Non-formal adult education for selfemployment: the importance of posttrainingsupport for micro-enterprise development in South Africa

Abstract

Non-formal adult education for selfemployment: the importance of posttrainingsupport for micro-enterprise development in South Africa Celestin Mayombe (Received 30 March 2016; accepted 22 February 2017) Abstract The concern that informed this article is that adults who face long-term unemployment due to a lack of marketable skills remain unemployed after completing adult non-formal education (NFE) programmes in South Africa. The purpose of the article is to investigate major challenges trainees of NFE programmes for self-employment encounter in starting and growing small businesses, and the types of post-training support they receive from public and private institutions in KwaZulu- Natal (KZN) province. While the structure of the South African economy is at fault, the findings reveal that weak institutional linkages result in trainees not having access to essential post-training support, community resources, public goods and services. The author concludes that centre managers did not take into consideration the importance of institutional linkages and the socioeconomic background of the trainees who have faced long-term unemployment and poverty leading to social isolation, which then further reduce the likelihood of self-employment.