TYLA: Vocational training for ethnic minority youth in Hoa Binh province

Author name: Bui Thanh Minh

Thesis title:Vocational training for ethnic minority youth in Hoa Binh province

Dissertation field: Social work

Major: Social Work Code: Pilot Training

Name of the postgraduate training unit: Faculty of Sociology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

1. Purpose and research objects of the thesis

Research purpose: The study aims to show the current status of vocational training policy implementation for ethnic minority youth in Hoa Binh province. In comparison with the needs of ethnic minority youth, policies and implementation conditions will be analyzed to find out the causes of the ineffectiveness of vocational training activities for ethnic minority youth at present. From these limitations, the thesis recommends a model for social work participation as an important tool to improve the effectiveness of vocational training for ethnic minority youth.

Research object: Vocational training for ethnic minority youth in Hoa Binh province

2. Research methods used

The thesis used: Observation method, Document analysis method, In-depth interview method, Questionnaire survey method. Qualitative data was analyzed using Excel software, information from the questionnaire was processed using SPSS software.

3. Main results and conclusions

3.1. Main results

- Overview of previous research works to obtain a relatively complete and valuable source of theoretical and practical reference information for research on youth, ethnic minority youth, vocational training policies, vocational training for ethnic minority youth and social work in supporting ethnic minority youth in vocational training and job search.

- Present theoretical basis: system of concepts, theories, research methods and overview of research area.

- Analyze the current situation of vocational training needs of ethnic minority youth, including assessment of usefulness, occupations, qualifications, training facilities and financial and social support in accessing policies and vocational training.

- Analyze policies and conditions for implementing vocational training policies for ethnic minority youth in Hoa Binh. From actual data, the study points out limitations and causes of limitations under the lens of stakeholder theory and ROCCIPI policy analysis framework.

- Under the top-down policy implementation framework, the thesis points out the role of social work as a policy advocacy tool and information provider to improve the effectiveness of vocational training for ethnic minority youth. From the reality of social work development in Vietnam, the thesis proposes a social work model in supporting ethnic minority youth in vocational training and job search.

3.2. Conclusion

Social demand is high, the state spends a lot of resources on mechanisms and finance, but vocational training for ethnic minorities is not effectively implemented. The ineffectiveness is shown by the fact that very few ethnic minorities participate in vocational training. They still choose ordinary jobs to earn money right away. The ethnic minorities who learn vocational training mainly come from free vocational training, financial support or other reasons, not because of usefulness or future career orientation. Vocational training for rural workers focuses on simple jobs, only attracting housewives in their free time. Vocational training at vocational training facilities only attracts learners because of support policies. The fact that colleges cannot enroll students due to lack of financial support is a clear proof. This will cause an imbalance in the labor force, reduce the effectiveness of vocational training and deprive ethnic minorities of important resources in creating sustainable livelihoods, aiming at ensuring social security and development of ethnic minority areas.

The causes of the limitations come from both the policy content and the implementation process of vocational training policies for ethnic minorities. It is easy to see that the policy has not separated the vocational training component for ethnic minorities but has grouped it into many different policy contents. The policy has not placed ethnic minorities at the center of the implementation of vocational training support activities. This has led to the ineffectiveness and inappropriateness of the vocational training activities being implemented.

Unreasonable decentralization leads to lack of coordination among stakeholders. The consequences of information asymmetry have created adverse choices and unhealthy competition among training institutions and state management agencies in the field of vocational training. Competition among training schools in terms of the number of students leads to the neglect of training quality. Institutional fragmentation among state management agencies leads to reverse processes in implementing needs assessment, budget allocation, and training implementation. Therefore, vocational training activities, especially those for rural workers under Project 1956, are mainly aimed at disbursing budget resources, not at training efficiency and human resource quality.

Through the reality of Hoa Binh province, it is clear that there is a lack of an independent, objective policy advocacy institution and institution in providing career and labor market information, contributing to putting policies into practice, empowering and supporting ethnic minorities in the process of career guidance, vocational training, job search and entrepreneurship. The actual need suggests the participation of social workers in this field because ethnic minorities are a special group that social workers need to target, ensuring the integrated and sustainable development of ethnic minorities in particular and ethnic minority areas in general.

  
                                                             SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

The author's name:Bui Thanh Minh

Thesis title:Vocational training ethnic for minority youth in Hoa Binh province

Scientific branch of the thesis: Social Work

Major: Social work Code: Pilot Training

The name of postgraduate training institution: Faculty of Sociology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi National University

1. Thesis purpose and objectives

Thesis purpose:

Thesis objective: Consumption behavior in the garment sector (of urban youth)

2. Research methods

Research methods were used: Document analysis method, In-depth interview method, Focused group interview, Questionnaire method and Information processing method by, Excel, SPSS software.

3. Major results and conclusions

3.1. The major results

By utilizing prior literature review, this paper can obtain valuable ang thorough theoretical and practical references for the study on youth, ethnic minority youth, vocational training policies, vocational training for ethnic minority youth and the role of social work in vocational trainings and employment seeking assistance for young ethnic minority.

The presentation of theoretical framework: system of concepts, theories, research methods and study area generalization.

- Analysis of the situation of the vocational training needs of young people of ethnic areas, including utility assessment, training programs, qualifications, training facilities, financial and social support in the access to vocational training policies.

- Analysis of vocational training policies and the implementation conditions of vocational training policies for ethnic minority youth in Hoa Binh Province. From empirical data, this paper points out the limitations and its causes with the assistance of stakeholder theory and ROCCIPI policy analysis framework.

- By utilizing the top-down policy implementation analysis framework, the paper specifies the role of social work as a tool for policy advocacy and publicize important information in order to improve the effectiveness of vocational training for ethnic minority youth. From the actual development of social work in Vietnam, the paper also proposes a model of social work in facilitating ethnic minority youth (EMY) in vocational training and employment seeking.

3.2.Conclusions

With a high social demand, the government has allocated a considerable amount of resources on the mechanism and finances for vocational training for EMY, however, the implementation element of those policies have not been quite effective. With very few EMY participating in vocational trainings in the past, the effectiveness of those programs are inadequate. EM still prefer common jobs that have an instant salary instead of participating in the vocational training programs. On the other hand, the one that chose to participate in the programs, tends to join the program due to its cost support, free apprenticeship or other reasons. They did not participate in the vocational training programs because of its utility, or future career orientation. Vocational trainings for new rural area workers have concentrated on simple occupations, that only attracted with housewives in their spare times. Moreover, vocational training at the facility is only appealing to those needs that supporting policies. One of the prime example of that argument is that the College system cannot find enough students due to the lack of financial support. This will weaken the balance of the labor force, reduce the effectiveness of vocational training and waste the valuable resources for EM in creating sustainable livelihoods, and, in turn, might have a negative effect on the social security and ethnic minority areas development.

The cause of the limitations comes from both the content of the policies and also the implementation element of vocational training policies for EMY participants. It is obvious that the vocational training policies does not have a specific component for EMY vocational training but it exists in many different policies. The vocational training policy has not concentrated on EMY people in the implementation process. Therefore, the ineffectiveness and inappropriateness of vocational training activities are being implemented.

Unreasonable decentralization leads to a lack of coordination among stakeholders. The consequences of information asymmetry have created adverse choices, unfair competition between vocational training facilities, and/or between government agencies related to vocational training. The competition between training facilities causes a neglected quality of training. Institutional fragmentation among government agencies caused inverse processes in the implementation of demand assessment, budget allocations and training programs. As a result, vocational training activities, especially for EMY in accordance with Project 1956, mainly focus on budget disbursement and not the effectiveness of the training programs or the quality of human resources.

With the actual situation of Hoa Binh Province, clearly, there is a lack of an independent and objective advocacy mechanism in providing career and labor market information that can contribute to the practicality of the vocational training policy. Furthermore, it might also increase the rights and support for EMY in the process of vocational training, employment seeking and start-up. The actual social demands require the participation in social assistance in vocational training due to the distinctive issues with EMY. They can ensure the inclusive and sustainable development of ethnic minority areas, and EMY particularly.