4.2. Basic management skills
In order to succeed in self-employment once a training course
has been completed, a high degree of self-reliance is called for as monitoring
and follow-up are likely to be scant, if they exist at all. A number of
vocational courses included basic management skills, covering issues such as
workplans, costing, invoicing and basic book-keeping. If anything, the
experience in Mozambique seems to have been that not enough time was spent on
these issues, especially where self-employment was the objective. In the case of
agriculture, for example, training in how to manage projects and production was
felt to be important, but was rarely considered important enough to include in
training courses. At least one commentator thought that this may change as a
result of experiences.2
2 Prof. SimSevene, President,
Associa dos Jovens Agricultores de Mobique, in discussion with the author,
18 Dec. 1996.
The level of management training inevitably depends on the
trainees, but in Mozambique it was found that even basic skills, such as how to
write a cheque, and knowledge of basic terms, such as the difference between
income and profit, were badly needed by the
trainees.
