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The case studies that follow describe three quite different approaches to vocational training for self-employment. Two of the case studies describe programmes run by local NGOs. One of these is a long-established Egyptian social and community development organisation that is relatively new to the field of self-employment; the other, an Indian NGO created more than 25 years ago expressly to promote self-employment The third case study describes a self-employment pilot project, funded by a bilateral donor agency, that operated in Somaliland (Northwest Somalia) between 1984 and 1987.
All of these programmes demonstrate the benefits of close involvement with local markets and local communities; all work closely with other organisations having a similar interest in encouraging self-employment Though their respective locations, design details and operating practices vary considerably, all manifest a common faith in enterprise-based training. All have found that their clients form enterprise networks as a direct result of training, and that these networks do much to provide the start-up and follow-up support so needed by new microenterprises.
The chapter concludes with Case Study Summaries and a Summary of Principal Points, both of which are included to facilitate the use of the case studies for training purposes.
The Calcutta Youth Self-Employment Centre
|
SUMMARY | |
|
Self-employment Rate: |
68.5% |
|
Status: |
Indian NGO |
|
Location: |
Calcutta, INDIA |
|
Established: |
1970 |
|
Current Annual Budget: |
$26,4701 |
|
Trainees per annum: |
230 - 240 |
|
Cost/trainee (1994/95): |
$113 |
1 Though the annual budget has increased from 600,000 Indian rupees in 1987 to 900,000 Indian rupees in 1995, and there has been an increase in rupee terms in the cost/trainee, both the "current annual budget" and "cost/trainee" have declined in dollar terms due to the devaluation of the Indian rupee (Dutt, 1996).
The Calcutta Youth Self-Employment Centre (CYSEC) was established in 1970 by the Calcutta Rotarians (a businessmen's society) in response to the political turmoil in West Bengal State in the late 1960s. The Rotarians concluded that unemployment and underemployment, especially amongst educated youth, was a root cause of dissatisfaction and unrest. In 1985 Calcutta had 4.2 million registered unemployed. Fully half of these were classified as "educated unemployed". CYSEC was created to address this considerable problem.
CYSEC is a local initiative created in response to local needs. Over the years the support of the business community has expanded and the programme's linkages with the local economy and the local community have grown. The programme is staffed, managed and funded locally. Currently, CYSEC's funding is comprised of "interest income" (49%) and "membership fees" (1%), with most of the balance coming from local donors, local industry and the Indian government. Foreign donors provide less than I % of CYSEC's current budget (Dust, 1996). Since inception CYSEC has been shaped by its pragmatic business origins, its modest funding, and its mandate to seek low-cost local solutions to problems of daunting scale and socio-cultural complexity. Reflecting these factors, operations are characteristically lean and efficient. The operational practices of the programme reflect CYSEC's business origins. There is an aversion to "overheads" and a single-minded focus on their speciality: training for self-employment A formal evaluation carried out in 1986 by the Indian Institute of Management credited CYSEC with creating 2,000 jobs in 17 years, and with having contributed indirectly to the creation of 28,000 others (Mishra, 1986).
CYSEC has offices, workshops and classrooms on the site of the Oxford Mission of the Brothers of the Epiphany, where they enjoy security of tenure at a nominal annual rental. The site is well located in a commercial and light industrial area of south Calcutta. CYSEC's workshops and equipment are similar to those found in local light industries and small enterprises.
Approximately 12 courses, for up to 240 trainees, are run annually at the CYSEC centre. These centre-based courses are supplemented by on-the-job training and attachments in local enterprises. The completion rate is approximately 80%2, though some of the dropouts also become employed or self-employed (Mishra, 1986). Currently, 68.5% of those completing training become self-employed, 15% find wage employment, and a few become teachers. The balance are unemployed or untraceable (Dust, 1996).
2 Having recovered from a low of 69%, a rate which is itself not unreasonable by Indian standards for programmes of this type.
The annual intake of 230 - 240 trainees is selected from among approximately 700 applicants. In light of the need in Calcutta and CYSEC's track record of successful self-employment, this modest pool of applicants seems remarkably low. Two related explanations have been given for this. Firstly, there is the reported lack of an "enterprise culture" amongst the Bengalis. It is a commonplace in print and conversation that "Bengali youth are not by tradition drawn to entrepreneurial risk, and training in manual skills is not popular in the culture". This aspect of Bengali culture is reinforced by a growing worldwide "cultural bias against technical subjects" (World Bank, 1991). Secondly, CYSEC clearly presents itself as a self-employment programme. The focus on self-employment is emphatically announced in the organisation's name and consistently applied in all its practices. This may well serve as an effective "pre-selection 2 system, and discourage those who do not aspire to self-employment. CYSEC's high self-employment success rate suggests that the small number of candidates includes a high proportion of those who are predisposed to self-employment.
CYSEC has a straightforward procedure for selecting trainees. Most candidates are literate and numerate young males and females with at least 8 years of education. They must have a clear idea of the trade they wish to pursue (from among the options offered by CYSEC) and they must pass a skill test. They are then extensively interviewed and may be asked to carry out a market survey to supplement the interview process. The selection process normally requires several visits to CYSEC offices and the local market. The selection system considers four aspects: 1) general appearance and fitness, 2) business knowledge, 3) initiative and effort, and 4) a "cross check for consistency" (Grierson, 1989). Perseverance and preparation clearly increase an applicant's chances of admission, as they are expected to. Selection involves an essentially subjective assessment of the candidate's interest, perseverance and initiative as indicators of self-employment potential. There is long-standing support for this pragmatic approach. Malcolm Harper, writing in Entrepreneurship for the Poor in 1984, reported that "commitment, initiative and enthusiasm are more important than any particular skills for entrepreneurs (and that) a well managed interview procedure is probably the most effective single selection method" (Harper, 1984a).
CYSEC's success would seem to endorse Harper's early observation on what continues to be an elusive topic. CYSEC expresses confidence in their system, while noting that it is frequently modified. Clearly, a degree of credit for CYSEC's success is due to the combination of their internally evolved selection system and the "pre-selection" effect that results from their efforts to market themselves exclusively as a self-employment institution.
CYSEC offers very pragmatic training in technical and business skills along with training in 'entrepreneurship'3 . Training is offered in:
3 Principally achievement motivation training.
|
CYSEC TRAINING COURSES | |
|
· Air-conditioning / Refrigeration Repair |
· Leather Crafts |
|
· Radio & Television Repair |
· Plastic & Bakelite Products |
|
· Watch & Clock Repair |
· Computers |
|
· Bicycle Repair |
· Colour TV & VCR Repair |
|
· Women's Tailoring |
· Commercial Arts & Crafts |
|
· Men's Tailoring |
· Jute Products |
This array of courses has been considerably modified over the years and continues to evolve in response to market demand. The market for individual courses is continuously assessed, based largely upon the number of applicants for each training place, and the history of each course's success in terms of self-employment. Course identification and assessment is both market and client responsive.
In addition to their own modest workshop-cum-classrooms, CYSEC uses a wide variety of other training sites, including small enterprises, and local industries and indeed any "real" site where marketable skills can be acquired. Workshop practice and classroom training is supplemented by enterprise-based training to give trainees exposure to market realities, and to help them develop the market contacts which result in sub-contracts and other types of business linkages and support4 .
4 The 1986 evaluation recommended less training in large businesses and encouraged more interaction with "relevant trades" and more "experience learning" in the small and informal enterprises which correspond in style, scale and scope to the enterprises trainees intend to start. (Mishra, 1986.
In 1986 CYSEC provided credit (loans) to 60% of all graduates, and had a 70% loan recovery rate. While low by international development lending standards, this recovery rate compared favourably at that time with the Indian norm (~ 40 %) for lending to the microenterprise sector (Mishra, 1986). CYSEC's Revolving Credit scheme has since been discontinued in that loans are now easily available from state owned banks. CYSEC trainees now deal directly with local banks. CYSEC limits it credit role to "liaising with the banks on their behalf" (Dust, 1996).
CYSEC is noteworthy for its limited volume, but relatively wide and unstructured range of follow-up support. Follow-up support includes retraining, customer referrals, marketing advice, intervention with suppliers and officials, and access to CYSEC workshops for up to one year following graduation. The 1986 evaluation found that most follow-up involved problem cases, loan collection, general fact finding and ad hoc advice. Most graduates received only an annual visit (Mishra, 1986). Interviews with extension staff revealed that "liaison with the local market", rather than the delivery of conventional support services, was a typical follow-up action (Grierson, 1989). The proportion of follow-up devoted to general networking, liaison and referral has increased markedly since the winding down of the revolving credit scheme. The distinguishing characteristics of CYSEC's follow-up system are responsiveness to entrepreneur-diagnosed problems, low-cost, and the limited level yet wide range of support services available.
CYSEC's impressive 68.5% success rate and very low cost together make a strong case for the merit of their specialised and minimalist approach. CYSEC's self-employment system is consistent and successful, particularly in the early stages. The combination of careful selection for self-employment potential, followed by training in marketable skills using techniques that help develop individual enterprise networks, clearly works. As a result, little is needed following training. CYSEC is a model programme in this regard.
CYSEC is a busy dynamic organisation one with a businesslike approach to translating the social concerns of some quite senior business people and officials into a low-cost pragmatic self-employment programme.
CYSEC's defining characteristics are:
· CYSEC has been specialised and minimalist since its inception more than 25 years ago.
· CYSEC is a local organisation CYSEC was locally initiated, and is locally funded, staffed and managed.
· There is a secure institutional base and a stable if modest funding base.
· The programme's approach is pragmatic, flexible and responsive.
· There are extensive linkages with local markets and communities through vibrant institutional networks.
· The training approach used helps trainees develop the enterprise networks needed to start and sustain self-employment
· Programme administration has been consistently businesslike and efficient.
The Refugee Enterprise Development Project
|
SUMMARY | |
|
Self-employment Rate: |
45% |
|
Status: |
Pilot project, bilateral donor |
|
Implementing Agency: |
International NGO |
|
Location: |
Hargeisa, Somaliland (Somalia) |
|
Established: |
1985 |
|
Concluded: |
1987 |
|
Annual Budget: |
$450,000 |
|
Trainees per annum: |
125 - 175 |
|
Overall Cost/trainee (1987): |
$2,500 |
|
Direct cost/trainee: |
$20 - 60 / trainee / month |
The Refugee Enterprise Development Programme (REDP) operated from 1985 - 1987 in Northwest Somalia, a land now identified by its citizens as the Republic of Somaliland. The REDP was suspended in 1987, following the escalation of civil war and the breakdown of civil order. The primary objective of the REDP was self-employment creation. The REDP approach was based on a modified form of traditional apprenticeship. The principal target group was a stable refugee community who were, for the most part, ethnic Somalis from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. The balance of the REDP's self-employment trainees included at least an equal number of local citizens. The programme also worked closely with and assisted many local businesspeople. In spite of a long period of war and social disruption a number of the microenterprises started with the REDP's assistance are still in business today. Some of these self-employed entrepreneurs have become master craftsmen and trainers as well.
The training approach used, "supervised traditional apprenticeship", is derived from common West African practices. Self-employment training in local enterprises was arranged and structured by the REDP, usually in close collaboration with the trainees themselves. The inherent familiarity of the traditional apprenticeship approach contributed to its immediate and easy acceptance by both refugees and local business people.
In a period of 26 months from January 1985 through February 1987 the REDP arranged 31 traditional apprenticeship programmes in 17 different skills for more than 250 trainees. A few of the courses had 20 or more apprentices - notably building construction and cash-crop farming though most had only four or five. Nearly half of all trainees started new microenterprises as a direct result of their apprenticeships, usually within a few weeks after completing training. Training courses included men's and women's tailoring, baking and confectionery, specialised building construction (e.g. roof construction), general building contracting, leather and metal work, sign painting and commercial art, poultry production, and cash-crop farming.
A fundamental aspect of the programme was that every course was ultimately determined the trainees themselves, rather than by project staff or by a pre-existing plan. The course identification and design process began with the business ideas of prospective trainees. The REDP assessed the viability of the trainees ideas, worked with the trainees to identify suitable businesses to serve as "apprentice masters", and structured training programmes that emphasised a quick transition to self-employment. Identifying self-employment opportunities was the responsibility of the trainees. The role of the REDP was to test and confirm the viability of the trainee's ideas, to identify a point-of-entry through an apprentice master, and to structure a training programme that aspired to provide little more than the minimum needed to initiate self-employment..
The types of opportunities that emerged in Somaliland in the late 1980s, and the courses used to capture these opportunities, are themselves of no particular significance. Different opportunities emerge in different circumstances. The opportunities for self-employment that existed in Somaliland in the mid- 1980s would not have been the same elsewhere. Indeed, they were not the same in Somaliland a few years later, and would not have been the same even then for a different group of trainees. Hence, this case study does not emphasise types or categories of skills, and cautions against efforts to try to identify and pre-select lists of courses or self-employment opportunities.
The REDP had no classrooms, equipment or machinery. Tools and expendables were purchased from the local market as needed. The REDP's design took advantage of one of the principal benefits of enterprise-based training: training resources are available in local businesses because they are needed there for work. The REDP co-opted the infrastructure of the enterprises the programme co-operated with, but did so only for the limited time needed for each individual training course. As a result, the programme had a high degree of ability to respond to the insights and imagination of the trainees.
The REDP did not attempt to respond to all trainee identified market opportunities. Course selection was guided by the following selection criteria:
· a minimum of 3-5 qualified candidates per course, to make it worthwhile for the project to organise an apprenticeship programme;
· the availability of a willing and capable local businessperson, to serve as the "apprentice master";
· the possibility of capitalising each new business with less than US $50 (local currency equivalent);
· trainees were responsible for raising their own start-up capital;
· the training proposed had to offer clear evidence of self-employment potential;
· training, to entry-level competency, had to be possible within six months.
Many proposals were rejected; including welding (because of the high capital requirement) and motor mechanics (because of the lengthy training required). Most apprenticeships lasted less than 6 months. Some were as short as a few weeks. Apprenticeships usually lasted between four and six weeks. The minimum time needed to acquire entry-level self-employment skills was the primary factor affecting the length of individual apprenticeships.
Apprentice masters were recruited from the local business community, usually following a trainee request or recommendation. The masters then helped programme staff test and select trainees and design training courses. The course identification and design process was highly interactive and participatory. The ideas of the trainees were important because the REDP looked at the local economy through their eyes. The judgement and the participation of the masters was critical because the masters, rather than the project, were the trainees' principal mentors as they struggled to become self-employed. Apparent potential for self-employment was the key factor in the trainee screening and selection process. In some cases the selection criteria included specific skills required by the apprentice masters, such as basic literacy and numeracy for the sign painting apprenticeships. In all cases, the REDP required prospective trainees to demonstrate evidence of entrepreneurial ability. The REDP's selection system looked for the following evidence of self-employment potential:
· candidate trainees had to show initiative, first by approaching the REDP (they were not recruited by the programme);
· they had to be able to clearly describe their business idea or plan (in spoken Somali);
· they had to find their own start-up capital;
· they had to obtain and present bureaucratic approval from the local government or the refugee authorities (an often arduous task);
· they had to help design their own apprenticeships; and
· (if requested to do so) they had to carry out an informal market feasibility study.
When a course had been agreed, and the trainees selected, the programme staff worked with the apprentice masters to develop a self-employment focused training curriculum. This curriculum served as the basis for the supervision that was to follow. The REDP provided limited materials, technical advice if needed, and close supervision throughout. The masters had a formal contract with the programme, and each trainee had a formal contract with his or her master. Masters were paid a "master's fee", based on the number of trainees they trained, and trainees were paid an "apprentice wage". The apprentice wage, set at half the prevailing rate for unskilled day labour, was paid by the REDP to the trainer, who then paid the apprentices. The details of this arrangement are important in several respects. By having apprentices paid directly by their masters, the programme sought to foster normal commercial relationships from the start of training. The apprentice wage was set very low to discourage dependency on the programme or, indeed, on any form of wage employment. No other payments or subsidies were provided to trainees.
The REDP provided no form of credit or other direct financial assistance. The REDP did, however, assist apprentices in identifying potential lenders and investors, and occasionally helped arrange commercial (supplier) credit. In most cases, however, the trainees provided their own start-up capital. The ability to so was a key selection criterion. In practice enterprises were readily financed with personal savings, informal loans from friends and relatives, and eventually from the internal cash flow of the enterprises themselves. This approach to startup credit, as with the approach to skills training, attempted to understand and co-opt traditional mechanisms. The refugee entrepreneurs of northwestern Somalia confirmed the conventional wisdom that self-financing is overwhelmingly the normal process of self-employment capitalisation.
The REDP encountered no resistance from local entrepreneurs. Indeed, the supply of masters willing to train in their own businesses always exceeded demand by a large margin. Asked why they would agree to train their future competitors the apprentice masters of Somaliland responded as follows:
Competition improves the quality of work and motivates me to work more. [Electrical contractor]
Today's trainees are my competitors in the long term, but presently they cannot compete with me. Competition is the spice of business development by creating the will to work, to improve and to be alert. [Restaurant owner]
I am confident of my ability and my business. The trainee graduates do not threaten me. Besides, I would like to help others get into business. [Commercial baker]
I provided training for economic reasons. Trainees are future competitors but present economic circumstances influenced me in my decision to train them. I would encourage more persons to be in the tailoring industry as it creates more fashion, more designs and competition. [Tailor]
Source: Ferrera and LaTowsky (1987)
In many cases the enterprise networks of the former apprentices continue to include the master craftsman or craftswomen who trained them. Many self-employed former apprentices continue to have commercial dealings with their former masters; some joined their trainers as employees for a time before going on to become self-employed. A number of those trained in building construction sub-contracted their former masters to inspect their work at building sites; others used their embryonic enterprise networks to borrow tools or obtained scarce supplies. Still others, when self-employed, paid their masters to provide further training in specialised skills. Not all trainees maintained ties with their masters, but many of those who did derived valuable support from the relationship (Ferrera and LaTowsky, 1987).
Said Ahmed Elmi, now 30 years old, is one of those who has used the training provided by the REDP to become self-employed, and the network relationships established during training to help his business survive and grow. He has used his skills and networks to overcome considerable adversity, and he has gone on to become a teacher and apprentice master himself. When Said was 14 years old he lost the use of his left leg as the result of an allergic reaction to medical treatment. In 1986, when he was 19, he received training as a shoemaker from Omar Ayeda, a master shoemaker brought from Mogadishu by the REDP to train aspiring shoemakers. After completing training he became a self-employed shoemaker in Hargeisa. In 1988, following the outbreak of war in Northern Somalia (now Somaliland), he fled to Mogadishu where he joined his former apprentice master as an employee. When war broke out in Mogadishu in 1991 he returned to Hargeisa, where he again established himself as a self-employed shoemaker. Though his work has been disrupted several times by the civil war that broke out in Somaliland in 1994, he continues to produce shoes and to train others as well. Said Ahmed Elmi has become a master shoemaker. For many years now he has been a member of the workers cooperative of the Somaliland Handicap Training Centre in Hargeisa, and one of the Centre's shoemaking instructors (Grierson, 22 March 1997).
The supervised traditional apprenticeship approach used by the REDP is relatively management intensive. Because enterprise-based training, including traditional apprenticeship, is not fundamentally oriented to self-employment; supervision is needed to ensure that self-employment is consistently emphasised and that appropriate training is imparted during short intense programmes. The essential simplicity and familiarity of the model does not reduce the importance of close supervision. In the REDP's case all apprenticeship supervision was provided by local non-professional staff5 .
5 The two other case studies included in this chapter also demonstrate that the management skills needed to administer and supervise enterprise-based training for self-employment are readily available locally at relatively low cost.
The REDP's cost per trainee was approximately US $2,500, a level of cost that is not thought unreasonable for a short-term pilot project under expatriate management. There is, however, little evidence to form a sound basis of comparison. More importantly, and more usefully, the REDP had direct training costs (exclusive of overheads and international and expatriate costs) of less than US $60 per trainee per month. This moderate level of direct cost compares favourably with many other programmes, and probably gives a more realistic sense of the likely cost of replication elsewhere.
The financial lesson of the REDP is clear: the principal resource needed - local businesspeople - is both low-cost and readily available. Many of these businesspeople are already providing training to apprentices. Careful design and close supervision, rather than expatriate staff and external funds, are the basic elements needed make local enterprises effective partners in the process of vocational training for self-employment
The principal characteristics of the traditional apprenticeship approach used by the REDP are:
· The REDP approach is based on traditional West African apprenticeship practices.
· Enterprise-based training is emphasis Ed, requiring strong and active linkages with local small enterprises.
· Local enterprises were willing partners in the self-employment training process.
· Enterprise-based training uses the infrastructure, equipment and staff of local enterprises; teaching staff are not needed; infrastructure and equipment requirements are minimal.
· Direct training costs are low, there is a high degree of operational flexibility.
· The market-based approach of the REDP is both client and market responsive.
· Business opportunity identification, and training course selection, are based on the trainee's ideas.
· The principal role of the project is to test, validate and respond to the trainee's ideas.
· Supervised traditional apprenticeships require close and constant management.
· Traditional apprenticeships facilitate enterprise network formation.
· Enterprise networks help create access to self-employment opportunities, and reduce the need for assistance programmes to offer start-up and follow-up support.
The Enterprise Based Training Programme of the Coptic Evangelical Organisation for Social Services
|
SUMMARY | |
|
Self-employment Rate: |
18%6 |
|
Status: |
Egyptian NGO |
|
Location: |
Alexandria, Cairo, Upper Egypt |
|
CEOSS Established: |
1952 |
|
EBT Programme Established: |
1993 |
|
Annual Budget (EBT programme only): |
$46,0007 |
|
Trainees per annum: |
80 |
|
Cost/trainee(December. 1995): |
$179 |
6 The EBT programme's principal outcome objective calls for 40% of all trainees to get new wage jobs or start new self-employment:. The cumulative result as of the December 1995 was 31%, of which 18% was new self-employment (Grierson and Makarem, December, 1995).
7 The EBT programme operates considerably below budget. When evaluated in November 1995 it was operating at approximately one-third of projected costs (Grierson and Makarem. December. 1995).
CEOSS, the Coptic Evangelical Organisation for Social Services, was established in 1952 as a literacy program. CEOSS, said to be the largest NGO in the Arab world, is a private, non-profit Egyptian social development organisation registered with the Egypt's Ministry of Social Affairs. CEOSS provides social, educational and economic services and support to poor communities of all religious denominations in al-Minya and Asyut Governorates, Metropolitan Cairo and Alexandria. CEOSS is a large, well-established and multifaceted institution with a clear and constant focus on the disadvantaged and a reputation for commitment and effectiveness.
Economic development programmes are among CEOSS's newest activities. Collectively, they represent a distinct broadening of operational focus, one that is consistent with a long-standing tradition of thoughtful innovation and continuous and careful expansion of services. CEOSS is organised into five operational "sectors". CEOSS has a large number of long-standing agricultural and dairy programmes, and a diverse array of continuing education, training and community development programmes. Economic development activities fall under the Development Sector, and are administered by the Economic Development Department. The Economic Development Department is responsible for two principal areas: "housing and basic services", and "income generation". The Income Generation Unit is in turn responsible for all enterprise development activities. There are three recently introduced enterprise development activities:
· Credit for small
enterprise;
· Business Management Skills
Training;
· Enterprise-Based Training.
The Enterprise-Based Training (EBT) program is the newest and probably the most innovative of CEOSS's economic development activities. The EBT program is a pilot project designed to develop and test a low-cost, replicable model for NGO-managed skills training for employment and self-employment. The programme's numerous target groups include the rural poor, women, unemployed youth, the educated unemployed and apprentices with self-employment potential. The basic approach adopted, enterprise-based training (EBT), uses the enterprises of successful businesspersons as the principal training venue. Enterprise-based training is being tested as an alternative to the conventional and expensive "institute-based training" approach CEOSS has used in the past. The EBT programme is CEOSS's response to a "crisis of vocational training" within its own vocational training programmes. CEOSS has largely withdrawn from formal institute-based vocational training.
In Egypt some form of enterprise-based training, commonly traditional apprenticeship, is still by far the normal system of skill acquisition for both employment and self-employment (Assad, 1993), as it has been for 5,000 years. CEOSS's EBT pilot project is a modern adaptation of this centuries old traditional training technology. The innovations that are an important aspect of this adaptation, and that are the defining characteristics of the EBT programme, are:
· expanding the range of intended outcomes, principally to stress self-employment;
· expanding the categories of those intended to benefit, specifically to include the socially marginalised, women, and educated youth;
· using the business ideas of prospective trainees as a mechanism for helping ensure that the EBT programme is "demand-led":
· emphasising the benefits for the trainees, as well as the benefits for the trainers; and
· experimenting with NGO management of the EBT process, with a view to developing a replicable methodology for training for self-employment within a balanced focus on both social and economic issues.
CEOSS's attempt to adopt and adapt a traditional training technology is though to be unique amongst Egyptian development agencies. Logically, it might be inferred from this that there is a high degree of risk inherent in the EBT pilot project. However, because the basic methodology is common, culturally embedded, and cheap, and because the programme is supported by CEOSS's strong and efficient institutional base, there is little apparent risk. The EBT experiment is already demonstrating steadily improving results in terms of employment, self-employment and enhanced economic productivity. An evaluation of the first two year phase of the EBT programme found that the CEOSS EBT approach was well established, operating efficiently, and clearly demonstrating the potential to develop into a useful and replicable model for enterprise-based vocational training for self-employment (Grierson and Makarem, December 1995). There are a number of aspects of the EBT programme that are of particular interest.
The programme includes a high proportion of women. Overall, more than 50% of the trainees are women, an impressive accomplishment for a vocational training programme of this type. It is worth noting that this has been achieved while operating in the villages and rural areas of a traditional conservative society. This accolade requires some qualification. Though apprenticeships have been arranged in more than 27 different skill areas, only a few of these include women. This pattern of concentration is not unique to Egypt or North Africa. Broad-based evidence from many developing countries confirms that there is a common and consistent pattern of concentrating women's small business activities within a narrow range (Liedholm and Mead, March, 1997). In spite of the constraints of the limited range of opportunities for women, CEOSS strives with some success to maximise the number of opportunities within this limited range. The near universality of the phenomenon of gender concentration of economic activity would seem to confirm the wisdom of CEOSS's approach.
The EBT is a conspicuously low-cost programme. In part this is due to the inherent efficiency of enterprise-based training, but much of the credit is due to the fact that the EBT programme operates as a department of a large well established organisation that is itself operationally efficient. The EBT programme operates within a administrative context characterised by low operating costs, long outreach, extensive institutional networks and considerable management capacity. The EBT programme gets many benefits from this strong institutional base. Among the most direct is that CEOSS can assign the skilled field staff needed to administer an inherently management intensive mechanism. There are more subtle, and perhaps more important, benefits that derive from belonging to a large locally integrated social development institution. Because of the nature of its work, and the nature of how it goes about this work, CEOSS is a well-established and respected member of many urban and rural communities in Egypt. This high degree of community credibility and involvement gives the EBT programme automatic access to an extensive and useful array of social, economic and institutional networks. The EBT programme has used and expanded these networks, both in pursuit of enterprise-based training opportunities for their trainees, and as part of their efforts to help their trainees find jobs or start and sustain self-employment.
Being a small part of a large parent organisation is not without its costs. The fundamental values and practices of CEOSS are based on its principal mission as a social development organisation The EBT programme has not always found it easy to reconcile the need to be consistent in pursuit of self-employment with the corresponding need to operate within the values and practices of an organisation with a strong social and community development culture. While there is no evidence that seeking a suitable balance has compromised consistency at the selection stage, it has made it relatively easy for the programme to justify a degree of reversion to institute-based training, and to gradually expand the extent and the range of training subsidies and follow-up support. In its struggle to balance a challenging array of social and economic values, the EBT programme has lost some of its original emphasis on minimalist demand-led self-employment training.
This is most apparent, at the training stage, in the reversion to institute-based training, for the most part in quest of additional training opportunities for women. A well-intentioned effort to emphasise equity has come at the cost of a reduced emphasis on relevance. By reverting to the earlier CEOSS practice of being "training opportunity-led", the EBT programme has inadvertently reduced the degree to which it is led by clear evidence of client and market demand for self-employment opportunities.
The reduced emphasis on minimalism is most apparent, at the enterprise stage, in the tendency to increase the array of EBT programme supplied follow-up services, particularly for those who have not been successful in becoming employed or self-employed. These two tendencies; a degree of operational inconsistency and a reduced emphasis on demand-led minimalism, are mutually reinforcing. The reversion to institute-based training has probably reduced the likelihood of immediate self-employment, which in turn has led to a tendency to increase start-up and follow-up support in an effort to compensate.
CEOSS's EBT programme is a useful demonstration of the formidable challenge of struggling to maintain the principle of consistency in the face of the often conflicting demands of cost, relevance and equity. It must be noted that the somewhat diminished attention to the principal of consistency has had only a modest effect on the programme's comparative efficiency. The EBT is, in any case, a very low-cost programme. In all likelihood, however, it has constrained effectiveness, by reducing the degree of emphasis on approaches with high self-employment potential, and by directing management efforts and project resources towards practices that do little to support self-employment.
A universally recognised self-employment maxim is that work experience is good preparation for self-employment. Formal vocational training, particularly for those with work experience, also seems to be an asset. The EBT programme includes among its trainees many who have either or both work experience and some previous formal vocational training. Many of these educated unemployed have sought access to the EBT programme in the hope of using these assets to become self-employed. Though this particular issue has not been investigated in detail the anecdotal evidence suggests that the EBT programme is very effective in adding, quickly and at low cost, the market access opportunities and practical business skills needed to convert work experience and previous formal skills training into productive self-employment..
The principal characteristics of the CEOSS Enterprise-Based Training programme are:
· The EBT is an innovative pilot project, charged with testing and refining a model that can be widely replicated by other NGOs.
· The EBT programme is a small innovative component of a large long-standing organisation which has excellent linkages with many urban and rural communities.
· The EBT programme draws on CEOSS's community linkages to generate training opportunities.
· The enterprise-based training approach used by the EBT facilitates the formation of individual enterprise support networks, and these, in turn, increase access to both self-employment opportunities and follow-up support.
· No project based teaching staff are needed, the EBT approach is being developed as an alternative to institution based vocational training.
· Operating costs are very low.
· There is a high degree of operational flexibility, the EBT approach is both client and market responsive.
· The parent organisation has sufficient numbers of qualified and motivated staff to ensure the level of supervision that enterprise-based training for self-employment requires.
· The EBT programme is efficiently administered, clearly documented, and closely monitored.
· India's CYSEC is in all respects a local NGO. CYSEC was founded for the specific purpose of self-employment creation, using vocational training as its basic approach from the outset. CYSEC was initiated by business interests for the purpose of business creation. It has retained its clear focus and strongly 'businesslike' character over more than 25 years. CYSEC manifests a high level of consistency in its objectives, values, operational emphasis, and style of management. CYSEC is an efficient successful low-cost programme.
· Somaliland's REDP was a short-term (2.5 year) self-contained pilot project funded by a major bilateral donor and implemented under expatriate management by an international NGO specialising in small enterprise development. The purpose of the REDP was to develop and document an effective approach to vocational training for self-employment in a severely distressed economy. The "supervised traditional apprenticeship" approach used was based upon well-documented West African practices. The traditional apprenticeship approach was specifically selected for its emphasis on local resource use and its ability to facilitate the social-economic integration of socially marginalised groups. The REDP was more effective than anticipated (in terms of successful self-employment), though at relatively high cost. The REDP's cost structure was typical of an externally derived and expatriate managed pilot project.
· The Enterprise Based Training (EBT) Programme of the Egyptian NGO CEOSS is a recent initiative of a large long-established Coptic NGO with a strong background in education, literacy, health, agriculture and community development. Bilateral donor support helps fund the EBT's operations and pays for periodic external evaluation. The EBT programme is CEOSS's response to a "crisis of vocational training" within its own vocational training programmes. CEOSS has largely withdrawn from formal vocational training. The EBT programme uses a low-cost traditional apprenticeship approach. The programme includes many women among its trainees, and operates successfully in both urban and rural areas. Though the EBT programme is markedly market-oriented in conception and notably efficient in practice it is struggling to reconcile the realities of a fundamentally economic design with the values of an organisation with a strong social orientation. The EBT is moderately effective (in terms of self-employment) after only a short period of operation.
· In all three cases there is a consistent focus on self-employment principles and practices throughout the training process.
· All of the programmes place considerable emphasis on selection, with selection in most cases based on a careful balance of equity and self-employment potential.
· Extensive use is made of enterprise-based training and traditional training techniques, particularly traditional apprenticeships.
· There is extensive and multifaceted involvement with local markets and local communities; all of the programmes described in the case studies are active members of local institutional networks.
· All of the programmes are "minimalist" training programmes; all of them specialise in training for self-employment. Relatively little start-up or follow-up support is provided by the programmes directly.
· All three programmes are effective; the two local NGOs (India and Egypt) are also very low-cost. Self-employment success rates are in general quite good, with the well-established specialist programme in Calcutta achieving exceptional results.
· In two cases (Somalia, and to a much more limited extent, Egypt) funds and expertise are provided by external donors. In all cases, however, management skills and training resources are drawn primarily from local communities and markets. As a result the approaches described in the case studies offer good prospects for replication and sustainability.
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