INFORMAL SECTOR EMPLOYMENT AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF ELDORET MUNICIPALITY IN KENYA
ABSTRACT As formal jobs get more and more scarce while the number of potential workers continues to increase, the informal sector is increasingly becoming an important employer throughout Kenya. The crucial role the informal sector plays in the Kenyan economy was given formal recognition by the Government of Kenya in 1988 with the creation of the Ministry of Technical Training and Applied Technology to regulate this sector. However, despite this official recognition, very little has been done by the government to improve the welfare and working conditions of those involved in this sector. This paper offers a case study of the informal sector in Eldoret Manucipality in Kenya. In Eldoret this sector is vibrant and can be found in the busiest places of the Central Business District as well as in high density residential areas. The results of this study indicate a gendered division of the sector into two parts: namely, the production sector dominated by men and the service sector dominated by women. The centr...
A Historical Perspective, Skill Development in the Informal Sector in Kenya: Policy Gaps, Challenges and the Way Forward
The Government of Kenya recognizes the importance of education and training in national development. It is for this reason that since the country becoming politically independent in 1963, the Government has developed relevant legal and policy frameworks for the provision of quality and equitable education. Despite all these efforts, large skill gaps exist which is an impediment to economic growth. The policy formulation to a large extent has not addressed the skills development problem in relation to self-employment.Increasing enrolment at all levels has been the hallmark of performance of the education system, under the international call to implement Education for All (EFA). The education system has increasingly turned out a large number of school leavers at all levels. Many of these graduates lack skills to obtain gainful employment in the formal sector. Skills shortages affect the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are driving the creation of jobs. This issue has not been addressed adequately by national polices on education and training.This paper explores skills shortage and skills gap in the informal sector as separate and distinct phenomena, discusses the weaknesses of the Kenya Government policies on skills development. It also explores theories that support skills development and transfer and makes relevant recommendations towards the improvement of skills development in Kenya. Keywords : Skills gap, Skills gap analysis, Informal sector, Skills training, Skills transfer
The Urbanization of the Third World
Introduction. Part 1 The urban transition in the Third World: Urban growth in developing countries. Part 2 The neglect and exploitation of the rural masses: Let us pay heed to the peasant why poor people stay poor. Part 3 The urban labour market and migration: The migrant response in Central Peru overurbanization reconsidered migration and urban surplus labour rural contract labour in urban Chinese industry. Part 4 Housing for the urban masses: Land for the rich, land for the poor approaches to low-income housing in the Third World. Part 5 Making a living in the city: Working in the streets how women and men get by the changing fortunes of a Jakarta street-trader. Part 6 The social organization of urban dwellers: Becoming an urbanite the social and economic organization of a Mexican shanty town social control and rehabilitation in urban China. Part 7 Patterns of political integration and conflict: The politics of conformity in Mexico City political bosses and strong-arm retainers in the Sunni Muslim quarters of Beirut the politics of ethnicity in contemporary African towns squatters and the state in Latin America urban labour movements under authoritarian capitalism in the southern cone and Brazil, 1964-1983 the urban character of contemporary revolutions.