Integrating Entrepreneurship Into Technical Vocational Education And Training: Creating Rural Skills Supermarkets For Self -Empowerment

Abstract

While the government of Zimbabwe established technical and vocational centers in each of the country`s ten provinces, the rural population has to a large extent remained side-lined in terms of skills acquisition. The study sought to investigate the impact of The Integrated Skills Outreach Programme (ISOP) on the socio-economic empowerment of the rural communities in Manicaland province Zimbabwe. The multi-case study method under the qualitative research methodology was adopted. This methodological approach was preferred because it allowed for the generation of rich and thick data through eliciting participants’ perceptions of their lived experiences of the outreach programme. The study was underpinned by social constructivism and involved two community leaders, fifteen ISOP participants, five lecturers, two Industrial Training and Trade Testing Department (ITTD) officials and two sponsors. Critical cases sampling, which is a type of purposive sampling under the non-probability sampling framework was used to identify participants and was found ideal on the basis that it prevented inappropriate elements from being part of the study, hence ensured the generation of relevant and apt data pertaining to the research problem.