Luca Azzoni Senior Specialist on SKILLS and Employability, ILO Cairo

1. Innovative Apprenticeship: Promoting School to work transition 17-18 September 2009 ETF, European Training Foundation, Turin,Italy Transforming a Child Labour Scheme into a Modern Apprenticeship one: the Role of NGOs and Government" The apprenticeship component of the CCL Project Luca Azzoni Senior Specialist on SKILLS and Employability, ILO Cairo

2. A human right • education is a human right and a key factor in reducing poverty and child labour, • the right to free and compulsory education, at the primary or basic level, is enshrined in international human rights law, • the world’s estimate is 218 million of working children, • 72 million primary aged children, and a much larger number of secondary aged children, are not in school, • the work the out-of-school children are engaged in acts as a barrier to accessing education, • education keeps children out of the labour market.

3. The MDGs and the ILO response • Millennium Declaration, (2000), links child labour and poverty reduction (MDG 1), education for all (MDG 2), gender equality in education (MDG 3), and youth employment (MDG 8). • MDG 8 : links decent and productive work for youth to preventive and rehabilitative measures in education and TVET systems to equip all children for the world of work (employability). • ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) • The Minimum Age Convention, No.138 (1973) • The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, No. 182 (1999) • The ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, No. 169 (1989) • The ILO Recommendation on Human Resources No 195 (2004)

4. Skills to tackle child labour • The provision of non-formal or transitional education proves that former child labourers can catch up with their peers who began formal schooling at an appropriate age. • vocational education and skills training coupled with basic learning skills • improve access to and the quality of the formal education system so that it attracts and retains children and ensures they are integrated into schools. • Non-formal education is complementary not in competition with formal school system, for marginalized children, under-served by the formal education system,

5. Skills to tackle child labour • non-formal or transitional education programmes, enable former child labourers to catch up with their peers who began at appropriate age, and prove a grade of learning attainment equivalent to that of a formal school. • in cases of older children never at school, in areas with no schools- non-formal education programmes can be self-contained in combination with functional literacy, • vocational and skills training programmes for older children (14-17 years) above the legal minimum age of employment reduce social exclusion, withdraw older children from hazardous labour, provide marketable skills for decent work opportunities.

6. CL apprenticeship scheme: preconditions Traditional and VTC-based apprenticeship schemes for children at or above the minimum age of employment are utilized by IPEC providing that: • minimum age law is respected, • apprenticeships is based on a written contract which provides protection for the child and clarify obligations of the master crafts, • regular monitoring arrangements are in place to ensure that the apprenticeship proceeds in a proper way. • workshops have safe work conditions and mentors and master crafts are present, • workshop owners receive basic training on training skills, occupational safety and health, and terms of the contract.

7. CL apprenticeship scheme: features • apprentices are placed in a local workshop or business enterprise belonging to the business owner • training is mainly provided by the business owner or master craftsperson showing the apprentices what to do and then allowing them to replicate the action • the approach is focused on observation and replication, starting with simple tasks, and moving on to more complex tasks.

8. CL apprenticeship scheme: strong points • learning takes place in actual business settings and skills being learned are relevant to local market needs, • children, with a learning capacity to be strengthened or built, favour hands-on practice to theory, • children in addition to vocational skills, can observe and learn entrepreneurial skills such as negotiating prices and selling to prospective clients, • children learn about and begin to establish a business network, including suppliers and clients, • children do not need to travel to town for the training for most businesses are located near the community,

9. CL apprenticeship scheme: risks the need to move from traditional to modern apprenticeship in child labour exists to reduce the risk that: • the children are treated as cheap labour without really learning any skills, or be poorly treated, • the children are put to work in a hazardous environments, • the predominant on-the-job component undermine formal assessment of trainee progress and , therefore, prevent the recognition of competences and acquired skills, • to ensure that off-the-job training is provided from other support services to respond to learning needs the children have, • to manage the school-to-work transition as an important part of the response to child labour.

10. "Combating Child Labour Through Education"apprenticeship scheme • jointly implemented in Egypt by WFP/UNICEF/ILO, • in line with the ILO standard (R195, 2004, item IV, sub-item f on promoting the expansion of workplace learning and training), • enrolling 1000 children aged 14 to 17 engaged in exploitative child labour in an apprenticeship scheme run in safe and non-exploitative workplaces in accordance with the labour law, • with the objective of upgrading traditional apprenticeship to a modern apprenticeship programme by developing the off-the-job component and institutionalizing the on-the-job component so as to track provided skills

11. "Combating Child Labour Through Education"apprenticeship scheme • apprenticeship contracts, wages, trainees' logbook of skills, training of mentors, theoretical technological teaching, general education and compensatory training to ensure compatibility through literacy classes, • off-the-job training and instruction in training centres for a minimum of 24 hours a month in addition to the on-the-job training in a company, • vocational training programmes are run during working hours (9 months over the two years), literacy courses on a part-time basis (evenings), • implementing partners receive financial support for education/training expenses, training materials and tool kits for the children, • children get ‘food for education’ meals at training or literacy classes, • enterprises are selected on: availability of modern tools and equipments, formal status, safe workplace, readiness by entrepreneurs to mentor, • training occupations were selected upon consultation of local employers, skills needs of local labour market have been preliminarily assessed through rapid informant surveys.

12. "Combating Child Labour Through Education"apprenticeship scheme • Curricula are developped from curricula used by the Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) of the Ministry of Manpower and Migration (MoMM), • 400 teachers from MoMM VTCs, YCentres of the Ministry of Youth and other institutions providing non-formal education services attend pre-service and in-service training, • 9 existing community schools are rehabilitated and equipped, • evaluation objective is to assess the benefits of the off the job training on job opportunities and working conditions. Indicators of impact of the off and on-the-job vocational training (the effective utilization of the acquired skills in decent and safe working conditions) yet to be developed, • apprentices receive a diploma issued by the MoMM as foreseen by the Law and equivalent to the technical secondary school one, • support to the transition to safe and non-exploitative workplaces is foreseen,

13. Role of NGOs • identifying and selecting working children as apprentices, • monitoring quality of off and on the job training against existing standard • monitoring capacity of institutions to attract and keep children in training, • providing location and direct implementation of non-formal education, literacy classes, core skills sessions and specific vocational training courses, • training enterprise owners on training skills, occupational safety and health, and terms of the contract, • raising public awareness and advocacy, disseminating good practice, mobilizing additional resources, • monitoring and reporting on apprentices’ attendance in enterprises, of-the-job literacy and vocational training (Child Tracking System), • assisting apprenticeship on self-employment (BDS, micro-credit , entrepreneurial skills programmes: SIYB and KAB) • supporting transition to safe, non-exploitative workplaces,

14. Role of government • Ensuring overall governance: a tripartite National Steering Committee including MOMM, FEI and NGOs. • Leading Local Tripartite Steering Committees gathering social partners, NGOs, Labour Directorates, • Involving relevant national institutions (NCCM and SFD), • Inspecting (labour inspection) enterprises staying formal, meeting OSH standards and decent working conditions, • Checking apprenticeship contract is signed by the employer, children’s parents or tutors and public authority, • Assuring technical-financial support to community schools and VTCs, • Assessing the achievement of required minimum level of educational attainment, • Monitoring training process, testing graduates jointly with their employers, certifying level of acquired skills, issuing apprenticeship diploma, • Mainstream CL remedial interventions into a national apprenticeship scheme.

15. conclusions • an active partnership, on equal footing and strong participation, of Government, national and local NGOs including the social partners, in situations of absence of national schemes that promotes participation of enterprises, in enterprise- based training and apprenticeship. • In the businesses where children mostly work, the boundaries between the status of employee and learner are rather uncertain. Strengthening the role of governments and NGOs in, respectively, adopting policy measures to improve the training that takes place in informal businesses and intermediating in order to ensure the achievement of decent work outcomes, and increase the effectiveness of apprenticeship schemes applied to child labour.

16. Knowledge sharing with formal sector (e.g. standards set in subcontracting) Links with formal training centre for theoretical knowledge and new technology Link with informal craft association Portability of skills Tailor made, flexible, practical, adapted to educational levels CBT ( e.g. ILO TREE) Linking to new skills and advanced technology of formal economy Recognition of skills and certification Skills, vocational training and the informal economy To target the special needs of these groups:

17. Upgrading informal apprenticeshipILO programme • How to gain knowledge of the institutional settings of informal apprenticeship systems (Rules, Mechanism, Practices) ? • Which activities to upgrade the Informal Apprenticeship System?

18. Upgrading IA research: objectives • Strengthening incentives of master crafts and apprentices to participate to apprenticeship • Improving quality and relevance of skills • Achieving decent work outcomes

19. ILO IA research focus • Policy measures to improve the training in IA and link it to formal training systems (e.g. complementary courses) • Assessment and certification of acquired skills and recognition of formal labour market • Building links and bridges with IA training system and the formal training and formal certification system

20. ILO IA research: criteria for the selection of sectors 1) the sector provides an apprenticeship system (as defined by ILO): • The relationship between the young person and the entrepreneur is based on a (formal or informal) training agreement/contract. • The young person has the status of a learner, and not of an employee. • the purpose of this relationship is to provide the skills of an occupation – a complex set of skills to achieve competence in an occupation, craft or trade. 2) the sector has a good potential for growth and development helping to increase motivation, supply and demand for apprenticeship as well as returns to apprenticeship training.

21. ILO IA research tools • The research tool to assess informal apprenticeship includes a quantitative and a qualitative methodology which are mutually supportive. • The quantitative research covers master craftspeople, skilled workers and apprentices through a questionnaire based survey. • The qualitative research provides additional information through interviews with selected master craftspeople and key informants based on an interview guideline.

22. ILO work programme on IA • workshop report on apprenticeship in the informal economy in Africa • Empirical research on understanding informal apprenticeship in Tanzania, Malawi and Egypt (ongoing) • Introductory Guide on upgrading IA (under preparation), • Pilot experience on upgrading IA in Tanzania (ongoing).