The Informal Sector and Human Capacity Building for Sustainable Development

Abstract

The paper argues that with the increasing urbanization and unemployment in Maseru, the proliferation of the informal sector is visible acrossthe city, but it only serves to mitigate the severity of poverty in poor households by enabling them to meet survival needs ratherthan inducing savings that canbe translated into human capacity building through education and skills. It is through savings that people can be able to finance their development in terms of acquiring knowledge and skills critical to their wherewithal in society. The paper analyses the intricate nexus between the informal sector and human capacity building and sustainable development in Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho. The paper addresses this missing link in the literature, at the same time showing how important the informal sector can be in improving people�s lives through capacity building and eventually lead to sustainable development. Communities of Thibella, Motimposo and Sekamaneng formed the sample in this study where 120 poor households which participated in the informal sector were interviewed.The paper therefore exposes the intrinsic problems of the informal sector in Maseru for failing to make realizable changes in the lives of the urban poor population which often participates in the sector