Mridula, thank you for this update on the INFODEV-supported SITA and MitraMandal, around which you raise crucial questions of job placement for project trainees. As I'm sure you know, the relationship between training and presumed 'jobs' that hypothetically await successful trainees has always been one of the most vexed and difficult problems facing program designers/evaluators, and is by no means limited to India, or even to these kinds of approaches or communities. I think the issue is broadly at the base of all 'human resources development' strategies ( the subject of the forthcoming ECOSOC 2002 High Level Segment), and symbolic of major shortcomings in HRD policy and practice. Assumptions under which public training programs are usually themselves 'marketed' include statements about increased job-skills, without specifying how those job-skills are identified, or defined, or even if they are empirical (i.e. derived directly from the contextual 'job-market' which trainees will face). Yet outcome measures usually include measures of 'placement', again usually short-term without regard to how long or how successfully the job-entrant does over time. Western literature (including western 'expert' studies of worldwide HRD vocational education and training programs) is replete with evidence that those who successfully complete training programs either have difficulty finding jobs, or find them in very different areas from those in which they were trained. So I suggest this is not just a problem for SITA trainees, but raises much broader questions. Many countries today are full of high school, even university graduates who are unable to find jobs commensurate with their expectations or perceived skills levels.
The work that SITA has done is groundbreaking and has surely brought hope and gratification to its 400+ women who have completed the training. Just bringing the IT world closer to life of poorer Indian communities may be seen as a benefit in itself, though scant reward for those who want the training to lead to tangible improvements personally in their own livelihoods. The SITA webpage states that each trainee was given a Certificate and assistance in getting employment. I am curious to ask what kind of assistance that was, and to what extent it was based on actual (empirically supported) knowledge of employment opportunities in communities where the trainees lived, their own aspirations/expectations regarding 'job' pursuit, and the expectations of those who would employ the succesful trainees. Is there any possibility that the training for these women could lead to (parttime?) employment in some way as outreach workers (analagous to community health assistants) serving as official links between government (state and local) and local communities as frontline liaison persons? Or could they become themselves basic trainers in their own communities regarding introduction of IT into these communities? Im not sure of precedents for this, but perhaps others on this network can identify some? ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
