Priorities

In response to the changes affecting industry the world over, UNIDO has defined new priorities. Out of these, four areas constitute the general framework for UNIDO activities for the integration of women in industrial development. These are presented on the following pages alongside a selection of UNIDO projects.

Human Resource Development and Capacity Building for Women

Industrialization requires well-trained people with specialized expertise. There is also a need for people who combine technical and business know-how with interpersonal skills, such as fostering motivation, communication, creativity, and teamwork. Developing countries and economies in transition suffer from a dearth of industrial personnel trained to deal with the demands of industrial restructuring processes and new technologies. Developing women's skills and facilitating their access to and mobility within the systems of education, training, technology and occupations, is essential to promoting their contribution to industry.

Comprehensive Services

UNIDO offers a unique package of services centered around a core of adaptable, demand-oriented training programmes. UNIDO's approach is innovative not only in its holistic method of training, but also in the fact that it is comprehensive, providing the kind of advice and assistance policy makers and institutions need to remove obstacles to women's equitable participation.

A Holistic Approach to Training

Developmental training programmes are usually planned around imparting technical skills without regard to the specific context and to immediate and future market needs. The consequence is that people acquire skills and might then have no opportunity to apply them. Another typical shortcoming is that training is usually provided either in technical or management fields. For small-scale enterprises in particular, entrepreneurial, management and technical skills need to be integrated.

UNIDO's strategy is to create a generic training manual to cover all areas and aspects of the production processes in each manufacturing subsector, and then, according to a needs assessment, to adapt the manual to the particular situation.

The training programmes are also aimed at and provide follow-up with regard to future market possibilities and where appropriate, connections to funding and business partners.

Supplying institutions through the training of trainers with local staff able to conduct training programmes for women without external support, is one the major legacies of UNIDO projects.

In addition: Multi-skill training services combining technical, financial, marketing, managerial and interpersonal skills are being developed in higher management and technology fields, in order to assist women to keep pace with changes in the industrialization process.

Training programmes to enhance the nature and extent of women's participation at decision-making and middle management levels in development finance institutions and industrial companies, are being developed in such areas as industrial project preparation, evaluation, financing, and investment promotion.

Training packages/modules are offered to support women entrepreneurship programmes and SMEs run by women in various subsectors such as food processing and textiles.

Research and analyses are being conducted in specific key subsectors to assess and monitor the impact of changes in skill requirements resulting from technological innovations and developments, on women's employment potential over time, as well as on currently employed and unemployed women.