Training and skill formation for decent work in the informal sector: case studies from South India

Based on case studies in India, this paper seeks to understand the ways in which skills are developed in the informal sector and how the workers are trained, if at all. Attempts are made to map interesting cases of skill transfer, which combine social and technical learning processes and to draw relevant lessons for formulating and designing policies and programmes.

The study argues for renewed attention to be given to the informal sector, emphasising that the very notion of skill-building, capacity enhancing and training, may need to be reformulated. In the Indian case, some of the contemporary notions of skill-building and training seem to be incompatible with the notion of decent work, but at the same time, decent work, as a principle, can only be attained by including in it the notion of skill/capacity enhancement. Evidently, a lot will depend on how the informal sector as well as training/skill-building are conceptualised.