Exploring empowerment of rural women entrepreneurs through technical and vocational education and training (TVET): an inclusive development perspective

Abstract

Purpose In light of the vulnerability of women, this paper aims to establish how technical and vocational education and training (TVET) education empowers rural entrepreneurial women through the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT). Worryingly, access to TVET remains elusive to several entrepreneurial women living in poor rural communities in Zimbabwe. Scarcity of literature that approaches TVET from an inclusive development perspective motivated the current study. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted an interpretative paradigm that advocates for a qualitative approach. In accordance with an exploratory research design, data collected from 17 rural entrepreneurial women by means of interviews and observations were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings The results revealed that digital TVET can help entrepreneurial rural women in terms of economic empowerment (SDG 8), poverty elimination (SDG 1), skills development (SDG 4), innovation (SDG 9), rural development (SDG 8) and stimulating entrepreneurial culture (SDG 8). Research limitations/implications This study concentrated on Zimbabwean rural women entrepreneurs only. This limits the generalization of the findings to urban women entrepreneurs. Moreover, it did not capture gender-related comparative aspects of entrepreneurship. In this regard, future comparative entrepreneurship studies anchored on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are welcomed. Practical implications To foster entrepreneurship education for sustainable development, this study recommends policymakers establish community-based innovation hubs, adopt digital TVET centers in rural areas and execute rural industrial parks. This study is of strategic importance to educational practitioners when it comes to aligning entrepreneurship curricula to SDGs. Originality/value This exploratory research extended and enriched context-specific entrepreneurship scholarship through the incorporation of entrepreneurship education into sustainable development from a multi-disciplinary andragogy standpoint. This adds value to a corpus of literature on critical competencies in sustainability discourse within the setting of TVET.