Skill India’s unmet promises: raising expectations for financial assistance in training for informal sector livelihoods

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent research on vocational training in the global South suggests training may have the effect of unrealistically inflating trainee expectations of remunerative employment and upward social mobility. These studies, however, have focused almost exclusively on training for formal sector employment. The present paper, by contrast, explores how formal vocational training initiatives for informal sector livelihoods affect trainee expectations – and the flow-on effects these altered expectations have for their social and economic lives. It presents the findings of a study of agricultural training initiatives in north India. The study found that training – in conjunction with other local actors and institutions – had the effect of fostering unrealistic expectations amongst trainees, but instead of fostering expectations for paid employment, it fostered the expectation that the training certificate would lead to financial assistance from banks and/or government sources. When these expectations went unmet, they could have adverse consequences for trainees – including financial losses. The effects of distorted expectations differed as a function of gender and caste, with marginalised castes most adversely effected. This situation might be improved through better institutional linkages between the skill development sector, banks, and relevant government departments and through trainers imparting more realistic advice on prospects for financial assistance.