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BULLETIN 138
Training, Democracy and Citizenship

January-March 1997

 

(Full text available only in Spanish)

 

THIS ISSUE

Democracy and citizenship are topics that at first sight could seem foreign to the traditional incumbencies of training entities; they could be considered more related to politics than the diverse modalities occupied by training/education/labor/jobs. However, if one observes the sharp changes that are coming about in this «international era», the answer, almost instinctively, seems to dwell in these two terms. And, as must be recognized, the training entities have begun to pose the design of their politics and strategies more and more by attributing special relevance to these matters.

Within the orientating mission that the International Labour Organization has taken up, with regards to reconciling the processes of internationalization of the economy with social progress, it has correspondingly had to clarify, with renewed energy, the essential principles that brought about its origin: social justice, fundamental human rights and, more specifically, the widening of vindications contained in its normative code. Furthermore, the priorities that the ILO set for our region are eloquent: the deepening of democracy, poverty relief and the protection of workers, confirm that, with political democracy already consolidated, such guiding objectives now aim at their social and economic projections.

With regards to the concept of citizenship, from regional vocational training, it is understood that the recuperation and valorization of professional competencies doesn't only involve the operative dimension of occupation performance. The «training for citizenship» urges that, beyond «training for a job position» the worker should be prepared for a more effective intervention in modern life. As it has well been said: «the market demands competitive enterprises, and society demands competent citizens». The first four articles of this issue of Boletín Cinterfor/OIT will undoubtedly contribute to the affirmation of this tendency to impulse a greater integration of the educational system in the financing of democracy. 

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil, opens up this special issue with his academic dissertation pronounced in Bologna in the opportunity when he was granted title as  Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of that Italian city. In it, he introduces some reflections that point out the principles to take into account when training citizens for participation: «What life gives [to democratic institutions] are everyday practices, the modes of participation and responsibility of citizens in the decisions that affect them; in summary, ways of living together in society».(...) «The strength of contemporary democracies is identified, in a growing way, with multiform processes of articulation of demands for transformation that no longer are orientated toward unifying objectives and now reflect the diversity and complexity of the modern world.»

Carlos Fuentes, upon presenting in Mexico his book For an Inclusive Progress, with  outstanding courage added to his recognized intellectual solvency, responds to his own questions about the future of education in his country: Can education afford to be absent from the national process that combines demands for change and tradition? Can Mexico afford to be absent from the worldwide educational process, basis for a new progress that is «rapid, global and merciless with those that get stuck behind»? Can the country integrate itself to the global revolution of production based on education without having resolved its own educational problems?

Jorge Arrate Mac Niven, Minister of Labor and Social Prevision, of Chile, refers to the way of advancing toward a quality vocational training in the Mercosur, a transcendent topic related with concepts of importance for our societies: quality of jobs; employability of the work force; productivity of workers and enterprises; competitiveness of enterprises and the country; possibility of redistributing income; and the system dynamics.

Michel Hervé, mayor of a small French city, considers that the reflection of a local governor, concerning education and training, can't be done without a previous consideration about the current meaning of democratic practice. His priority and urgency dwells in the task of  educating residents for them to become members of the city of their time: «citizens of today».

Juan Carlos Hiba, on one hand, and Jaime Mezzera / Robert Christen, on the other, undertake in their notes aspects of small enterprise. The first of them develops the strategies and results of the region's countries' application of the ILO methodology directed at improving their conditions and working environment. The second article, in addition to presenting a panorama of the contribution of such enterprises to development and the region's working conditions, goes over a proposal of the ILO for the creation of a national support system for those endeavors, informing additionally about distinct aspects of micro-financing.

Eugenio Díaz Corvalán, Executive Director of the National Center of Productivity and Quality, of Chile, focuses on current tendencies, in his country, with reference to possibilities that productivity and quality offer to finance the cooperation between entrepreneurs and workers, which implies resigning both the syndicates' project and the styles of managing an enterprise.

To finish off, this issue provides a document of the ILO about strategy for enterprises; a note about CIET/SENAI; the tripartite document where they establish the bases for an agreement about vocational training in Spain; a protocol of intentions for productive restructuring and professional recalification in Brazil.

 

 

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