Contributions for a training strategy Based on the Latin America and Caribbean experience

1. RIAL Workshop First Working Groups Meeting within the framework of the XVI IACML Working Groups Contributions for a training strategy Based on the Latin America and Caribbean experience ILO/Cinterfor Santo Domingo July 29, 2010

2. ILO/Cinterfor member institutions network www.oitcinterfor.org

3. 1.The G20 Summit – Pittsburgh (September 2009) • The G-20 Summit declared that it is important to put quality jobs at the heart of the recovery, and it made a commitment to implementing programmes to promote decent work and to generating a solid, sustainable and balanced growth framework for a more inclusive labour market. • The G-20 also formally recognized that training and employment programmes that are jointly designed by employers and workers are very often successful, and it requested the ILO, along with other organizations, to submit proposals for a training strategy. • The ILO Director-General noted that ILO consultancy and advice provides valuable support for policy-makers as it is based on the lessons of experience, best practices and knowledge from all over the world, above all about the poorer and less developed countries. He further remarked how important South-South cooperation is in this area.

4. The “Brasilia Letter” • At the 39th meeting of the ILO/Cinterfor Technical Committee (October 2009), representatives from the VTIs subscribed to the Brasilia Letter, in which they reaffirmed their support for ILO action to produce the training strategy proposals the G-20 requested. To follow up on this commitment they documented nearly one hundred experiences, which are available at: http://www.oitcinterfor.org/public/spanish/region/ampro/cinterfor/ifp/g20/index.htm

5. Vocational Training: Facilitating the objectives of Social Justice for a fair globalization. ILO GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT PACT STRATEGIC VALUE OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING SOCIAL JUSTICE FAIR GLOBALIZATION DEFICIT OF DECENT WORK • EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES • NO DISCRIMINATION • FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY • INCOMES • EMPLOYABILITY • DECENT WORK INSTRUMENTS: -R. 195 -Productivity, employment growth and development -Sustainable enterprises

6. 3. Global Jobs Pact (June 2009) • Among the strategies to promote recovery and development in response to the world crisis is decent work, and one of the principles of this initiative is as follows, “increasing equal access and opportunities for skills development, quality training and education to prepare for recovery… • …the ILO, engaging with other international agencies, international financial institutions and developed countries to strengthen policy coherence and to deepen development assistance and support for least developed, developing and transition countries with restricted fiscal and policy space to respond to the crisis”.

7. Proposed responses One of proposed responses the to accelerate job creation, employment recovery and sustaining enterprises is to help people into work, and this involves: • Skills development; • Putting vocational training and entrepreneurial development programmes into practice for formal sector workers and for the self-employed; • Investing in workers’ skills development, skills upgrading and re-skilling to improve employability, in particular for those having lost or at risk of losing their job and vulnerable groups.

8. 4. Declaration on social justice for a fair globalization (June 2008) • The International Labour Conference declared that full and productive employment and decent work must be at the centre of economic and social policies, based on the four equally important strategic objectives of the ILO and furthermore that for the promotion of employment there has to be a sustainable institutional and economic environment as a framework in which individuals can develop and update the necessary capacities and skills they need to enable them to be productively occupied for their personal fulfilment and the common well-being.

9. 6. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TRAINING STRATEGY BASED ON THEEXPERIENCE OF INSTITUTIONS IN THE ILO/CINTERFOR NETWORK • significant progress has been made in the region and vocational training is continually improving. • however, there is still a long way to go before the needs to develop human resources have been fully met, and this applies especially with regard to people working in the informal economy. • the degree of development of these institutions is heterogeneous • mission of the ILO/Cinterfor network is precisely work to enhance the quality of VT

10. Analysis framework

11. 6.1. Results: Vocational training in Latin America and the Caribbean hascontributed to the following: • Enhance people’s employability and labour mobility • The generation and strengthening of skills for entrepreneurial development • The facilitation of social inclusion for population groups with specific needs • More dynamic processes to promote innovation, raise productivity and enhance competitiveness • Improvements in health and safety at work • Environmental conservation and preservation

12. 6.2. Requirements to achieve results: Experience in the region shows that the following conditions are essential to achieve the desired results: • The country must have a development strategy, not only in a general sense but also for particular regions and sectors. There have to be short, middle and long term plans and these must include human resources development policies. • There has to be an institutional framework to coordinate and promote the appropriate training. • Quantitative and qualitative demand must be stimulated, today and in the future. • The expectations and characteristics of the people to be trained have to be ascertained. • Standardization of the required skills profiles • Public institutions should be coordinated among themselves and with private institutions.

13. 6.3. Distinctive characteristics of vocational training in the region:In the management of VTIs: • A defined institutional framework. In some countries the Ministry of Labour implements policies in this field (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay). • The social actors are represented in the senior management bodies • The systems for providing financial resources for the VTIs are also determined by law

14. In response to training needs: • Vocational training in the region is demand oriented to considering the potential of productive sectors • It has a competence based training approach oriented to sectors • It has developed curricula that are responsive to the context, flexible, modular, integral and holistic and are geared to covering various basic and vocational skills. • It has incorporated advanced technologies into ordinary learning systems and also to cater to groups with special needs • It has established alliances with enterprises not only to facilitate training in the workplace but also to respond to social needs.

15. In response to training needs: • Some countries have schemes that offer fiscal incentives to encourage enterprises to train their workers • There is labour guidance and orientation coordinated with training in order to respond to the demands of the job market • In some cases economic or other kinds of assistance is provided to enable people to take training courses • South-South cooperation • These institutions are working on the homologation of labour skills profiles so that skills can be recognised in different countries • The use of mobile units to reach rural communities and the use of “training kits” for different sectors

16. Conditioning factors • The world crisis has aggravated unemployment among various population sectors • In response to these new demands, spaces for social dialogue on vocational training have opened up • The population in the region is very diverse so the VTIs have to design and execute focalized programmes • In the region as a whole some 57% of women and 51% of men are working in the informal economy • For vocational training to function, considerable investment is required. As mentioned above, most of the countries in the region have contributory systems to raise finance, but the yield is sometimes not sufficient to meet the demand.

17. Limitations: • Social dialogue in vocational training has developed to a different extent in different contexts • The level of technological capability in a local area may restrict training processes, and innovative solutions may emerge • Another serious problem is that capabilities may be underdeveloped and there may be a lack of trainers, and in some countries action is being taken to tackle these deficiencies • In general, education in the region is not of a very high standard so vocational training providers have to make an additional effort to develop basic skills among their trainees

18. 7. MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN • Knowledge management and the ILO/Cinterfor network • Responses to the frequent crisis-recovery cycles • The sector and social focus, based on demand and social dialogue, • There are tripartite systems in most VTI management bodies. • The training institutions exercise social responsibility

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