET providers to develop the “informal workers”’ market, allowing those training methods and models to become sustainable.


Best practice 5: Involving the self- employed in curriculum design

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

The inception analysis showed that in Mali, traditional food culture is a relevant part of the tourism experience. Local traditional food production however is getting lost and the way food is prepared lacks basic hygiene standards relevant for international tourism markets. Traditional food is chiefly sold by street food vendors, who are mainly poor, self-employed women, working informally. The opportunity to improve food quality and hygiene should in return increase their turnover and income, while promoting traditional culture and local agricultural production. However, it is diffi cult to reach traditional food street vendors as they are usually not organized in associations or unions. In Bamako, only one association of small restaurants was identifi ed.

Private operators and cooks (through the Association of Small Restaurants and Canteens) were closely involved in the design of the curricula – both of the topics and the delivery strategy. The contents were identified on the basis of one major basic question: “which skills will help you to increase your income?”. Ideas included improving hygiene, service skills, quality and diversity of dishes and management skills.

The future trainees decided that trainings should be either in the morning or afternoon, but not full days to allow people to manage their restaurant (or “table”) the rest of the day. They also decided trainings should not exceed a maximum of 6 ½ days and should take place over one week rather than staggered over several.The curriculum was:

Practical preparation of traditional recipes (6 out of 10, to be chosen by each batch) Transversal integrated modules: hygiene and security, food preservation,

management skills, customer approach.

Involving fi nal benefi ciaries ensures the relevance of trainings and the mobilization of trainees. Also topics chosen were largely accurate for running a small restaurant / selling traditional food in the street.

The cook training was very practical, promoting integrated learning in an environment that imitated the daily environment of trainees, using local language and mainly based on practice, pictures and exercises. Its success could be adapted in several Malian regions (owing to the choice of the most relevant recipes). The informal workers involved managed to mobilize some trainees for the fi rst batches, through an existing association, but trainers had to do a social mobilization (inviting self-employed informal workers randomly) in order to reach the target number. Following the fi rst batch, all trainees attended by word of mouth (337 in Bamako). This scheme also worked in other regions, especially in the South region of Sikasso. Drop-out rates from the courses were marginal and participants indicated that the content enabled them to increase their income immediately following the course.

Involving private operators in the defi nition of the training content and strategy is essential. But pay special attention to involve not only managers or board members, but also fi nal benefi ciaries themselves. Numbers should not be too high, but if possible they should have succeeded in their work, so as to focus on best practices. When they are involved in the mobilization of trainees, establish very clear criteria and an external selection committee so as to avoid nepotism. First trainees should also be encouraged to give feed-back for the improvement of the training for the next batches. Being considered as advisors is very rewarding, and gives them ownership that will stimulate their mobilization mission and boost the word of mouth process.

TARGETING INFORMAL

EMPLOYEES


Informally hired employees are a very large – and largely invisible - subcategory of informal workers. They are defi ned (Chen M. A., 2012) as “employees hired without social protection contributions by formal or informal enterprises or as paid domestic workers by households.”

They are trapped in poverty and improving their skills levels is extremely challenging. Since they are not capable or in a position to start their own business or sell their services as self-employed, informal employees are dependent on employers and face many constraints in their daily struggle for survival. Examples of informally hired employees in the tourism sector can be seen in restaurants (cooks, kitchen personnel, cleaning personnel), in hotels and resorts, (waiters, assistant waiters, gardeners, porters, house keeping staff, women providing laundry services), and in travel agents (drivers, supporting staff, cleaning personnel, etc).

Certain types of wage work are more likely than others to be informal. These include:

Employees of informal enterprises Casual or day labourers Temporary or part-time workers Paid domestic workers Contract workers Industrial outworkers (also called homeworkers)

Based on international research, the following graphic (Chen M. A., 2012), shows the relations between poverty risk, earnings and gender:

Segmentation of informal employment by average earnings and sex

In terms of earnings, informal wage employment is generally superior to informal self-employment. However, a hierarchy exists: informal employers have the highest average earnings followed by their employees, then own-account workers, and then casual wage workers and domestic workers. Related statistical analyses have found that industrial outworkers have the lowest average earnings of all1.

Informal Employers

Informal Employees

Own Account Operators

Industrial outworkers/Homeworkers

High

Average earnings Segmentation by sex

Predominantly men

Men and women

Predominantly womenLow

Casual Wage Workers

1 Charmes and Lekehal n.d.; Chen and Snodgrass 2001

Poverty

Risk factor for employer

Lack of self motivation

Working hours constraints

They cannot afford to forego their daily earnings to attend training. They may not have money for food or transport, or daycare for children.

With their skills base boosted by training these employees may be poached by competitors offering them higher salaries.

There is a need to create incentives for them to invest in their skills development (certifi cates, link to income / employability / increase in responsibilities). Job security and income maintenance with current employers is more of a concern for them than income increase.

Training must be adapted to fi t the demands of the employers in terms of days/ hours / duration.

These underemployed or casually employed informal employees face the following constraints when it comes to improving their vocational skills:

Best practice 1: Overcoming industry resistance to train informal workers

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

In Benin as in many other countries, it is not always easy to convince employers to invest in their casual staff. Even if they know that a skilled employee is better for their business, managers will always prioritize short term profi tability when it comes to casual workers. As far as the worker is concerned the employer calls the shots: so if they are needed to work they will forego the training even if they were interested in it. Also, employers fear that better trained employees will be poached or ask for better working conditions/more money.

HITT Benin explored different means of encouraging employers to send their informal workers to training activities. The fi rst was to involve them fully in training design and development, so that they could clearly identify benefi ts for their own enterprise. The second was to involve them in the delivery of trainings so they could ensure that teaching was really in line with their business strategy. The third incentive was to allow them to use the training for their formal workers once they had trained/ sent for training x% of their informal taskforce.

The training delivery strategy appeared to be the best lever to overcome industry resistance to training their informal workers. In the HITT programme, it was noted that managers were more likely to include informal workers when trainings took place in-house or where managers also attended. This strategy is also the most effi cient, fi nancially speaking, as employers bear most of the training costs. The downside is that the TVET programme has less control over the training quality, the delivery timeframe, the content etc,.

This strategy requires that expectations are stated clearly at the beginning, especially regarding the percentage of informal workers. As the TVET programme has little control over what is really implemented at the company level, it is better to associate training with a recognition process or with the acquisition of a quality label at company or individual level.


Best practice 2: Professional development motivates informal employees Best practice 3: Involving employers in the training delivery

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

Most of the trekking agencies in Nepal pay serious attention to the training of their staff, through a well established on-the-job training system with workers normally starting as a porter and moving up through the ranks to kitchen assistant, cook, assistant guide and fi nally to guide. However, selected trainings enable employees to increase their skills and evolve faster in the company, plus it improves the quality of the company’s services.

Client expectations of guides are rising, with many trekkers now asking about the local fl ora, fauna, agriculture, people, culture, etc.

The mountain leader training scheme implemented by HITT Nepal has developed a very holistic training approach, whose relevance, effi ciency and sustainability has become well regarded by trekking guides.

The mountain leaders /guide course was aimed at equipping trekking guides with the required skills, techniques and level of professionalism. It was developed in close collaboration with the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), the Trekking Agents’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) and the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA). This ensured the relevance of the course content and that it conformed with international standards.

The training delivery was designed to follow the usual way of training in this sector: in-house practical trainings, delivered in the fi eld by selected employees of trekking agencies during the low tourism season. Trainers were trained for free, but in return had to train a given number of guides from their company, 70% of them informal workers.

The NMA integrated the mountain leader training scheme and HITT approach into their existing curriculum and NMA trekking guides course, which is going to be UIAA certifi ed. A log book, produced by the HITT programme, will be used by the NMA to record all trainings followed by mountain leaders, their experience, and qualifi cations, and to certify their qualifi cations as mountain leaders after their assessment.

The relevance of the training content, delivery and recognition, enabled the HITT programme to train 67 trainers and 347 informal guides by the end of October 2013.

Trekking companies were able to improve client satisfaction while the guides increased their skills and income both from their employer and tips. The logbook and national / international certifi cations brought them more opportunities to work in India during Nepal’s low season. The training truly accelerated their professional evolution.

The success of this scheme was largely about gaining professional recognition and certifi cation, but success can also be linked to other benefi ts, such as wage increases, promotion, or improved working conditions.

Cambodia is experiencing strong growth in international tourism arrivals and the accommodation sector is seen as the highest growth sector for the coming years in terms of employment generation. Tourists are in search of affordable but high standard accommodation, comparable with that found in neighbouring Thailand, Vietnam and upcoming Myanmar. Hotels and accommodation businesses are in search of qualifi ed staff and hire informal workers because there are simply not enough people being trained in the few tourism institutions and training programmes. Training is mostly delivered on the job, by experienced employees or managers.

HITT Cambodia worked closely with the Cambodia Hotel Association (CHA) and the Cambodia Restaurant Association (CRA), to develop a curriculum for waiters and room attendants, with two generic modules related to service and hospitality skills.

The training strategy was to train trainers from the industry, who delivered the modules to their own staff, including a number of informally employed staff (depending on business size). Hotels and restaurants were approached through their associations, and interested parties could then sign a cooperation agreement with HITT to be trained as trainers and deliver the training to their staff.

Involving industry actors in the training development process ensured the relevance of the training. In addition, the HITT team included the ASEAN standards in the training content, and involved the Ministry of Tourism, which contributed to raising the quality and relevance of the training. Choosing a delivery strategy that involves in-house trainers also strengthened the attraction of the training for the industry: they could deliver high quality training to whom they wanted, following their own schedule, conducting it onsite to minimize costs (transportation, venue…) and increase the relevance.

Also, the ToT enabled them to improve the capacities of their in-house trainers, getting them used to new active and innovative high impact teaching methods. This capacity building enables the replication of the training to future workers. About 24 companies trained on average 33 trainees each (between 6 and 72, depending on the size of their business), and more than 60% of them were informal workers. The CRA has agreed to take the programme over, using the same trainers and the same modules.

The in-house delivery strategy saves money. The HITT investment lies in the development of high quality materials and training of (industry-based) trainers. However, business owners prioritize the training of their formal staff, not their informal staff. One needs to be creative and apply some incentives to motivate industry to invest in the training of informal staff. Here, the incentive was the high level training content, the innovative teaching methods and the high level of technical training content delivered by the master trainers.

The in-house training model requires more than a single ToT to develop good trainers. Regular mentoring and coaching support is essential to ensure the proper acquisition of the necessary skills. It is also recommended to organise refresher ToTs, so that participants (trainers) can share their learning and improve. In this cascading model, it is important to conduct regular checks on the quality of training delivery in the participating hotels and restaurants.


Best practice 4: Increasing employability

of trainees through placement agencies

Context

Method

Outcome

Lessons learned

In Ghana, especially in Accra, hotels face challenges hiring skilled employees, since they rarely offer fi xed jobs due to the seasonal nature of the work and insecurity of bookings. Employment (recruitment and placement) agencies play a crucial role in this unstable market environment. The challenge for HITT Ghana was to tackle the scarcity of qualifi ed staff in priority occupations, to improve service quality, and to reduce “poaching” of qualifi ed staff.

HITT Ghana linked up with placement agencies, which supplied trainees (casual, informal, or underemployed waiters and room attendants). The trainees attended 10 – 12 day classroom based trainings, focused on both core and technical skills.

The link with the employment agencies has three positive effects. It allowed easy recruitment of informal/underemployed trainees (25% of trainees for this training model came through agencies). Recruitment agencies were able to deliver better services to the hotels they work for and casual workers increased their employability: 11% of the informal workers declared that they had found a job after the training and 40% increased their working hours.

Clear objectives should be stated from the beginning with placement agencies, regarding the number of trainees to send, their profi les (education level, gender, age,…), and the proportion to place after the training.

TARGETING EMPLOYERS


Employers in the informal economy can be defined as “owner operators who hire others” (Chen, 2009). They may include, for example, homestay managers and owners of small street restaurants. In the tourism sector, most of the destination level services are delivered through micro and small enterprises. In the accommodation sector alone, it is estimated that 80% of bed capacity is held in small, usually family run establishments (Sterren, 2008). Small businesses provide the crucial linkages between different components of the tourism value chain: local transportation, food and beverages, small-scale accommodation, shops and retail services, small spa and massage-facilities, specialized bakery and pastry shops, coffee shops, etc.

The capital base and productive assets of these small businesses are very limited. They mainly rely on workforce, which is seen as the fl exible part of the business model. Employees usually work informally, are low paid, and have few rights regarding labour law. This infl uences the quality of their services.

The employers are facing a “catch- 22” situation: they have no means to invest in better skilled staff, and thus cannot grow because their services remain of inferior quality. Sometimes, sending their employees to training is impossible because they need them to work.

If properly addressed, specifi c vocational skills solutions may help these employers to improve their competitive strength. Some examples:

Conceive trainings that are truly focused on their needs and constraints Develop part-time and low-season trainings, especially for subcontracted workers Use the training as a hook to access new suppliers and new markets, or quality labels

Best practice 1: Linking small companies with new markets

Context

Method

Impact

Lessons learned

Hosting trekkers in small lodges (teahouses) for their overnight stay represents a key livelihood opportunity in trekking areas. In some well-established trekking areas, such as Annapurna region, highly successful examples exist (e.g. Ghandruk). A lodge in a rural area is generally an informal family-run micro-enterprise where women generally play a prominent role (half of interviewed lodge owners were women). Vocational skills development can help create quality services for tourists, which will stimulate tourism demand, perhaps in new areas. Better homestay experiences not only generate employment opportunities for the operators, but also for the communities, by creating a demand for fresh local produce. However, organizing training in remote areas is a real challenge: transportation and accommodation costs are high, and trainees need to leave their homestays for several days.

HITT supported homestay owners to upgrade their lodges and services and helped them get access to new tourism customer market segments. It managed to support vulnerable and remote benefi ciaries, through a modular and mobile training approach. The curriculum was developed through a participatory process, involving future beneficiaries as well as specialists in the trekking sector (trekking companies, associations such as Empowering Women in Nepal (EWN)), making sure the process was demand driven). To ensure trainings would be coupled with an increase in trekker numbers, HITT established a partnership with the Himalayan Academy of Tourism Training (HATT), the training wing of a trekking and travel company based in Nepal. On top of providing technical inputs to curriculum and material development, its staff participated in the ToT, and the best ones took part in the training of benefi ciaries from the Manaslu areas in July 2012.

Fostering a strong interactive partnership has resulted in more than boosting participants’ technical skills. The trainees – homestay micro-enterprise owners – have been able to expand their business network, forge links with the formal sector through the trainings delivered by HATT and EWN and their respective sister trekking companies Explore Himalaya and 3 Sisters.

The training created employment opportunities for the owners as well as their dependent family members and people from the local community thanks to the better tourism services delivered. Also, the combination of actors allowed great participation in remote areas. The Employment Fund Secretariat as well as HATT have agreed to replicate the training for their staff too.

Here, motivation to attend the training was high as it was directly linked to market opportunity. This is the result of broader partnership that could involve both informal enterprises and formal ones (in this case the tour operator), as well as public funding mechanisms.

Another example of such incentives was found in the way homestays trained by the HITT programme in Vietnam were connected to potential markets. In this case, the government-run tourism information centre arranged a ‘speed-dating’ networking event to make suppliers (homestay operators trained by HITT) and buyers (tour operators) meet. In addition, the HITT team developed a business linkages tool which provides information on each of the homestays trained on the HITT programme, which will be distributed to tour operators, hotels and travel agents responsible for booking homestay accommodation.

These initiatives stress the importance of involving several actors (public, formal, and informal companies) in the development of training for the informal economy, in order to deepen the impact by enlarging markets and developing new business networks. This motivates informal employers to get trained.


Best practice 2: Mobilizing and strengthening

links between employers and employees

Best practice 3: Allowing employers to gain formal recognition

Context

Method

Impact

Lessons learned

Context

Method

Impact

Lessons learned

In Mali small businesses usually offer manage waste, collecting it from households by donkey cart and carting it to dumps or to dump it in green space. These enterprises usually employ workers on a monthly basis, for extremely low pay. These workers try to sell recyclable waste to increase their meager income.

The waste management businesses face several challenges: municipalities fail to maintain dumps, employees lack service skills, customers fail to pay, etc. Managers usually consider their employees unreliable, and as their worker turnover is high, they don’t want to invest in them. They think employees should work rather than attend training.

Waste management enterprises rarely recover recyclable waste even though a market exists to buy it. Selling recyclable waste could increase their income and decrease the amount of dumped waste.

Individual collectors do not collect enough waste to be able to sell it on profi tably. By bringing employees and employers together in the implementation of this activity, HITT aimed to increase income at company and employee level.

The strategy consisted of making waste collectors as well as managers participate in the development of training. Managers were very reluctant to train waste collectors until they realized they needed them to conduct this new activity of selling waste. It was agreed that collectors would follow a one-day course, and managers a two-day course.

Managers and collectors sat together to attend trainings. For collectors, it was a bit strange to attend training instead of working until they realized they knew more about sorting and selling waste than their employers.

Thanks to work groups and role plays, employers learned the importance of sharing the benefi ts (i.e., increasing the collectors ’wages) if they wanted this activity to be implemented.

Some 300 waste managers and collectors were trained in three main cities (more than 50% of existing waste management enterprises in the three regions).

Based on this experience, the World Food Programme launched a “cash for work” programme to enable 7700 disadvantaged people to work in waste recovery on behalf of waste management enterprises.

Attracted by the benefits, employers were keen to invest in training and new practices. The result was the outcome of a participatory process, through which employers realised they had to involve their employees in the process in order to make it work.

Time, refl ection, involvement of all actors in the training development, as well as fl exibility in the design of the delivery strategy were crucial to the success of the training.

Fast food outlets with poor hygiene standards are numerous in Nepal, yet the Government has limited capacity to control restaurant hygiene standards and is searching for a different way to increase the number of validated “safe” restaurants. While fast food owners are willing to train their employees, they have problems freeing them during working hours.

HITT collaborated with the Fast-food Association of Nepal (Fast-fan), which represents 100 fast food outlets in the Kathmandu valley, and the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) of the Ministry of Agriculture Development to implement food hygiene and service excellence training. The aim of the course was to increase awareness about food hygiene and to provide essential skills and knowledge on kitchen hygiene and proper use of kitchen equipment and food and beverage services. The initial phase of collaboration focused on identifying the gaps in workers’ skills and knowledge. In the second phase the curriculum was tailored for the target benefi ciaries and the requirements of DFTQC, which sets hygiene standards for restaurants at the national level. The delivery strategy was designed for fast food restaurants i.e., in-house trainings, to be delivered through 4.5 hour sessions, that could be organised before work (e.g., from 6 to 10.30 am).

ToTs were then delivered by TVET service providers to restaurant managers and cooks, who in turn trained other staff. While the programme paid for the curriculum and material development and for the ToT, all training of benefi ciaries was funded by the restaurant owners, owing to the adaptability and cheap training strategy that was developed.

Collaboration with Fast-fan ensured the programme reached informal workers in most of the restaurant industry in a sustainable way and provided them with formal training. Working with the Ministry of Agriculture Development, which enforces hygiene standards, was the best way to ensure the relevance of the training. As a result of this collaboration, Fast-fan created formal links with the informal worker members and has gained significant experience in training development and implementation. It also ensured fast-food restaurant owners’ buy-in so they could apply food hygiene standards and pass DFTQC’s controls.

Fast food restaurants were also encouraged to increase the health of their teams in the workplace and to offer them medical check-ups in partnership with a local hospital, thereby improving their working conditions.

This example shows that it is possible to address training through a broader approach, which enables the business itself to develop by meeting external requirements such as hygiene standards.

What made this training a success for the whole sector of fast food restaurants was the involvement of different structures (informal fast food outlets, public authority, professional association and informal workers) in the training development process.


TARGETING UNEMPLOYED

AND NEW GRADUATES

Unemployed people face even more challenges than informal workers as they are usually poorest, have fewer business connections, and lack basic skills to get employed. Yet employers say it is hard to fi nd skilled workers to recruit. Several causes can be identifi ed:

Workers lack professional experience or skills When they exist, trainings / courses lack practical training opportunities Employers offer low wages, discouraging qualifi ed workers from applying Employers in the informal sector prefer to hire family or friends rather than skilled workers

By strengthening practical skills and the experience of unemployed people, a TVET programme can have a real impact on their earning potential and employability. This is why the EU funded HITT programme included the unemployed in its global target. They were considered as “potential (informal) workers”, and could be divided into two groups: new graduates or the unemployed.

The unemployed may have the time to invest in training, but they also face different challenges that hinder their participation, such as:

The lack of funds, which prevent them from paying for transportation costs or training fees (except in the case of new graduates where family can contribute)

Lack of availability as they might have responsibilities at home as they don’t work (child care, food preparation…)

The possible lack of interest from graduates who see no benefi ts from additional training

Some of the unemployed people might be inward or outward migrants or farmers seeking off season work. Such workers may not see the point of investing in any training for just a part-time job.

The mobilization strategy for unemployed people is quite different to that used for informal workers. Instead of using employers’ networks, unions, or associations, one needs to go through the supply side: public or private employment agencies, and schools.


Best practice 1: Providing the umemployed with internships Best practice 2: Training new graduates

Context

Method

Impact

Lessons learned

Context

Method

Impact

Lessons learned

In Vietnam, employers of graduates from food and beverage courses have complained that these graduates do possess real work related skills – but they cannot gain skills unless given a chance to practise. Practical technical experience provided as part of formal training, preferably in a real formal establishment, increases the employability of a food and beverage server.

The formal partner of the HITT programme in Vietnam, REACH, offers three-month vocational training programmes to disadvantaged youth. While REACH has extensive knowledge of selection processes and vocational training delivery, the HITT programme enabled it to make its curriculum more market-oriented using the HIT approach which started with an analysis process. It conducted detailed research to reveal issues or concerns in their existing programme. Interviews were conducted with three stakeholder groups: industry employers who employ graduates, food and beverage (F&B) facilitators, and F&B graduates. The most signifi cant discovery was that industry employers felt that the REACH graduates did not have nearly enough industry exposure or experience upon graduation, and were not job-ready.

The REACH F&B programme was rewritten completely and included a weekly day-release system into industry. The trainees were trained in formal class from Monday to Thursday and spent Fridays working in the industry, which gave them an immediate opportunity to apply their new knowledge and skills in a workplace.

While there were some initial challenges in securing industry placements for the day-release programme, the feedback from the industry was positive. The industry found it interesting that trainees could “practise and learn” at the same time, gradually correcting and improving their know-how. This strategy linked up the classroom-based training and the practical experience, mutually reinforcing both.Students built a relationship with the business where they were placed, leading to a higher possibility of employment (in that business) on graduation. Before the training, 98% of the trainees were unemployed. Three to eight months later some 92% were formally employed.

This strategy required good communication with industry leaders, so they understood its advantages and could provide a real tutor for the trainees. To maximize the impact of this day-release scheme, the tutor should be well briefed about the objective of the weekly work placement, and the training provider should work closely with the industry employers to ensure that they help the students cover all aspects required in the daily work plan.

Many new graduates are unemployed as many employers are seeking workers with experience. Even though it is not always easy for graduates to get a job, they are usually reluctant to believe that attending training can secure them work.

HITT Benin targeted new graduates, developing half of trainings for them. The strategy was to build training content based on industry needs, to deliver trainings through existing TVET providers specialized in hospitality, and to include as an incentive an internship/a job for the best two trainees of each batch.

While it was more than a challenge to attract new graduates, there were still waiting lists at the end of the programme. Before the training, 26% of the trainees declared they they either had a formal or informal job or were self-employed 3 months after the training, the proportion had risen to 63%2.

At fi rst, it was the commitment of TVET providers - hired to deliver the trainings – that mobilized new graduates. But soon, word of mouth achieved the mobilization work through two main arguments:

The trainings were really focused on the main aspects of the work, in a very practical way

The promise to fi nd internships for the two best trainees of each batch

The best way to attract new graduates is to work with TVET providers that already have the means to mobilize them. Preparing mobilization communication carefully is essential: communication should focus on practice and not theory, as well as internship or job placement’ opportunities, and employment statistics when available. Some lobbying might be required to convince employers that offer internships to at least pay transport to work costs for interns.

2 Registration and Follow-up data for the training models that target fresh graduates (WTR1 & COOK2)


CONCLUSION

In this paper, best practices followed a market driven approach to vocational training, targeting specifi c benefi ciaries, through the HIT approach. As illustrated in the examples, this tailored approach, based on a contextual analysis of the informal sector and its dynamics in various sectors of the economy, makes sense. It is possible to defi ne core values and principles for vocational training and implement these in a fl exible way, according to the reality in different country settings and business environments.

The main asset of this approach is to involve the major stakeholders in the design of vocational training: the benefi ciaries and their representatives as well as the private sector. While bringing the private sector in is relevant for the vocational training process, it allows these actors to understand that informal workers are an interesting asset to their business and add value to their company.

Another important feature is to link up informal workers with other actors of the economy. For instance, whenever possible, partnerships or linkages should be sought through placement agencies, TVET providers, public authorities, donor agencies or other industry actors. This is key to bringing in an additional dimension to the training: not only improving skills but impacting the sector or the worker in its whole.

Those examples also show that the success of the training is mostly due to their modular and fl exible approach, which allowed vocational training to be accessible and relevant to learners as well as companies. Using active learning methods enabled the training to be easy to understand, adapted to trainees’ constraints, and thus increased the impact at livelihood level (better access to jobs or increase of income), or at the private sector level.

The basic features, core values and methods of the HIT approach are designed in such a way, that this approach is perfectly adjustable and applicable in multiple industry sectors.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

32 TRAINING FOR INFORMAL WORKERS-BEST PRACTICES

For more information please contact:Monica Oliveros

[email protected]

www.snvworld.org

Training for informal workers in tourism, best practices

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