A case study of the GARROBO Project

Abstract

This study explores the changes in the social of the GARROBO project trainees after they join the career-training program. Bebbingtons' (1999) theory of capitals explained how possessing different types of capital or assets serve as a vehicle to achieve a sustainable livelihood. He emphasized social capital, or the ability to network with others to gain access to new opportunities may be the most important type of capital (Bebbington, 1999, pp. 2021-2023). Chambers explains that the poor people in developing counties need an outsider to kick start change, "The poorer rural people, it is said, must help themselves; but this, trapped as they are, they often cannot do. The initiative, in enabling them better to help themselves, lies with outsiders who have more power and resources and most of whom are neither rural nor poor" (Chambers, 1983, pp. 2-3). The purpose was to determine if the GARROBO Project model aided trainees' to gaining access to the necessary resources and knowledge needed to achieve a sustainable livelihood. The model of the GARROBO project is unique. There is a reciprocal relationship between TexOps, an apparel factory, and the GARROBO Project, a career and life skills training program. In exchange for an elevated social image TexOps offered the resources, connections, and the conditions needed for the GARROBO Project to operate. Purposeful sampling was used to select participants for the qualitative case study. Data was collected through interviews, photo elicitation interviews and, participant observation. Implications of this study are for coordinators of career training programs and other facilitators, factory owners or other companies interested in development of similar programs, and academia. Limitations of the study were study length, language barriers and reliability of participants.