Education and Training in the Context of Poverty Reduction

Abstract

Work in the field of international development is increasingly geared towards reducing poverty, one of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations dating from the year 2000. In existence since 1999, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) initiative is integrated into this framework. The governments of the poorer developing countries are required to draft PRSPs. This is to be done in consultation with civil society. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank play an advisory role in this context. The papers are to present a coherent national analysis of poverty that takes macro-economic issues into account (Kublbock, 2001). Poverty reduction is thus one of the main objectives of all IMF and World Bank programmes. The World Bank and all other influential international players have incorporated the Education for All campaign into the PRSP initiative. This plan is thus part of poverty reduction strategies. The inclusion of the goals of the Dakar Conference (2000) in the poverty reduction strategies of international organizations opens up new prospects that reach beyond education alone. It is becoming increasingly clear that, while isolated solutions for promoting education may make sense as pilot projects, co-operation as a whole must be placed in an overall framework (Bergmann, 2002). This is true today more than ever before. As part of a refocusing of its sectoral support, the European Commission has taken the important step of placing increased emphasis on the connection between basic education and vocational training. Education and training are given a key role in the fight against poverty (European Commission, 2002a). Emphasis is placed on education for girls and education in rural areas, since the situation there is particularly critical. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) must offer young people occupational alternatives in the formal and informal sectors (European Commission, 2002b). The 2015 Action Programme of the German Government (Germany. Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development—FMECD, 2001) also features a coherent approach to reducing poverty. Poverty reduction has now become the overriding aim of German development co-operation efforts. Activities for