A: Labour market analysis in Bangladesh
B: Labour market analysis in Costa Rica
C: Labour market analysis in Zimbabwe
D: Kingdom of Cambodia - A unique opportunity to create a tailor-made LMI system
62. As indicated earlier, the three case studies undertaken specifically for this project were supported by local consultants, who advised on key contacts, facilitated interviews, provided background information which placed the interviews into perspective and, in Costa Rica and Zimbabwe, undertook further interviews after the research team member had returned home. Although a common research methodology (Figure One and Appendix One) was employed, this was adapted to meet the very different circumstances in the three countries studied. These differences are reflected in the structure and organisation of the following case studies. While they all consider broadly similar issues, they emphasise the distinctive features of the three national systems and are not, therefore, presented in a common format. The fourth case study has been prepared in order to demonstrate a specific issue - the needs of a national system with desperate needs for some basic labour market information in order to rebuild its infrastructure. Its format, therefore, differs from the other three studies. However, in the following section (Chapter 5), key themes and issues from across the case studies are drawn together and compared.
Economic background
Labour market information
Vocational and technical education
Employers and employer organisations
The applications of LMI
Improving the responsiveness of TVET
63. Bangladesh continues to struggle to generate the economic development necessary to sustain its population. It remains an agricultural economy, with a large labour surplus which is only partially alleviated by significant labour migration, mainly to the Middle East. Although the latest official labour force survey figures show the large majority of the population to be engaged in some form of wage earning economic activity, most authorities calculate the true level of unemployment to be around 25%.
64. The Bangladeshi Government is pursuing a World Bank inspired liberalisation policy, and successfully completed a three year IMF Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) Programme in September 1993. Under these programmes, the public sector has retrenched, reducing its demand for labour. It has maintained effective macroeconomic policies under the "enhanced surveillance" procedures from the IMF up to September 1994, and under its own programme thereafter.
65. There are some encouraging signs of development in the private sector although of late private investment has fallen overall. Recent observers have pointed to signs of increasing demand for skills in the areas of electronics, communications, computing and related technologies (eg Hughes, 1994). Parts of the textile industry are also buoyant.
66. The combination of a long-existing labour surplus, and the continued reverberations of the pre-liberalisation policy of sheltering the public sector from labour market forces, has not encouraged investment in skills development. The large majority of labour is recruited untrained, and acquires skills on the job. There is significant unemployment, especially in the short to medium term, amongst engineering graduates and diploma holders. However, at the same time, there are identifiable skill shortages which not infrequently result in under-utilisation of modern equipment, when such investment is made.
67. The lack of comprehensive, consistent, coherent, reliable and timely labour market information is widely recognised in the relevant government ministries and agencies, and has been well summarised in a number of reports on ILO/UNDP projects and ILO sponsored seminars.
68. The following government ministries and agencies are those with primary responsibility for LMI collection:
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS):- the central government body for population and other censuses in the country. It undertakes a regular Labour Force Survey, the most recent of which was undertaken during 1991-92 and the next of which will take place in 1995-96.Ministry of Labour and Manpower:- the principal and highest level government body that deals with labour market monitoring. It is organised into three divisions, viz:
Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET):- continually engaged in collecting LMI and has primary responsibility for coordinating information on local and overseas labour markets. It operates via 21 District Manpower and Employment Offices (DEMOs). The principal activities of the DEMOs consist of:
· registration of job-seekers;
· collection of vacancy announcements;
· placement of unemployed;
· implementation of self-employment projects; and
· promotion of full employment in terms of both supply and demand.In addition to the DEMOs, BMET oversees 12 regionally located Technical Training Centres (TTCs), although the formal courses at these institutes are under the control of the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB).
Inspectorate of Factories and Establishment:- monitors working conditions including labour welfare, occupational hazards and on-the-job accidents in factories and other working establishments.
Directorate of Labour:- oversees the labour courts and is responsible for settling labour and industrial disputes. It also collects and publishes statistical reports on the labour situation in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) and the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE): - coordinate vocational and technical education at the skills, trade and diploma levels. BTEB is responsible for testing and certification. DTE operates 64 Vocational Training Institutes (VTIs) throughout the country. Both BTEB and DTE collect data related to technical education, the former body having undertaken a number of specific surveys including a tracer study of polytechnic graduates.
National Productivity Organisation (NPO):- deals with issues related to industrial labour productivity. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industries. NPO collects basic information through sample surveys to analyze labour productivity.
Planning Commission:- the highest level body responsible for developing growth strategies for Bangladesh. It is a major user of LMI and is in continuous contact with the LMI system.
69. Other government bodies with rather less prominent roles in the collection and dissemination of LMI include the Ministry of Education, the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture. In recent years, the Technical Teachers Training College (TTTC) in Dhaka, and a number of polytechnics, including Dhaka Polytechnic, and Mohila (female) Polytechnic, have undertaken surveys investigating the onward progression of past students. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), such as UCEP (Under-Privileged Children's Educational Programs) are also engaged in activity of this kind.
70. The above organisations concentrate on collecting data relevant only to their remit. There seems to be little integration or consistency in overlapping data. Duplication of effort is admitted, and there appear to be some tensions over resource allocation for LMI collection and analysis, in particular between BMET and the Ministry of Planning.
71. A flow chart indicating categories of information and their purpose in the existing
Bangladesh LMI system - at least in theory - is displayed in Figure 2.
FLOW CHART OF LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION
Figure 2: Categories of information and their purposes
Abbreviations
BAIRA = Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies
BANBEIS = Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics
BBS = Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
BIDS = Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies
BMET = Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training
BOESL = Bangladesh Overseas Employment Service Limited
BRDB = Bangladesh Rural Development Board
BSCIC = Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation
BTEB = Bangladesh Technical Education Board
CCI = Chamber of Commerce and Industry
DTE = Directorate of Technical Education
IRI = Industrial Relations Institute
NGO = Non-Government Organisations
NPO = National Productivity Organisation
PC = Planning Commission
TTC = Technical Training Centre
VTI = Vocational Training Institute
72. The educational structure of Bangladesh is shown schematically in Appendix Four. Formal education in vocational subjects at the undergraduate level starts after the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC). Mid-level technical education commences after the Secondary School Certificate (SSC), and the polytechnic sub-system offers three-year courses in engineering technologies leading to the diploma of BTEB. This Board is the national accrediting body for the technical and vocational fields. There are 20 polytechnics of which one (Mohila) is exclusively for females. There are a number of agriculture and allied institutes, textile institutes and commercial institutes, and other specialised monotechnics offering diploma level courses in their respective fields.
73. The TTTC in Dhaka provides teacher training for these establishments. Four ODA Technical Education Advisers are located at the college on long-term contracts to carry out ODA's Technical Education Project. Over 250 polytechnic teachers have completed courses leading to diplomas in technical education. In his review of the project, Oxtoby (1994) refers to the TTTC as a first-class resource. He comments that there is evidence that polytechnic teachers are now beginning to change their teaching strategies in order to give added emphasis to the acquisition by students of knowledge, skills and attitudes more in keeping with the requirements of the world of work.
74. Vocational education in Bangladesh caters for occupations at craft level, mostly in the basic trades. The VTIs under the Ministry of Education, and the TTCs under the Ministry of Labour (BMET), form the main network of formal vocational education and training facilities for engineering trades. Enrolment capacity of the 64 VTIs and the 12 TTCs together is over 10,000. The formal courses of these institutes are also under the control of BTEB. The entry requirement is a minimum grade 8 pass. The courses are structured with nine months institute-based training followed by three months industrial attachment. Successful completion of the first year of training leads to certification at National Skills Standard (NSS) 3. Trainees can then gain admission to the second year work at the same trade, leading to NSS 2 certification. NSS 1 has been identified to be of master craftsman level. Beside training in the engineering trades described above, there are agricultural institutes, youth development centres, social welfare centres, etc., under different agencies of the government, offering a variety of training programmes and income-generating activities.
75. Vocational education is supported by the Vocational Teacher Training Institute (VTTI) at Bogra. It is widely acknowledged that the VTIs and TTCs have had considerable problems in fulfilling their objectives. They have low prestige and are not well known or well regarded by employers. A World Bank review of 1990 estimated their rate of return to be negative. A senior advisor and a consultant from the ILO area office in Dhaka are currently attached to BMET to work on a UNDP/ILO project, National Vocational Training System Reform. Amongst other things, this project involves efforts to improve the cost-effectiveness of the TTCs and VTIs, and to achieve better utilisation of capacity.
76. Generally speaking, employers in the public and private sector have only the most rudimentary labour market information systems of their own. Their view was that there was little incentive to invest in this area, since for most vacancies there was an over-supply of applicants. Most recruit staff via newspaper advertising and/or through holding records of suitable past applicants who had been surplus to previous recruitment requirements. Manpower planning appears generally broad-based, and geared more to the financial projections of forward business plans than to the forecasting of skill needs. Much of the skills development which takes place is achieved relatively informally by in-plant training. Training in the more high-technology areas, such as computing, relies heavily upon hardware and software suppliers.
77. Similarly, the individual Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Bangladesh Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce, act as forums and lobbies for their membership, publish some overall statistics, but do not engage in significant research into the labour market.
78. Opinions differed as to the effectiveness of the vocational and technical education and training system. In general, there appears to be reasonable satisfaction with the theoretical knowledge of polytechnic diplomates. The main criticisms were of their practical knowledge of the real work environment. This tends to confirm the findings of the last BTEB tracer study, which have since been addressed via the TTTC. Feedback on the quality of the VTIs and TTCs was significantly less positive, again confirming the evidence of previous reviews.
79. There seems, however, to be little or no attempt directly to recruit via the polytechnics, as the response of qualified people to any job advertisement is invariably healthy. Equally, there seems to be little contact with staff at institutional level, with the exception of tasks related to student work placements, although a number of employer representatives did comment that they were consulted by BTEB on curriculum updates, etc.
80. At the vocational level, the most positive response relating to education and training provision was with regard to UCEP. The Chair of the Bangladesh Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce (also managing director of Singer Bangladesh Limited), extolled the virtues of UCEP. Singer is now recruiting female students directly from the UCEP training college in Dhaka, and is extremely satisfied with their quality, which was compared very favourably with that of the output of the VTIs and TTCs.
81. It was impossible to arrange interviews with any trade unions or worker organisations because of political unrest at the time of the field research. The Bangladesh consultants are of the opinion that such bodies do not collect and analyze LMI of any great sophistication. It was also claimed that, as the labour unions are concerned to protect members' jobs in the public sector, they are antipathetic to promoting the entry to the workforce, and advancement within it, of qualification holders.
82. With the exception of BTEB, the labour market information gathered and analyzed by government departments and agencies appears to have little impact at institutional level. Even if institutional managements were made more acquainted with the LMI concerned, the high level of aggregation of the data in most reports would offer only the crudest guide to curriculum development and enrolment strategies. This applies particularly to the Labour Force Survey undertaken by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Its occupational categories are very broadly defined. With the exception of those related to agriculture, forestry and fisheries, which showed a decline of around 10%, all other categories revealed a growth between the 1989 survey and the 1990-91 survey, which is only now (March 1995) about to be published. Rapid growth by industry was identified in the mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction, trade, hotels, finance and business sectors. Although female participation in the labour force is steadily improving, backed by government policy, female workers are disproportionately concentrated in agriculture, fisheries and forestry, the one sector in significant decline. 88% of the female labour force is employed in this sector, compared with 56% of the male labour force.
83. Although the reliability of the labour force survey is said to be good, the methodology for calculating unemployment produces an overall rate of 1.9%, which all agree is a gross understatement of the true figure. Using the same methodology, the last survey revealed an unemployment rate amongst SSC/HSC/Diploma holders of 3.4%, and amongst graduates and post-graduates of 3%.
84. The BMET statistics, arising from their regular establishment surveys, are potentially more useful to providers of education and training. A copy of the tabulation plan for these surveys, which is used to aggregate data via districts, and then for the whole country, is attached as Appendix Three. The data used to compile this tabulation is collected by means of interviewer-administered questionnaires, under the supervision of the 21 District Manpower and Employment Offices (DEMOs). Whilst these surveys have an impact on TVET via BMET's responsibility to for the TTCs, there seems to be little or no familiarity with their contents at institutional level.
85. There are other question marks over the potential usefulness of this data. It takes some time after the completion of each survey for the data to be processed and the report to become available. The visit to one of the DEMOs, at Sylhet, threw considerable doubts on the comprehensiveness and reliability of the data. According to the information provided there, surveys had in fact been conducted at less frequent intervals than indicated by BMET. The number of establishments included (said to be all those employing 10 or more staff, including part-timers) seemed to vary significantly between surveys. The most recent survey in the Sylhet district had included 239 such establishments, which is likely to be an understatement of the actual number. Some establishments were said to refuse to supply some, or all, of the information requested, because they were suspicious it would be used for taxation purposes. The staff at the Sylhet DEMO appeared to have little familiarity with the data which they had collected, or its potential applications. Neither did they seem to have any significant contact with the staff at the neighbouring Sylhet Vocational Training Institute.
86. The main impact of LMI on TVET is via the work of the BTEB. A number of important surveys and reviews have been sponsored by BTEB in recent years, including a tracer study of polytechnic graduates in 1990, a study of exportability of skilled manpower from Bangladesh in 1993, and a study of the job market for VTI graduates in 1994. BTEB also undertakes scanning of newspaper advertisements. ODA implemented a review of the diploma-in-engineering curriculum in 1991 and a study of the socio-cultural aspect of the diploma-in-engineering curriculum in 1992 The reports arising from these surveys have been influential in curriculum development and recruitment planning and have influenced the curriculum of the TTTC. As a result of the findings of these reports, the intake to power technology courses has been reduced, allowing selected institutions to replace this specialism by automobile engineering and/or refrigeration and air-conditioning. The availability of electronics is being extended across all the polytechnics in order to meet anticipated skill demands, and computing technology is being introduced at a number of institutions. The diploma engineering curriculum has been revised to include new components in computing, entrepreneurship, and environmental studies. The amount of time devoted to social skills, English, and related subjects has also been increased in response to comments from employers.
87. Within the polytechnic system, the LMI-related work of BTEB, supported by the TTTC, has had some impact on management attitudes. The TTTC has undertaken a small amount of management training within its programmes, stressing, amongst other things, the importance of responsiveness to industry needs. With the encouragement of BTEB, student demand is being taken into account rather more than hitherto, as an indicator for recruitment policy. Students are considered to be relatively sensitive to short-term movements in the job market. Their relative demand for different programme areas is, therefore, likely to be a more quickly responsive indicator than the quantitative data which emerges from the official reports, which take some time to publish and impact upon the system. Labour market surveys have also been undertaken at institutional level within the polytechnic system, notably by Mohila (female) Polytechnic in undertaking a tracer study of its graduates earlier this year.
88. Managements and staff at the VTI and at the TTC exhibited little or no consciousness of labour market information from whatever source, and its implications for their own institutions. Institutional autonomy appeared even less than in the polytechnics. In both institutions, recruitment in a number of programme areas was substantially below capacity, whilst applicants were being turned away in others. There seemed, however, to be little sense of urgency that the under-utilisation of capacity which resulted should be addressed unless, and until, they were directed to do so by the DTE or BMET.
89. In both polytechnics and vocational institutions, lecturing staff seemed to have little direct contact with employers. The best example of institutional responsiveness to employment needs encountered during the research was at UCEP, a NGO. UCEP operates at institutional level, and there is direct transmission of the significance of LMI to teaching staff. Because it is dependent on donor-aid, and donor agencies demand regular accountability, staff are encouraged to seek regular feedback from employers via advisory committees, employer days, job market surveys, and tracer studies. The demands of the labour market are seen as to drive curriculum development, in order to ensure the continuation of the currently excellent rate of placement of students into employment which, at over 90% overall, is significantly higher than that for diploma engineers.
90. Although staff concerned with LMI at ministerial and government agency level are conversant with research methodology, the comprehensiveness, reliability and timeliness of LMI could all be improved via relatively modest investment in supporting hardware, software and training. Staff concerned with the gathering of LMI are generally graduates, even in the DEMOs, but the need for better training in basic techniques of sample selection and data gathering is generally conceded. At present, most of the data gathered by questionnaires is analyzed manually, which is time-consuming and limiting. Investment in standard questionnaire analysis software, and computers on which it would run, could potentially achieve a substantial improvement in the speed of data analysis and the production of subsequent reports. It would also enable more sophisticated data analysis to be undertaken. Such investment would, of course, need to be underpinned by training in questionnaire design and analysis.
91. However, as things stand, it is unlikely that improvements in the LMI systems of government ministries and agencies would immediately enhance the responsiveness of public sector TVET. As has been noted, changes in curriculum and recruitment policies tend presently to take place gradually, and top-down. There remains an accompanying need to develop an ethos at institutional level of involvement in, and responsiveness to, the employment market. This calls for leadership by institutional senior managements, supported by staff development in basic techniques of marketing and industrial liaison. The energetic management of UCEP has demonstrated that it is quite possible to achieve effective industrial links at institutional level, and to achieve short and medium term responsiveness. More emphasis should be placed on low-cost systems of market intelligence, such as newspaper scanning. The function of industrial liaison needs to be defined far more broadly than its present confinement to student placement. Employers need to be more actively involved in curriculum advisory committees, and teaching staff need to gain regular experience of the working conditions in the industries for which they are supposedly preparing their students. Some steps in this direction are already taking place through the TTTC.
92. One indicator of the current level of contact between the providers of TVET and industry is the paucity of tailor-made short course provision provided under contract by staff from public sector institutions. Consultancy services and in-plant training are even rarer. The development of successful programmes in these areas demands close links with industry in order that staff win the confidence of employers, and develop the practical knowledge and expertise which is necessary to deliver credible programmes. Better quality LMI is only one part of the answer. There also needs to be greater autonomy and flexibility at institutional level to respond to the type of market intelligence which can only be gained by close and regular contact with industry. Institutions need to make vigorous efforts to enter the same networks in which industry is involved, including the chambers of commerce.
93. UK experience suggests that changes of the type suggested above can only take place over time. In addition to staff training, they call for changes in institutional structures and individual job specifications. The process is likely to be encouraged if there are clear financial incentives for staff at all levels to make the necessary adjustments. Consideration might usefully be given to making some element of institutional funding dependent on recruitment performance against specified targets by programme area, plus output related features in the form of funding dependent on retention, qualification and placement rates. It is likely that institutional commitment to the introduction of these features within the funding arrangements would be more likely to be secured in the short term if they formed an added bonus, rather than a proportion of the current funding allocation.
The economy
The labour market
INA
The ministry of education
Other ministries
The camaras
The employers
Labour market information: Some conclusions
Data collection
Analysing and utilising data
Training needs
94. Costa Rica is a small Central American state of less than 4 million people, extending from Atlantic to Pacific coasts. It is distinguished from its neighbours by its political stability and consequent relative prosperity. It disbanded its armed forces after a short but bloody civil war nearly fifty years ago, and since then has operated a model democracy with power shifting peacefully from one to the other major political party usually every four years. Its economy has traditionally been based on "the desserts" - bananas, coffee, cocoa and flowers. Recently, however, it has become an increasingly important tourist destination, particularly for North Americans, and has focused on the expensive end of that market, promoting 'eco-tourism' and protecting while exploiting its natural advantages - beaches, rain-forests and abundant wildlife.
95. The incoming government after the 1994 elections is committed to a policy of 'sustainable development, but is also responding to the worldwide pressure for economic liberalisation On 1 January 1995 Costa Rica entered into a free trade agreement with Mexico, which will take it into the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA). This is likely, in the medium term, to have a dramatic impact upon the Costa Rican economy and its labour market. The government signed up to a major World Bank funded structural adjustment programme in 1994, with the familiar features of privatising state-run enterprises - or closing them down if palpably inefficient.
96. Costa Rica's political stability has been shored up through economic and political institutions which bring together government, employers and labour organisations Employers are organised through a complex arrangement of Chambers of Commerce ("camaras"), with ready access to government and representation on the key bodies which regulate the economy. The role and structure of the camaras is examined in more detail below.
97. The third leg of the traditional framework has, however, recently been weakened. The labour unions have been undermined by the establishment of enterprise-based Solideristas, government-regulated and employer-dominated works councils. It has required intervention by the United States and the international labour organisations to prevent the current fairly right-wing Government further undermining the effectiveness of the labour organisations and in consequence only limited evidence was found of their contributions to the understanding of the labour market and the debate as to training provision for that market.
98. The labour market in Costa Rica is at a particularly interesting stage at the moment. Traditionally it has been dominated by agricultural production demanding low skill levels and little training. The processing of agricultural products plus metal-related industries created demands for formal training, along with the secretarial skills demanded in both private and public sectors. More recently, tourism has become a major industry and the government's major priority with a new policy of sustainable development and eco-tourism is affecting the labour market.
99. Information about the operation of the labour market is limited, although there is a good deal of data collected related to specific industries and occupational sectors. Most of this has been collected by international organisations using local data collection and analysis expertise. There have been a number of international studies in recent years, including a major CINTERFOR/ILO study of the whole of Latin America, and a recent Inter-American Bank study of the six Central American Republics, from which the sections relevant to Costa Rica have been extracted as a basis for labour market planning. The European Union has also recently commissioned a survey of the tourist industry, including its impact on the labour market, whose recommendations in the form of a five-year plan are now being considered by the Costa Rican Government.
100. The Ministry of Planning has some responsibilities for data collection but undertakes no labour market research, and both INA (see below) and the Directorate of Employment within the Ministry of Labour undertake employer and household surveys. In practice the system is structured so that industry and training providers can make use of 'key informants' through a complex and formal structure of committees with regulatory and planning functions organised through INA with the camaras.
101. As in other Latin American countries, the traditional response to labour market needs has been a tripartite one, involving the camaras, the labour unions and the government. Thirty years ago, an early outcome of this tripartite framework was the establishment of INA, the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizajes. While this is a non-governmental organisation in practice it is closely controlled by the Government. Its two senior positions, the Executive President and the Managing Director are both political appointments. As the Government usually switches from one party to another every four years, these post-holders are also replaced with the change of government. This happened in 1994 when the new Figueres Government took over from what is now the main opposition party.
102. INA has both a social and economic mission. Its purpose is to ensure that the Costa Rican economy is supplied with the necessary skilled labour. It also has responsibility for tackling the problems of unemployment and - more typically of a developing country - under employment. Both of these purposes now need to be underlain by the new policy of sustainable development.
103. INA is managed by a Board, on which the Ministers of Education and Labour sit, among with representatives of the camaras and organised labour. The training system is organised on a hierarchy of committees. At the highest level there is a "Cupola Committee" with representatives of the cameras, government and labour organisations chaired by INA's Executive President. Below that there are three sectoral committees for the major industrial sectors - commerce, industry and agriculture, and below those in turn sub-sectoral committees representing specific sub-sectors such as coffee-growers, tourism, metal-working and construction.
104. INA's relationship to the structure of camaras has been confused by the previous Government's reorganisation of INA to provide training for a large number (43) of separate occupational groups drawn from the International Classification of Occupational Groups. This led to the virtual collapse of the previous industrial sector-based tripartite framework. With the new Government, INA has now reverted to the old structure of committees based on a smaller number of industrial sectors, on which the camara for that sector is represented.
105. INA provides mainly certificated craft-level training. There is also a variety of private, uncertificated training and INA has recently been asked to co-ordinate and arrange for the certification of this provision. The delivery of INA training is through a number of training centres, some of which are based on the headquarters site in the capital, San Jose, others scattered throughout the regions. The training centres are specialist centres, dealing with the main industrial groups such as electronics, construction, mechanical engineering, etc. There are a variety of training formats. The traditional delivery is through a 1½ to 2½ year full-time programme for 16-18 year olds. The curriculum is quite broad, in line with INA's social objectives, so includes general education and recreational activities as well as skills training. The general view is that, while standards of literacy are quite high, there are problems of numeracy and the general education includes remedial mathematics.
106. A growing part of INA's work is part-time provision for adults in work, through night schools - day release is an unknown concept in Costa Rica - for nine hours per week, usually three evenings per week.
107. A third kind of provision focuses on the needs of the unemployed and underemployed. This is the provision of 'crop-in centres', public workshops open every day where trainees bring their own raw materials but can learn basic crafts such as carpentry, food-processing, bricklaying, etc. Sixteen such centres have been established across the country with four more to open in 1995. Training in these centres is uncertificated, but trainees can go on to certificated courses from here. Basic training for the certificated courses is provided through the INA policy of 'mobile action' - taking equipment and trainees to community centres and shops, wherever there is a need. Higher level training is provided normally at the INA headquarters, which also offers residential facilities and scholarships to support poor trainees who could not otherwise afford to live in the capital.
108. This might imply that the system of provision is needs-driven. This is not quite accurate. The needs which drive the present programme of training were identified a decade ago. Where they have been augmented, this has been offer-driven - INA provides biotechnology training only because Taiwan donated a biotechnology laboratory, not because of any demand from private industry.
109. The system is financed through a levy on all enterprises with more than five workers of 2½% of the wage bill, except the agricultural sector which pays only 0.5% of its wage bill. In return for that, all INA training is free, including specific training organised for individual enterprises. INA staff are surprised that so little opportunity is taken of this facility. At present the government is pressing INA to underspend its levy, so that the balance can be used to reduce the current budget deficit.
110. The training curriculum is designed centrally within INA, and there is only limited work-based experience. This is used where INA does not have the requisite equipment, and enterprises are usually fairly obliging in making their equipment available to INA trainees, even though these trainees are not their own employees. The system was described as working on a series of inter-linked obligations.
111. High priority is now given to ways in which INA can meet the needs of the informal sector. Particular priority is given to the provision of training for women to encourage their involvement in the work force and training for street children - even where that training is for youngsters below the compulsory school-leaving age. There are also special programmes for the handicapped, provided by INA in co-operation with various Ministries and NGOs.
112. A bureaucratic system such as this can only meet the rapidly changing needs of an emerging economy if there is good and regular information about the changing labour market. The basic messages from both within and outside INA were that the labour market information was insufficient to keep pace with the changing needs of the economy. The problem was described in essence as political. Because INA is so close to the government, it has no imperative to respond to the demands of industry, whether direct from individual industries or through the camaras Research is carried out by INA in the various industrial sectors, but this only takes place every two or three years and the processes of converting the research findings into curriculum changes are slow. INA is not obliged to market its services to industry, but examples were found of particular centres doing just this, bypassing the official routes and using INA staff as industrial liaison officers to go directly to industry, ascertaining their needs and then using whatever flexibility is permitted to modify the curriculum in order to meet those needs.
113. In the view of ILO and others, INA was a "wonderful" organisation a few years ago -in the 1980s - but has recently ossified. It has become a victim of its own successes, in that it became a desirable place to work and so acquired lots of extra administrators, as governments placed their supporters in INA jobs. In consequence, it now has 400 trainers and 1400 administrators! Bureaucratic systems abound, and the training centres expend much energy in seeking ways to circumvent these systems. In the view of ILO, recent developments with ENCAP in Chile, INCE in Venezuela and SENA in Colombia place these organisations as the best examples of current good practice in Latin America, largely because of their ability to continue to evolve, building close links with and responses to the private sector in countries where privatisation polices have been established. The ILO has recently made confidential proposals concerning the future development of INA, and there are some indications that these are being taken on board by the new government.
114. The change of government in 1994 has led to a review of most aspects of INA's work. The main manifestation of the problem is that INA graduates are not as successful as they used to be in finding jobs. The new policies of sustainable development and membership of the North American Free Trade Area require what was described as "more dynamic types of employee". Workers need to be conscious of the social and environmental consequences of their labour - for example the use of CFC's in the refrigeration industry and the very large waste which used to exist in the tropical hardwood industry. The first steps in this change are the retraining of INA's trainers. Priority areas have been established in association with industry and government. The focus is on training a flexible work force, whose increased efficiency is needed to keep Costa Rica competitive in the new markets into which the country is entering. The national labour organisations are co-operating with this policy - the example was cited of an agreement with the national oil refinery trades union to co-operate with government-imposed changes.
115. The Education Minister is a member of INA's Board of Directors, and her Ministry has separate responsibility for technical and vocational education through some 30 technical high schools and one Technological Institute, with university status. Those interviewed drew a clear distinction between the formal education provided through the technical high schools and the non-formal education and training offered by INA. In practice, the distinctions seem more of social status than curricular distinctiveness. There is an expectation that those leaving technical high schools will go on to university or to higher level jobs than those leave INA training centres. This is probably the case in some areas, such as graphic design but did not seem to apply to motor-vehicle engineering, electronics and secretarial courses at one of the country's largest and most respected technical high schools (COVAO), where the curriculum content and the career destinations of its students were very similar to those seen in similar subject areas at INA training centres.
116. The curriculum for the technical high schools is designed centrally within the Ministry, and schools are closely supervised to ensure that they follow that curriculum. There are some limited opportunities for teachers to tailor the curriculum to meet local needs, but the constraints on this are a source of frustration to teachers and managers in the schools. The exception to this is where external aid has been used to review and upgrade the curriculum. German specialists have been working for six years at COVAO to upgrade graphics design training, and have now been brought in to do the same for metal-working and electronics. Dutch specialists are developing new programmes for women at Limon on the Caribbean coast. The foreign specialists have made contacts with private industry in order to tailor the curriculum to industry's needs, but the aid programmes have not involved the provision of equipment. At COVAO, INA has provided funds for new graphics and engineering equipment, demonstrating a recent policy of closer cooperation between INA and the technical high schools - aided no doubt by the civil servant responsible for technical and vocational education having been seconded to the Ministry from INA.
117. The new Minister of Education has embarked on a major programme of education renewal for the technical and vocational sectors. A national conference, involving industry, commerce, the Camaras, INA and the education sectors was called in December 1994 to reflect on the country's needs in the light of new policies of sustainable development and free trade. It is expected that this will lead to major curriculum revision, but not to structural changes in the organisation and management of that provision. However, to improve the quality of middle management across public and private sectors, the organisation responsible for training secondary teachers has just been asked to investigate ways in which it could upgrade the management skills of commercial and industrial as well as public sector middle managers, by undertaking a generic management skills analysis.
118. One significant feature of the reform programme has been the recent designation (in the new national Science and Technology Plan) of CEFOF - the Ministry's centre for the training of education managers, established with Japanese aid a couple of years ago - as the national centre for middle management training. It is intended that CEFOF will complement INA, training supervisors while INA trains skilled workers.
119. The Ministry of Labour carries out regular household surveys, augmented by occasional surveys of specific industries with perceived or potential problems. It admits that it collects a large amount of data but lacks the capacity to synthesise it into coherent outcomes. It finds it difficult, therefore, to draw upon this data in support of two of its prime planning functions:
- the establishment of "zones francas" - free trade areas to attract foreign investment and stimulate industrial development; and- the operation of a wages policy whereby the government fixes the annual minimum wage increase across the board, irrespective of the state of supply and demand in the labour market.
120. The Ministry of Planning has no involvement in labour market research, and does not see that as part of its functions. However, the Ministry of Science and Technology is currently a good deal more interventionist. Its new national Science and Technology Plan emphasises that Costa Rica's competitive advantage in world markets is dependent on the infrastructure for research, training and technology transfer, looking to it becoming a "world-class regional knowledge capital" on the basis of its already well-established information and telecommunications infrastructure. The Plan goes on to propose a decentralised system for enhancing competitiveness, including the establishment of "centres for industrial modernisation and the promotion of competitiveness" where research and development supports new high technology small and medium sized enterprises. INA and the technical high schools are urged "to refocus their strategy and organisation to provide new support to the global competitiveness that the productive sector needs".
121. The camaras are a distinctive Costa Rican phenomenon. Each industrial sector has its own camara, and there are cross-sector camaras for exporters, manufacturing industries, etc. On top of these national camaras, there are also regional ones which operate rather more like the British Chambers of Commerce. Medium size enterprises are, therefore, likely to be members of several camaras. One interviewee, herself Executive Director of one of the largest camaras, described the country as suffering from the "camara syndrome" - an excuse for talking a great deal and doing very little.
122. The camaras are small organisations rarely with more than a dozen employees. The major function of most of the camaras appeared to be public relations for the employers represented, while acting as pressure groups particularly with the government on issues of concern to the employers, such as tariff protection. While they represent the industrial sectors in a variety of forums with Government, INA, etc., little evidence was found that such representation was effective in arriving either at a clearer understanding of the operation of the labour market or of the organisation of training provision for that market. However, they are important vehicles for disseminating the findings of international projects: the Tourism Chamber (CANATUR) is currently disseminating through publications and seminars the findings of a plan for the development of tourism arising out of a recent European Community project.
123. The largest of the camaras, the Camara des Industrias, with 30 employees, has a wider range of functions than the others interviewed. Its income comes from fees, the sale of services including training, and involvement with international projects, for which the Camara occasionally undertakes research work (including labour market surveys). It provides training programmes - mainly short (one day) courses - and occasionally conducts its own labour market research within specific industrial sectors. Recent surveys have been undertaken within the orange juice, clothing, coffee processing, cardboard box and extruded metals industries. Some of the research has been commissioned from the local universities and from Peat Marwick. These have identified deficiencies in both general education and technical training. The findings are contributing to the current seminars and conferences on Costa Rica's competitiveness and economic development needs.
124. The Camara's main services to its members include those indicated above, and particularly trying to influence legislation which will affect members' interests. The main task was described as "building strategic alliances", including improved links with the labour organisations The Camara is currently in the process of developing a new range of services to its members, including the sale of information. Like the other cameras, the Camara des Industrias has little contact with individual TVET institutions, although it works closely with some universities and with both CEFOF and INA (but finds INA difficult to work with because it is "too close to government").
125. Costa Rica's major employer, apart from the government service, is ICE - the national supplier of electric power and telephone services. It absorbs a large proportion of INA and technical college graduates (60% of INA electronics trainees), and has a large internal training unit, together with a research unit specialising in labour market research and a programme development unit. They operate provider-client relationships, the research unit 'selling' its findings to the programme developers, who in turn 'sell' their curricula to the training unit as part of ICE's internal market.
126. The company operates a job classification scheme, matched against a hierarchy of qualifications, from technical high school diploma, through INA certificates to college and university qualifications. These are augmented by internal certificates, as about one-third of all training is provided internally. External training is commissioned in response to the labour market research (the research teams also conduct evaluations of external programmes). INA in particular was criticised for being slow to respond to new needs but ICE did not perceive that its labour market findings should be provided to INA, as they were commercially sensitive.
127. Other employers in Costa Rica are very largely "microbusinesses", with five or fewer employees. Many of these are too small and too poor to join a camara, and operate in the informal sector. Their needs were summarised as "information, legal advice, management skills, commercial opportunities and training". They cannot afford to buy these, although where they are members of a camera they are eligible for some government-funded advisory services. There is much current discussion about ways in which these tiny enterprises might contribute more to the economy if linked to provide some vertical integration, as, for example between coffee growers, processors and exporters. Some experiments to support such links are currently being supported by NGOs funded by international agencies. These are providing training - a Dutch project supporting female workers on the Atlantic coast was cited as a particularly successful example of this support.
128. Costa Rica has developed a complex tripartite system for labour market analysis, which was much lauded in the 1980s. The research study discovered that this system has ossified and been politicised. The labour market research undertaken by and for the government departments, camaras and INA still takes place but occurs too infrequently and is uncoordinated. The central determined TVET curriculum was reformed in the late 1980s using labour market information, but it does not contain mechanisms for self-renewal and is insufficiently responsive to the findings of more recent LMI. The processes of data collection are well established, but there is little coordination between the various data sources and in consequence little meaningful analysis. Furthermore, while it was feasible a decade ago, in an economy largely protected from major global trends, to predict short term labour market needs with some accuracy, the more turbulent current economic environment makes this much more difficult.
129. In consequence, the most effective methods of labour market analysis are the informal local systems, established to bypass the formal bureaucratic systems. The use by some of the major training providers - INA and the larger technical colleges - of their own staff as industrial liaison/marketing officers is effective, both in building bridges with employers and in bringing back messages about new training needs in response to labour market and technology shifts. These links have additional benefits in enhancing the credibility of the training organisations with employers, who are also more inclined to encourage their workers to undertake training (but only in the evenings) and to make their most modern equipment available for training purposes. However, these are used by only a small number of enterprising organisations particularly where they are shielded through external aid projects from bureaucratic interference.
130. Formal research techniques, other than standard questionnaires to employers, are unknown (or at least unused) in Costa Rica - the Executive Director of INA was very anxious to obtain details of such techniques so that they could be used within his organisation Standard market survey techniques are used by the private consultancy firms and INA researchers when collecting data from employers. Household surveys are used by the Ministry of Labour, but their findings are not correlated with other evidence about the labour market. Special surveys, funded by government departments, international agencies, camaras and INA, occasionally focus on specific industries, using both postal questionnaires and telephone surveys - Costa Rica has one of the best telephone systems in Latin America. However, users are sceptical as to their accuracy and the findings are retained by the collecting organisation The view was expressed that the country is awash with low quality data, but lacks mechanisms to draw it together, improve its quality and most of all - take action on the basis of the findings.
131. In contrast, market intelligence is collected within training institutions, and is used in some to reform the training curriculum, advise trainees on career opportunities and build close links with employers. This information concerns emergent and new technologies, equipment and work practices being introduced by employers, new training needs identified by employers, the tasks undertaken by trainees once moving on to full time employment, and the opinions expressed by employers about the quality of their new recruits and the relevance of their recent training. All training institutions acquire some of this intelligence. The more effective ones have systems whereby they can check its accuracy, and then make use of it - even where that involves some deviation from bureaucratic requirements. It is easier to achieve this where consultants recruited as part of an international aid project encourage experimentation and focus on curriculum reform, based on labour market research.
132. The only data analysis techniques identified through the study visit were the traditional statistical techniques, collating and cross-referencing large amounts of data mainly manually. Although Costa Rica has a small but thriving computer industry, the research investigation found no evidence that it was being recruited to process LMI: it was described as too involved in processing North American data on contract to have time for internal data analysis.
133. The main uses of labour market data are by the camaras and individual companies. ICE is distinctive, because of its size and prominence in the Costa Rican economy, in its internal use of LMI and its well established LMIS. The camaras use the data as evidence in campaigns in support of members' interests, but they are too small to mount their own training programmes and not closely enough linked with TVET institutions to try to influence their training curricula. The TVET institutions use the data only in the circumstances described above, while the central curriculum development agencies use LMI infrequently at times such as the present moment when the training curriculum and its contribution to economic growth is being reviewed.
134. No formal training is provided for the researchers, analysts and users of labour market information. The standard survey techniques used in both the public and private sectors require reasonably familiar statistical, sampling and data analysis skills. The main plea was for computer hardware and software to speed up these processes, with little consideration of alternatives to the time-consuming manual data analysis being undertaken. INA's senior managers are anxious to learn of new techniques for the collection and analysis of LMI, and INA and CEFOF may well be amenable to supporting experiments which introduce different approaches to labour market research.
135. There is less awareness of the need to train end-users. At COVAO this is being undertaken informally, as local trainers work alongside German consultants in collecting LMI from employers through visits and key informants. While effective in both developing new skills and changing attitudes, this is a slow vehicle for reform: the German consultants at COVAO have already invested five person-years and have transformed one department in one TVET institution. There are clear needs for training targeted at both specialists and end-users - as soon as there is an agreed framework in which the benefits of improved LMI can be used to improve TVET provision across the TVET sectors.
The economy
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP)
Labour market information
Vocational and technical education
Applications of LMI
Introduction
136. Zimbabwe is a landlocked country heavily dependent on its trade and transport links with South Africa. Its economy is, therefore, particularly volatile at present, in response to the major changes taking place in its much larger southern neighbour. This volatility is enhanced by the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) described below. A population census was held in mid-1992, but the results were still being processed by Zimbabwe's Central Statistical Office (CSO) in December 1994. However, the population is estimated to number approximately 10 million with a growth rate of just under 3%. The potential labour force is estimated to comprise just under 5 million people. Most Zimbabweans are of Shona origin and they outnumber the Nbebele, the other significant group by approximately 4:1.
137. The white population of European origin has steadily decreased in numbers since independence in 1979 from around 280,000 to an estimated 80,000 in 1994, although emigration in recent years has declined. This has resulted in something of a brain-drain and there is a shortage of suitably qualified and experienced middle and senior managers across most sectors of the economy. Another salient feature of the country's population trends is that the urban population is expanding rapidly, as increasing numbers of people migrate from the rural areas to the cities and towns. With the high unemployment rates, this is posing growing socio-economic problems.
138. English is spoken in the main towns and is used throughout the educational system from secondary schooling onwards as the language of instruction. There has been substantial investment in education since independence which has had a major impact on literacy rates among the black population, although there is concern that the considerable investment in technical and vocational training has not achieved all that might have been expected.
139. Although the political situation is relatively stable, the Zimbabwean economy is currently experiencing considerable checks to its development. Unemployment rates remain alarmingly high with an estimated 30-40% of the potential labour force unemployed, although no reliable figures are available, as no information is systematically collected regarding employment opportunities or patterns within what is acknowledged to be a significant informal sector. It appears, however, that unemployment is particularly concentrated among the 15-24 age group with an increasingly large proportion of people educated to secondary and tertiary level unable to find employment. With an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 school and tertiary education leavers per year currently entering the labour market, and these numbers expected to be increasing year on year, this gives cause for concern. Annual job openings in the formal sector were estimated at around 70,000 per annum in 1992. With massive redundancies and the downturn in the economy over the past two years, the number of vacancies is likely to have dropped substantially below that figure, and some interviewees suggested that the figure is probably only around 30,000 vacancies per annum in the formal sector at present.
140. The economy is reliant on its agricultural and mining sectors which jointly account for just over 20% of GDP, although a prolonged drought, coupled with deflated commodity prices on international markets over recent years, have taken a heavy toll on the economy while the resulting balance of payments crisis has exerted enormous pressures on the exchange rate. Some 70% of the country's population relies on the agricultural sector for its livelihood, although there has been a marked decline in formal employment in the sector over recent years.
141. Manufacturing contributes 25% of the GDP and is the second largest employer of labour. Zimbabwe's manufacturing industry has also suffered something of a battering in recent years as it is closely interlinked with the country's agricultural and mining industries. The lagged effects of the 1992 drought and the impact of international recession have been compounded by increased competition following the lifting of trade restrictions in 1992 and increasing input costs. Inflation also continues to cause problems with the current annual rate running at around 24%. Also, internal lending rates in the order of 30% are hardly conducive to the expansion of employment opportunities through market-led growth.
142. Despite the high levels of unemployment, there are skills shortages in various of the industrial sectors, with private industry managers complaining about the lack of skilled craftspeople at supervisory level in particular and the lack of sufficient opportunities and/or the appropriate training programmes to adequately upgrade workers' skills. There is also reported to be a shortage of well-qualified managers, experienced in confronting the increasingly competitive trading environment caused by the removal of protected status. However, up-to-date, reliable statistical data identifying the extent of the problem does not appear to be available at the national level.
143. ESAP has been the prime instrument employed by the Government of Zimbabwe to improve the economy. One aim of this programme is to shift production from industries focusing on the internal market to more export-oriented industries. In other words, policies designed to reinforce ESAP's objectives are expected to increase the demand for labour in export sectors and lower the demand for labour in the less efficient domestic sectors. ESAP commenced in 1991, but the anticipated growth of export-related industries has failed to materialise on a substantial scale, and thus employment opportunities have not been created in this sector on the scale envisaged. Meanwhile the removal of protection from the domestic sector industries has resulted in a contraction of this sector - thus contributing to the current high unemployment levels. In its second five-year national development plan (1991-1995), priority is given to the development of science and technology, providing the rationale for the establishment of the new National University of Science and Technology as well as for investment in related programmes in the colleges, polytechnics and universities. Overall the education services sector is projected to grow at an annual rate of 4%. The plan also emphasises that "priority will be placed on projects aimed at advancing technical skills and research capabilities of Zimbabweans".
144. Zimbabwe has received considerable support on matters relating to labour administration over the past decade from the African Regional Labour Administration Centre (ARLAC) - an autonomous intergovernmental organisation supported by the ILO and whose headquarters are just outside Harare. While ARLAC provides training, research, consultancy and issues publications, it does not itself specifically collect data on labour market indicators in the member countries. ARLAC does maintain an information resource centre and collects reports and other documents relating to labour market issues contributed by the member countries. Its main involvement in relation to the gathering of labour market information is in offering consultancy services to requesting agencies (particularly government departments) on how to improve their data collection techniques.
145. In late 1991, the ILO (through ARLAC) conducted a review of the methods employed by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Labour, Manpower, Planning and Social Welfare in collecting and analyzing labour statistics. The resulting report made a number of recommendations designed to improve the collection of more pertinent information and to facilitate the processing of such data (particularly by introducing more microcomputers). In addition, the report recommended that this Ministry urge the Central Statistical Office to tailor information it provides in forms which could potentially be more directly applicable and relevant to policy planning and evaluation. The adoption of the recommendations contained within this report was not evident from information gathered during visits to two of the Departments within this ministry (which incidentally, has been restructured since the issuing of that report).
146. At the national level, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) is responsible for collecting data on all aspects of the Zimbabwean economy. It undertook a labour force survey in March 1994 but the results are not yet available. Analysis of the census data gathered in 1992 was the priority for the CSO in November 1994. Data users which pointed out that outputs are usually in the form of raw data, and they suggested that it would be helpful if CSO reports could include more interpretation and analysis. It was acknowledged at the CSO that there was a need for training those involved in the analysis of data to have more training in data-entry and analysis skills. The CSO does, in fact, have its own Training Unit which is attempting to address such needs.
147. The Department of Employment and Employment Development within the Ministry of Labour, Manpower Planning and Social Welfare also collects a considerable amount of labour market information. Such information includes statistics on the number of unemployed, on manpower supply and demand, on vacancies advertised by private employment agencies, and on the numbers of retrenched workers who are being assisted by the Social Development Fund. Data collection is done via questionnaires, job analysis (from time to time within certain sectors of industry), their placement service statistics and from some secondary sources. Despite collecting a significant amount of labour market information, it appears that much of this is not analyzed due to lack of suitably trained staff and computing facilities. The Department uses information collected to produce regular bulletins and career guides which are sent to schools.
148. The Labour Market Research section within the Ministry of Higher Education also collects labour market data. It collects data on manpower needs at national level by sector and occupation, investigates the employment experiences of recent graduates, and undertakes research into the effects of technological change on the labour market. This unit has only moved comparatively recently to the Ministry of Higher Education from the Ministry of Labour, Manpower Planning and Social Welfare. The ILO has assisted it to develop its techniques for carrying out labour market studies, but it was not possible to ascertain the impact of their involvement.
149. The unit uses a wide range of data collection techniques, but their outcomes do not as yet seem to be widely disseminated. Some of its work seems to be tailored to meet the planning requirements of donor organisations Potential LMI users within the Ministry indicated that the unit's reports, while professionally presented, do not provide sufficient detail to identify skill shortages and develop appropriate training programmes. Interviews with principals of the various educational and training institutions also indicated that, while they receive information about research conducted by the Ministry of Higher Education concerning curriculum needs for particular industries, they do not receive any information regarding general labour market indicators.
150. The National Manpower Council (NAMACO) is an advisory committee to the Ministry of Higher Education and its role is to provide advice to government on manpower training and development needs. It is composed of representatives from the employment and educational sectors, but it was not possible to obtain information on how it collects information on which to base its advice.
151. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe systematically collects monitoring statistics for the financial sector; providing a macro analysis of the financial performance of sectors within the economy on a quarterly basis. They too, however, are reliant on the CSO for key data which, because it is not as up-to-date as would be desirable, presents some problems. Even so, their published quarterly economic and statistical reviews, as well as their monthly bulletins, are widely used by employer and employee organisations as well as by the University of Zimbabwe.
152. Of the employer and employee organisations visited, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) demonstrated the most systematic collection and analysis of labour market information via its small Research and Economics Unit. This unit has set up a network of over 30 union-based researchers within those industries employing union members, and these assist the two full-time economists in collecting information. The unit conducts employer surveys, undertakes newspaper scanning on a wide range of issues including wages, strikes, new investment, industrial relations, retrenchments, etc., analyses available census data, and undertakes time series data analysis on wages by sector. The outcomes of ZCTU's research is mainly used to inform its own training provision, for internal policy-making and for use in collective bargaining situations. While the ZCTU appears willing to make most data it collects publicly available, there seemed to be only limited awareness of its availability in the educational and training institutions visited.
153. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), an association for Zimbabwe industry, employs an economist to collect and analyze labour market data, mainly for the purpose of representing the interests of its members to government on matters such as industrial relations, price control, exporting incentives and import protection. It collects data on wage levels and job vacancy rates from its member organisations but has to rely on government publications for other data, which it complains is insufficient and often dated. The CZI has proposed that a new Productivity Centre be established as a national institution and that its prime function should be to concentrate on researching labour market issues.
154. The Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) provides advice to NAMACO on employment policy issues and also has a role in examining how the Ministry of Higher Education might address training needs' issues for employers. It has a small resource centre containing publications related mainly to labour relations issues but has not conducted any research studies into labour market issues for some time - due mainly to resource limitations. Its main mechanism for obtaining general labour market information is through a variety of standing and ad-hoc committees and via its Executive Committee, which includes employer representative from all sector of industry.
155. DELTA Corporation, one of the 'big five' multi-national employers, through its internal Mandel Training Centre gathers data on labour market issues from the various divisions of the corporation. LMI collected includes information on management succession and job vacancy rates across the divisions. Data collected is mainly used to inform the planning of internal training programmes.
156. Within the seven education and training institutions visited there was only limited evidence of systematic collection of labour market data for the purposes of informing training provision. Most information about labour market needs tends to be obtained through advisory committees, usually established at both the institutional and the faculty/departmental level, and including relevant industrial and government department representatives.
157. One exception is the Engineering Faculty of the University of Zimbabwe which, in addition to its Industry Advisory Committee, has appointed an Industrial Liaison Officer whose role includes collecting information on industry needs as they relate to engineering areas. The faculty also works closely with the Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers, which has undertaken studies on labour needs within the industry. The faculty is planning to carry out its own destinations' surveys of its graduates and to acquire the services of a statistician, with a knowledge of the various categories of engineering, to carry out more in-depth research on related labour market issues.
158. The Department of Student Affairs at the University of Zimbabwe has intermittently collected destinations' data on graduates since 1976, although their current response rate is only about 40%. Copies of their reports are circulated to the faculty heads, the University Registrar and Vice-chancellor and to the Graduate Employment Committee which the Department of Student Affairs convenes. At present the university is producing approximately 2,000 graduates per year and recent surveys indicate that, in general, it is now taking graduates longer to obtain jobs. The main problem areas in placing graduates currently appear to be from the faculties of Engineering, Agriculture and Economics.
159. The Institute of Technology located in Harare has nominated Liaison Officers for each of its three departments, who are responsible for liaising with industry to obtain suitable work placements for the industrial attachment year of the three year courses and to help place graduates in permanent positions. The Institute also has an Advisory Committee chaired by an industrialist which meets once per term and includes all heads of department.
160. The Westgate Vocational Training Centre in Bulawayo obtains information on the results of the trade testing department of the Department of Labour. Apart from this information, which is fundamental to its internal recruitment processes, it does not collect any information about the labour market. The principal suggested that there was a particular need for research into the training needs of workers in the informal sector.
161. Bulawayo Polytechnic uses a number of industry sub-committees to obtain information about the labour market but does not collect any specific data. Nor does it collect data on student destinations.
162. A number of educational and training institutions indicated that they would value better access to labour market information, but would not be able to justify the resources required to collect systematically and analyze such data on a regular basis. It was suggested that a consortium of institutions might be able to collectively support such research, or alternatively for it to be carried out on their behalf by a government department.
163. The government-supported technical and vocational colleges provide places for approximately 15,000 students, representing an expansion of over 400% since 1980. As part of its 1991-1995 National Development Plan, the government has reviewed and standardised the technical and vocational qualification structure in an effort to streamline the multiplicity of courses offered by private providers. The structure comprises five levels: pre-vocational certificate, national foundation certificate, national certificate, national diploma and higher national diploma. Vocational and technical training comes under the remit of the Ministry of Higher Education, which has developed a 'Master Plan for Human Resource Development' as part of its strategy for determining policy priorities.
164. Government-funded technical and vocational institutions include two polytechnics based in Bulawayo and Harare, the Institute of Technology in Harare and two vocational training centres - one in Msasa (Harare) and the other in Bulawayo. The vocational training centres provide short-term courses to upgrade skills of employees already in industry to assist them to obtain skilled worker status. The Post and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) has established two Training Centres in Belvedere (Harare) and near Gweru, which primarily provide training for its own personnel. The Zimbabwe College of Forestry provides certificate and diploma level courses as well as short refresher courses for employees in the industry. The Natural Resources College provides training for wild life and natural landscape conservation officers. There are also three energy technical training centres located in Harare, Hwange and Bulawayo providing technician training for trainees in the power industry both for Zimbabwe as well as for other African countries.
165. Two Youth Training Centres of a proposed eight have been set up by the Ministry of National Affairs, Employment Creation and Co-operatives. These centres are designed to provide basic skills training in a variety of vocational areas and to provide access opportunities to the technical colleges.
166. Six agricultural colleges provide agricultural training for just over 1,000 students each year. Four of these colleges offer courses at certificate level, while the other two provide courses up to diploma level. There are also 14 teacher training colleges producing around 4,000 teachers per year. The government is also establishing a network of public service training institutions at national, provincial and district levels.
167. Zimbabwe has two main universities, the University of Zimbabwe based in Harare and the very recently established National University of Science and Technology located in Bulawayo. The establishment of this new university is a manifestation of government policy emphasis on developing science and technology within the framework of its long term planning for economic and social development. The number of graduates from the University of Zimbabwe has increased four fold since 1980 and the range of programmes expanded to include Veterinary Science, Rural and Urban Planning, Masters in Business Administration, Economics, Bachelors of Technology and of Education.
168. In addition to these public educational institutions, there are many private vocational training institutions. Private colleges provide training for over 12,000 students per year, mainly in the fields of managerial, secretarial and IT training. In 1990 there were 108 registered private colleges. A privately owned Africa University is also being established at Mutare by the United Methodist Church to cater for students from all over Africa. There are also training facilities associated with particular industries either as established training institutions (e.g. Clothing Training College) or training programmes organised by employer and employee organisations
169. The five major-multi-national corporations in Zimbabwe provide in-house training, the most notable of which are Organisational Training and Development (Pvt) Ltd. set up by Anglo-American and the Mandel Training Centre referred to above. Professional associations such as the Institute of Personnel Management Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Institute of Management provide a variety of short and longer term training programmes for members and trainee managers.
170. The lack of appropriately qualified staff is a major ongoing issue for the public vocational and technical training sector, with quite high turnover rates as experienced staff are lured into the private sector by the higher salaries offered there. A number of donor agencies provide staff development programmes to help alleviate the situation and expatriate trainers are recruited to help make up the shortfall. Over the past few years there has been considerable investment via the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF) in upgrading and providing new facilities and equipment for the vocational and technical institutions.
171. Planning for the government funded vocational and technical education and training sectors is strongly centralised and institutions do not appear to have much autonomy over their own range of provision. It is, therefore, not surprising that they do not place much emphasis on market research or the use of labour market information to inform their provision. The Ministry of Higher Education and its agencies have prime responsibility for developing the policies and for directing the funding towards those aspects of vocational and technical education and training which it prioritises. The Curriculum Research and Development Unit (CRADU) of the Ministry co-ordinates the development of all vocational and technical education programmes through two main examination councils. The Labour Market Research section within this Ministry is, therefore, the main source of labour market information informing the Ministry's policies. The Ministry has not released the results of the section's manpower studies so that, as indicated above, they have not yet impacted directly on the work of TVET organisations
172. While government policy is likely to continue to insist upon the central planning of vocational and technical education provision, the government is encouraging institutions to provide more outreach services locally and to specialise in those areas that service the local area - in addition to their national remit. Key personnel in vocational and technical education institutions, as well in employer and employee organisations indicated that they would welcome greater and better access to a wide variety of labour market information. They identified two main problems obstructing their use of information about the labour market:
- labour market data which is available tends to be highly aggregated, which considerably limits its usefulness and potential applications; and- much of the data available from government sources is dated and therefore of limited value to forward planning.
173. Several government ministries collect various types of both qualitative and quantitative information about the labour market - at least as it relates to the formal sectors. Information concerning the informal sector labour market is noticeable by its almost complete absence. There does not appear to be much evidence of coordination or sharing of labour market related information between the various ministries and much of the data collected lies dormant, awaiting some form of analysis. Considerable support and advice on the organisation of data collection and analysis has been provided to these ministries by agencies including ILO and ARLAC. The implementation of their recommendations is heavily dependent on the will, resources and capability of senior officials in the relevant departments.
174. The establishment, as suggested by CZI, of a Productivity Centre may warrant further attention. An independent organisation focusing on research into labour market issues may provide a means of accessing the more specific labour market signals inherent within the particular sub-sections of the broad industry sectors and more effectively collating and analyzing data published by current collectors of this information in both the public and private sectors. In the current climate, it seems doubtful that the vocational and technical education institutions (many of which are quite small) will be sufficiently motivated to do much more themselves about collecting labour market information than they already do via their Industry Liaison Officers (where in place) and their advisory committees.
Background
Current status of human resources development
Key issues
Government policies and plans
Putting an integrated LMIS in place
The first steps
175. The Kingdom of Cambodia comprises a population estimated at about 9 million (although accurate figures are not available), of which around 8 million (89%) live in rural areas. The rate of population growth is approximately 2.5% per year. Due to continued strife and unsettled political conditions which have followed two decades of internal conflict, many socio-economic indicators appear unusually skewed. For example, life expectancy is improving but remains low at 36 years for males and 39 for females. Approximately one-third of the total population is below 15 years of age. Per capita income is less than $ 100 and nearly one-third of all households are headed by women. The present condition of Cambodia's physical and social infrastructure is very poor and every sector, including all government departments, are in the process of restructuring and re-orientating their plans for strategic development.
176. It is important to note that the situation in Cambodia has not always been so chaotic. In the late 1960s the pace of socio-economic development was better than many of Cambodia's regional neighbours. During that period the economy registered an impressive growth rate of 5% per annum and, although the economy was primarily agricultural, there was evidence of a wide range of small to medium sized enterprises which constituted the manufacturing sector, contributing about one-fifth of total GDP. By 1970 there were 18 large scale industrial plants and 3000 smaller units. Altogether these included 500 saw mills, several paper mills, cigarette factories, two cotton mills and a cement factory.
177. The growth in education from 1953 to 1970 was also impressive, reflecting the 12.2% of the national budget allocated to the sector in 1954, rising to over 20% in the period 1967-69. In 1955, vocational training was offered by five specialized schools with an output of less than 400 students. By 1969/70 there were 43 public vocational and technical schools and 64 private centres serving approximately 5,800 students. A series of small, specialised technical training centres had been established providing three years of study in skilled trades. One such institution was the Centre for the Training of Technicians which taught electricians, automobile mechanics and general mechanics. Located at Batambang, this centre enjoyed a well deserved reputation for excellence throughout the SE Asian region.
178. All these achievements were destroyed in the widespread death and destruction which accompanied the chaotic events of the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, present developments in Cambodia provide a window of opportunity for socio-economic progress. Unlike the 1950s, the contemporary process of development is more complex and competitive in nature, and special attention will be needed to ensure the systematic improvement of human resources development for all socio-economic sectors. This is particularly important if equity factors and the quality of life are to remain viable and attainable goals.
179. The erosion of human capital has been the biggest loss during the past two decades with a generation of skilled craftsmen, technicians, technologists, teachers, engineers and managers eradicated from the labour force. Only in the past few years has the manpower situation started to improve but even now there appears to be a net loss of key skills, due in part to outward migration and partly to the reluctance of many newly trained professional and technical workers to participate in the regular economy. If the process of economic and social restoration is to be effective, indigenous human resources must begin to play a more effective role in the development process. In particular, there is a need to improve the composition and efficiency of the existing Cambodian workforce across all the sectors of development, thereby reducing the current over-reliance on foreign workers, who are found in abundance in all economic sectors with the exception of agriculture. Over-reliance on foreign workers should be corrected by improving the facilities, relevance and standards of skills training for indigenous trainees, providing comprehensive career guidance to new entrants to the workforce, and by making employers aware of the potential long term benefits to productivity from engaging a regular Cambodian work force.
180. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) fielded a mission to Cambodia in December 1993 to examine these issues and the mission's report gave first priority to human resources development as the focal point for national reconstruction. In particular the mission highlighted the need for a labour market information system as part of an integrated manpower development plan. A general overhaul of the organisational framework of public administration is being addressed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with technical assistance from France, which together have prepared a civil service reform package. Unfortunately, detailed aspects of strategic implementation, such as the means by which manpower data can be collected, collated and assessed, are not included in this package. The ADB mission noted that the current restoration period is characterised by major distortions in the labour market which, if left uncorrected, will cause many subsequent problems. There is an evident lack of Cambodian workers with the required levels of technical and vocational skills demanded by the current spate of investment projects (particularly those supporting physical infra-structure - roads, bridges, railways, ports and harbours). This local shortfall has resulted in an influx of both casual and contracted workers from Vietnam and Thailand as well as more specialist workers and technicians from Korea, Taiwan and Philippines.
181. There is no official tally kept of the numbers of such migrant workers, and donor agencies have been too grateful to accept imported skills to concern themselves about the long term effects on the Cambodian labour market. Similar skill shortages are also hampering the development and/or expansion of the manufacturing sector. Present facilities for manpower development are under-resourced, and need refurbishment and re-equipping. Policies and programmes by which to address the medium and longer term manpower problems cannot be properly formulated or coordinated because of a serious deficiency in reliable labour market data.
182. For this reason the ADB mission identified "an urgent requirement to institutionalize a system by which to maintain detailed quantitative/qualitative data relating to all aspects of the labour market, including details of the supply of manpower emanating from existing training institutions and the demand for skills at all levels within both the public and private sector" (Asian Development Bank, 1993). The report also focused on the need to provide data on inputs/outputs and curriculum content and standards for all training programmes undertaken by other training facilities identified within specific ministries and departments as a first step in coordinating the HRD system. In addition to the training venues identified in Phnom Penh, it was recognised that there are other institutions in the provinces under the jurisdiction of provincial governors and provincial line ministries, although few such facilities are currently operational in the south, south-east and north-east of the country. These facilities also need to be integrated into the overall development strategy, providing data on their outputs and receiving information on local labour market demand.
183. Key issues related to human resource development can be summarised as follows:
Absence of manpower data, systems and strategies
184. There are no regular systems for collecting data relating to manpower supply or demand. Even when data is assembled by an international agency it has not been current practice to follow standardised procedures or to install on-going data collection facilities. The Government has indicated that the Ministry of Education will be responsible for coordinating all aspects of manpower development, irrespective of which ministry or sector may undertake the training or who may be the end-user of the trainees. In early 1994, however, the Ministry of Education lacked the technical capacity to initiate procedures or strategies by which to accomplish such coordination. At the time of the ADB mission there was no recognition afforded to basic LMI techniques such as the use of key informants, the development of tracer studies or the identification of training needs.
Restructuring training institutions
185. At the macro level, there is a severe mismatch between the policies, programmes and curriculum of existing training institutions and the requirements of the national rehabilitation effort. In the absence of reliable information relating to employment needs, most educational policy (and the TVET curriculum in particular) is at best guided by assumptions rather than hard facts. At the institutional level, each establishment tends to reflect its extreme socialist origins, and institutions in general are very bureaucratic in their organisation and management, lacking autonomy as well as the techniques to make flexible responses to local labour market signals. Restructuring should aim at reforming such training institutions so that they reflect the needs of the new socio-economic context of Cambodia.
Absence of organised in-plant HRD
186. In the absence of information on how, who or why to train at the enterprise level, most employers, whether public or private, find it easier to recruit new specialist staff, often selecting their workers from the local migrant worker community or arranging special contracts with suitably skilled workers from neighbouring countries. There is a Chamber of Commerce in Phnom Penh and a not so well organised Manufacturer's Association, but neither institution has even considered HRD as an area of concern since they are too busy with fundamental economic issues about tariffs and trade.
Lack of horizontal coordination
187. Formal skills training in an institutional context is undertaken by a variety of line/sector ministries or departments. In the absence of any lateral coordination, these institutions have become narrowly specialized with little or no horizontal linkage to each other. They are only responsive to the guidelines and instructions of the parent ministry and this tends to isolate their achievements and narrow their perspective. It also impedes effective curriculum design because the absence of inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary processes fails to deliver the level or variety of skills sought by public or private sector employers operating in rapidly changing markets. In the absence of any defined system of certification or standard setting for HRD, each institution trains to its own internal criterion and arbitrarily set levels of instruction. An example of the resultant mix-match is the Ministry of Education which, through its series of vocational training centres in Phnom Penh and Batambang, is supposed to prepare trainees for employment by the Ministry of Highways. Unfortunately, lack of coordination means that potential employees are not taught the full range of required practical skills in civil engineering or construction trades and the Ministry of Highways claims it has no option but to employ foreign technicians and engineers.
Lack of facilities and support systems
188. Institutions lack minimum standard facilities, especially equipment in laboratories and workshops, and there are insufficient numbers of books, journals or newspapers available in their libraries. Many institutions have no water or electricity while, due to a severe shortage of recurrent funds allocated by central or local government, financial resources are frequently inadequate to pay even the low basic salaries of teaching staff. This results in low morale, with many teachers failing to report for work but looking for alternative employment instead. Improvements in the quality of training through development and modernization of equipment is urgently needed in order to develop both state and privately organized training services, particularly at provincial level. Staff salaries, allowances or incentives need to be made more attractive and better provision made for upgrading the technical and pedagogical skills of both existing teachers and new entrants to the profession.
Limited capability to meet future demand
189. In the absence of a coordinated and properly functioning training system, neither central and provincial government nor individual institutions have the capacity to plan, monitor and evaluate the supply and demand for skilled workers across the whole spectrum of manpower, ranging from simple trades to the use of sophisticated computer software; from entry level skills to technicians, technologist and managers. Likewise, manufacturing and service sector enterprises find the absence of information on institutional output levels and inadequate certification a major reason for distrusting the formal TVET system. Unless this situation is rectified, the country's capability to introduce further reforms in key economic sectors of the economy will be weak, recurrent skill shortages will delay development schedules, and the lack of labour mobility will inhibit the much needed rise in productivity within sectors. The absence of relevant LMI will also delay the process of curriculum reform or will encourage curriculum development to proceed in a vacuum. Meanwhile the cooperation of employers and enterprise management cannot be achieved so long as they remain uninformed of what role they can play in the overall TVET system.
190. The present situation in Cambodia provides tremendous opportunities for change, innovation and reform. Since 1988 Cambodia has modified its economic policy, moving from a socialist, planned economy to a more liberal, market-oriented economic system. Furthermore, the country is opening up to foreign investments and economic relations with its neighbouring countries. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has been given responsibility to provide the overall direction and guidance for skills training and development and according to its new charter must develop plans for "establishing a new operational mechanism for human resource development which would play a dynamic and strategic role in the newly developing market-oriented economy in line with the changing needs of society". However, as of early 1994, detailed implementation plans had yet to materialise. An embryonic curriculum reform unit for TVET was established as part of an ILO project but it lacked any direct linkage with curriculum development in mainstream primary or secondary education, had no regular input from the world of work, and did not fit into an overall system or framework for manpower development. Related ILO efforts aimed at rehabilitating vocational training facilities also suffered from the absence of a coordinated TVET system.
191. A detailed study of Cambodian technical and vocational education and training was undertaken by ADB during the first months of 1994, but the results of this study are not yet available in the public domain. However, it is known that the study confirmed the need to upgrade the standards and efficiency of the workforce across all the sectors of the economy. But the report also noted that responsible government officials, together with the staff of training institutions, find themselves ill-prepared to address the magnitude of the issues confronting them and that this problem is further compounded by a lack of adequate or reliable manpower data by which to prepare overall educational strategy and relevant management plans.
192. The Government has endorsed the requirement to develop a more proactive and coordinated approach to the problems of manpower development in Cambodia. All the available evidence demonstrates that this task is hampered by a serious lack of detailed information about most aspects of labour supply and demand, which hinders any form of effective coordination, encourages duplicative reform measures, and prevents relevant curriculum development. For this reason, a high priority under any future technical assistance should be the setting up of a basic labour market information system which could support the overall HRD system and feed vital data into such critical components as policy formulation and curriculum design. As political and economic conditions stabilise and improve, this basic LMIS could be expanded to incorporate district and provincial level data and modified to accommodate other related issues. The starting point should be the development of an integrated information system which feeds relevant data into a flexible manpower development strategy designed to serve both the supply and demand sides of the labour market. Figure Three illustrates how the basic components of the system should interact.
193. On the supply side, quantitative and qualitative data would be provided through the Ministry of Education concerning outputs from primary and secondary schools, post-secondary vocational training centres and tertiary level institutions, as well as the numbers and attainment levels of the unemployed or those seeking alternative employment through continuing adult education services. On the demand side, employers and the self-employed of the informal sector would be encouraged through appropriate seminars and workshops, as well as by the efforts of industrial extension workers currently employed by the Ministry of Industry, to quantify and qualify their own needs in terms of the numbers, types and levels of skills required. In the absence of fully functional intermediary bodies as Chambers or Associations, extensive use should be made of selected key informants to provide indicators of training need. In the meantime the representative bodies should be encouraged to endorse a higher profile for HRD issues and, in the light of these training and development opportunities, review their roles in relation to LMIS. They should also assess the advantages such cooperation can bring in terms of improved productivity.
194. During the initial phase, data would be fed into the system where it would be analyzed to see what differences exist between the supply of and demand for manpower. Indications of priority needs would be passed on to those responsible for macro-level policies and plans, both within government and at the enterprise level, where (if the results are seen to be relevant and reliable) they would engender further support for the consolidation of the LMIS as a whole. Further down the line, such information would form the basis for the revision and/or development of curriculum to make the formal supply sector more responsive to labour market needs and provide basic data for an elementary career guidance system. It could also be used to design in-plant training to supplement the anticipated skills of new entrants to the workplace and to plan for future off-the-job staff development.
Figure 3: Outline labour market information system in support of Cambodian HRD
195. At present, the activities or functions represented by the shaded portion of Figure Three do not exist as part of an integrated national system. In schools, post secondary training institutions and the larger sized enterprises, most management and staff are unlikely to know why they need LMI. Nor would they know what to do with such information if it were readily available. Given that there is no current LMIS in place in Cambodia, the procedures for collecting, collating, analyzing and disseminating data can be designed to reflect the best practices known to labour market economists at this time. Procedures should be installed for gathering and comparing data relating to labour market signals on:
- population growth rates versus employment growth;- education expansion versus the size of the labour force;
- unemployment rates and associated skill status compared with the changing occupational composition of those in employment;
- secondary school leavers and their experiences; and
- internal/external labour migration.
196. A major part of any technical assistance programme would be staff development programmes designed to develop the skills of professional manpower economists tasked with compiling the data and undertaking its detailed analysis. But equally important is the need to develop the skills and understanding of those responsible for incorporating the findings into educational or enterprise policy, as well as those tasked with revising and updating curriculum or in-plant HRD plans and with the preparation of training methods and materials.
197. In its initial stages, it is likely that the LMIS would feed regular print-based data into both macro and local level policy formulation. The same source material would also be used in the process of curriculum planning, where it would contribute to the formulation of national standards and certification. However, facilities should exist for this print-based data to be complemented as soon as possible with a computerised network with data also available on disk or CD-ROM. Given that Phnom Penh moved quickly into a cellular phone system because traditional telephone lines and switchgear had been destroyed, there is a possibility that an LMIS could soon move to a simplified computerised information system. Cambodia represents a unique opportunity to install a state-of-the-art LMIS without having to dismantle previous systems or re-direct attitudinal approaches towards manpower planning.
198. Although Cambodia represents a special opportunity to develop a modern labour market information system, there are still many obstacles to overcome. The long years of internal war, chaos and confusion have removed many of the officials who might otherwise have formed the cadre of manpower economists and interpreters of labour market information. Continued political turmoil and uncertainties in the economy will also render the design of an effective system more difficult. Added to this is the proliferation of aid agencies currently offering advice and technical assistance to the Government. A condition of any future technical assistance in support of LMIS should be that the Cambodian government has in place an overall HRD framework within which a labour market information system can operate, a framework which is impervious to any duplicative inputs which may be supported by other donor agencies. Provided that such concerns are well recognised and allowed for in the project design, the installation of a functional LMIS would be one of the most worthwhile and productive investments in the future development of Cambodia's infra-structure.
