The Global KAB Programme of the International Labour Office

The Global KAB Programme of the International Labour Office 1. Objective Creating Youth Employment through Promotion of Youth Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship and business creation are a growing alternative for young people whose age group often faces a labour market with double digit unemployment rates. Traditional career paths and opportunities are disappearing rapidly. A growing number of young people are taking up challenge of starting their own business and much is being learned about how the odds for success can be improved through various types of assistance and through the creation of a supportive environment. Juan Somavia, Director General of the ILO 1 Achieving decent work for young people is a critical element in poverty eradication and sustainable development. It is a challenge shared around the world. More than one billion young women and men today are of the age between 15 and 24 and nearly 40% of the world population is under 20 years old; out of these 85% are living in developing countries. 100 million young people will increase the workforce every year within the next decade. Today, 88 million young people are officially registered as unemployed. A much higher number are underemployed. Overall, the unemployment rate for young people is two to three times higher than for adults. Youth unemployment reduced to half by 2015 is one of the goals that the head of states of all members of the United Nations adopted in the Millennium Declaration; Entrepreneurship Education as one of the means to reach the Millennium Goal to halve the youth unemployment. The conclusions of the ILO Tripartite Meeting on Youth held in October 2004 point out: entrepreneurship and productive, sustainable self-employment as career options and sources of decent employment for young people. A comprehensive youth employment strategy should also promote an entrepreneurial culture, small and medium-sized enterprises, enabling policies and regulations, and support services. Cooperatives and social enterprises are an important means of promoting job opportunities for young people and should be promoted through comprehensive national and international strategies; employment services, guidance and career advice such as labour market. 2 Studies say that 20% of young women and men could start their own business; already a high number of young people in developing countries are forced to go for self-employment out of necessity as there are no employment opportunities. However, most of these young starters are ill prepared for these activities and most of them fail. To avoid such a wrong start of a professional life the ILO through its Small Enterprise Development programme (SEED) developed strategies and to promote Youth Entrepreneurship in order to create employment opportunities for young women and men for themselves and as job creators for others. 1 Juan Somavia s opening statement at the Second Enterprise Forum held on 5 November 1999 in Geneva. 2 The Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust 1993; Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2004 report 1

The ILO strategy to fight youth unemployment The ILO strategy to fight youth unemployment consists of policy and legal measures that makes general SME promotion policy youth specific. It also consists of direct intervention for the target group as pre-start-up measures to create awareness about entrepreneurship as a career option and as support measure during and after start-up. The ILO s strategy and for Youth employment creation through promotion of youth entrepreneurship Policy and legal measures Pre-start-up measures Target group Supporting measures Conducive legal environment for selfemployment and enterprise creation Legal framework for Youth cooperatives Development of Youth Action Plans including Youth entrepreneurship Apprenticeship schemes Enterprise internships Creation of a positive enterprise culture through - mass media, TV, radio, theatre etc. - road shows Master craftsmen Labour market Young diploma holders Young skilled workers Young workers Unemployed Diploma holders Skilled workers Youth Business Centres and advisory service : - legal, managerial, technical Start-up training like GYB, SYB Enterprise improvement like IYB, EYB Incentives for youth start-ups e.g. - simple register procedure - micro finance - credit facilities - social protection schemes - tax reduction - bankruptcy rules Integration of entrepreneurship education at all education levels KAB programme Entrepreneurship education in TVET, secondary and higher education Start-up for university students Business plan competitions Unskilled workers School drop outs Child labour Education Post graduate students Under graduate students High school students Mentorship Business incubators Promotion of ITC and e-commerce Youth Business Chambers Young Entrepreneurs Association Lively hood skills in primary education School enterprises TVET trainees 2

The ILO is implementing a number of Youth employment that aim on increasing the employability of young women and men, and on self-employment and small business creation. Pre start-up measures Creation of a positive enterprise culture Social and cultural perceptions about business and entrepreneurship influence strongly the choice of individuals to engage themselves on this avenue and make it to a career option. A strong entrepreneurial culture encourages people with talent and ability to take initiative in setting up and expanding enterprises. The Office seeks to support such initiative in a manner consistent with ILO values, including respect for the rights and aspirations of workers. In this manner, the Office is guided by R. 189 which urges members to adopt measures, drawn up in consultation with the most representative organisations of employers and workers, to create and strengthen an enterprise culture which favours initiatives, enterprise creation, productivity, environmental consciousness, quality, good labour and industrial relations, and adequate social practices that are equitable. Entrepreneurship Education Know About Business (KAB) stimulates young people to think about entrepreneurship and the role of the business community in economic and social development. Students also get an opportunity to analyse the changes taking place in their countries and are encouraged to consider self-employment and enterprise creation as a career choice. Supporting measure Youth Business Centres Youth Business Centres provides the whole range of BDS services for young women and men aiming to start a business or needing assistance in improving their business. The SIYB programme The SIYB programme is used since more than 20 years in more than 80 countries for start-up support and business improvement. The SIYB programme is not specially designed for youth, however, an important share of the participants of these training are young women and men under24. Cooperation with Employers organisation and entrepreneurs The business community plays an important role in promoting youth employment. Widespread practices include mentorship, business support for young entrepreneurs, start-up and business plan competitions, participation of entrepreneurs in the KAB programme and others. 3

2. Introduction of entrepreneurship education in national curricula Conditions The responsibility for appropriate education and training to this end is located within the Ministry of Education and sometimes in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour or with Ministries of Trade and Industry or other ministries. In some cases, special inter-ministerial committees have been convened. Concrete actions should focus on programme interventions at secondary and tertiary levels, awareness-raising campaigns or providing technical and financial support and training through specifically-designed government interventions. Awareness rising at primary and secondary school level with the aim of familiarising pupils with the philosophy of entrepreneurship by developing beliefs, behaviours and motivation will have a long-term effect and by having a positive influence on enterprise culture. Such integrated in vocational training curricula and lectured at universities will prepare the ground for a career option as entrepreneur. Programmes that aim at immediate enterprise creation for young people can be run at vocational training schools and universities but it should include also the upper agegroup of youth outside the education system as it will have the greatest effect. The learning effectiveness of such should be measured not in terms of rote knowledge but the acquisition of practical life skills and the ability of students to anticipate and respond to societal changes more easily. Programmes at vocational training schools are supposed to have medium-term effects while at universities the can produce results in term of business creation at medium- and short-term. Within schools and non-formal education, the agents of change are teachers who have to become facilitators of a process. The teachers are key for the successful introduction of entrepreneurship education. Therefore the teacher training is the central part in ILO s programme Know About Business. In entrepreneurship education teachers have to become facilitators of the learning process. Enterprising teaching approaches involve a participatory style and an orientation towards learner action and learning by doing. The teacher has to change his traditional attitude as a person who knows everything into a person who knows the process but not the result. 3. Know About Business (KAB)3 ILO s experience KAB training concept The ILO developed the Know About Business (KAB) programme for vocational education in 1996, which is a set of training materials for entrepreneurship education combined with a specific teaching methodology. However, increased demand for the programme became manifest after the adaptation of the MDG that addresses among others the problem of youth unemployment. Since then the ILO received from its constituents more and more requests for introducing the programme in vocational education. First field tested in Africa and Central Asia the KAB training materials were reviewed and adapted for secondary general education and higher education. The revised edition had been edited in 2005. 3 www.ilo.org/seed Youth Entrepreneurship 4

In 2007 the KAB training materials and methodology is tested for out-of-school youth within the framework of ILO s Eradication of Child Labour programme IPEC. The KAB package seeks to develop entrepreneurial skills and prepare students and trainees not only to establish their own businesses at some point in the future, but also to work productively in SMEs. Know About Business (KAB) stimulates young people to think about entrepreneurship and the role of the business community in economic and social development. Students also get an opportunity to analyse the changes taking place in their countries and are encouraged to consider self-employment and enterprise creation as a career choice. In designing the KAB materials, enterprise has been defined broadly to mean any undertaking or project that involves the organization of the factors of production. Accordingly, an entrepreneur is this context is someone who sets up and runs such a project or undertaking. In particular, the emphasis of the materials is put on selfemployment and small enterprises. The general objective of KAB is to contribute towards the creation of an enterprise culture in a country or society by promoting awareness among young women and men of the opportunities and challenges of entrepreneurship and self-employment, and of their role in shaping their future and that of their countries economic and social development. The immediate objectives of the KAB training concept are to: Create awareness of enterprise and self-employment as a career option for trainees. Develop positive attitudes towards enterprise and self-employment. Provide knowledge and practice of the required attributes and challenges for starting and operating a successful enterprise. Prepare trainees to work productively in SMEs. The KAB training package It comprises the Facilitator Hand book 9 training modules with a suggested duration for teaching of 80 to 120 class room sessions A Business Game and other pedagogical games) the Learner Workbook with worksheets and a glossary Each module represents a key area of entrepreneurship and is divided into several topics. Each module is intended as a stand-alone package, requiring no previous knowledge of the others. The titles of the modules are in the form of questions, the answers to which trainees should know upon completion of the modules. An important aspect of the training package is the teaching methodology of KAB that is student centred and highly interactive. Potential KAB teachers and trainers are receiving special training from the ILO and are coached during the pilot school test by ILO certified KAB facilitators. 5

During the pilot test teachers and trainers are free to adapt the KAB training materials to suit their local conditions. In particular, case studies and examples drawn from local community should be used wherever possible. The involvement of local successful entrepreneurs as guest speakers is part of the KAB programme, as well as visits to enterprises in the community. Implementation scheme of KAB The typical implementation process starts with a request from national ILO constituents, followed by an information workshop held by ILO KAB specialists who develops the project strategy together with the local stake holder. In preparation of the one year school pilot test ILO certified KAB Key Facilitators train the teachers and lecturers from selected schools and higher education institutions. During the pilot test the KAB materials are adapted to the social and economic conditions of the country and the teachers will get periodic coaching by KAB Key Facilitators. At the end of the pilot test the Government can take an informed decision about the broad introduction of KAB in the national curriculum. The second phase of the implementation starts with the Government decision to introduce entrepreneurship training as a part of the national curricula. The duration of this phase depends entirely on the Government s strategy how fast the subject should be introduced, at which education level and how many education institutions will de covered. ILO s role in this phase consist of assisting the Government in designing the implementation strategy, to make a cost estimation for the general introduction and in case that the Government has not enough budgetary funds in the national budget to identify donors that are willing to support the introduction of entrepreneurship education. The final stage of the programme implementation consists of introducing the KAB methodology in the national teacher training curricula. The KAB training programme looks back on successful experience in the field where it has been piloted in more then 20 countries followed by the integration in the national curriculum at different education levels in actually 14 countries. After the pilot test the following countries have introduced or are in the process of introducing the KAB in the national curriculum either in vocational training and/or secondary education and/or higher education INTRODUCED IN PROCESS ONGOING PILOTS PILOTS UNDER PREPARATION REQUESTS Kenya, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, PDR Lao, Timor Leste, Bolivia, Peru, Sri Lanka Indonesia, Philippines, China, Syria, Papua New Guinea Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Tanzania, Botswana, Senegal, Oman, Azerbaijan,Mauritius, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Togo, Burundi, Rwanda, Gabon, RD Congo, Ghana, 6

Currently the KAB programme disposes of 5 international KAB Key Facilitators and 60 potential National or Regional Key Facilitators. These trainers have trained approximately 1.100 teachers from vocational training institutions, secondary schools and universities. With these teachers, KAB has been pilot tested in 20 countries during one school year with in average of 40 students per teacher trained with KAB. Through the pilot testing the total number of students having learned about business through KAB is estimated to 40.000. Due to these country activities the KAB materials have been translated and adapted from the generic English version into 14 languages (French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Khmer, Vietnamese, Tamil, Singhalese, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Tajik and Uzbek). The promotion and pilot testing of KAB at the national level has been made possible through projects, either as Youth Employment Projects with KAB as a project component or as sole KAB project funded by donors or ILO funding. Training material development and training of regional KAB key facilitators were coordinated and funded through ILO s Small Enterprise Development Unit SEED and also through the ILO s International Training Centre (ITCILO) in Turin. The broad introduction of KAB in the national curriculum was funded in most of the cases by the national education budget with ILO support in developing national teacher training capacities. In those countries that have or will integrate entrepreneurship education in their national curriculum all enrolled pupils, trainees and students will learn about entrepreneurship that means millions and millions of young women and men. Klaus Haftendorn Global KAB Programme Coordinator 30.10 2007 7