Learning for Livelihoods in the Global South: Theoretical and Methodological Lenses on Skills and the Informal Sector

This concluding chapter explores three areas of continuing debate within the field of skilling for the informal sector. It considers the diverse ways of conceptualising informality and its relationships to learning, work and livelihoods. It draws attention to unresolved tensions that remain. It high…

Available funding for skills and lifelong learning (LLL) often does not reach informal economy workers, and improving the quality and relevance of skills acquired by such workers requires major financing reforms. This chapter will explore the various mechanisms used to finance skills in the informal…

With Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) positioned as a key mechanism in transforming the employment landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa, ‘Sustainability’, and ‘Sustainable Livelihoods’ have been placed both at the heart of the ‘Decent Work’ agenda. Alongside these targets, many coun…

In this chapter, I argue that informal sector youth livelihoods can be understood as generated in a spatialised “sub-field” of the Global South, on the peripheries of urban areas where the state has limited control. This sub-field operates mainly in slums, favelas, or townships, as well as on the st…

In informal apprenticeship, learning occurs through practice with members of a community of practice. While this hands-on learning equips informal apprentices with the practical skills needed for work, it falls short of providing them with all the knowledge that they need to solve complex problems o…

Education and training have largely failed to respond to the needs of those who generate livelihoods outside of the formal economy. Neglect of the informal sector is partly due to it eluding ‘legibility’: states generally only ‘see’ what can be measured and perceived to contribute to officially valu…

Traditionally, skills for the informal sector have been acquired informally, in family and community settings. Within these settings, the acquisition and utilisation of skills entails (a) active, improvisational engagement with materials and local ecologies; (b) induction into ethical or normative f…

We are concerned in this chapter with better understanding the ways in which skills development can support livelihoods gained in the informal sector. We apply Carswell and De Neve’s (2018) broadened concept of labour agency in the informal sector and draw on Katz’s “3 Rs” of resistance, reworking, …