PolicyBrief:
Unleashing Ethiopia's
Garment Sector Potential:
Enhancing Work-RelatedSoft Skills with GameBased Training
Number 01/23
By Emmanuel Estrellado, Pimmada Charoensilp, Shoko Yamada

July 2023

http://skills-for-development.com/

Key Messages• The SKY Project's game-based training using board games grounded on behavioral modeling theory effectively
develops participants' work-related skills. Soft skills training simulates work scenarios and encourages participants tocreate unique solutions.

• The training's effectiveness is supported by the proven success of behavioral modeling theory in soft skills
development, forming the basis for the SKY project's game-based approach.

• Based on the workplace analysis and inputs from industrial production experts, our boardgames are designed toimprove soft skills in the following five domains: occupational health and safety (OHS); tidiness and cleanliness;
workplace efficiency; product quality control; and teamwork.

• The SKY project game-based training demonstrated effectiveness in all five work-related soft skill domains.
• The training program is practical and cost-efficient, requiring only a day to complete, making it suitable for workers indeveloping countries with limited access to technology.

• Women, newly hired and less experienced workers benefit the most from game-based training interventions,highlighting the importance of targeting these groups to enhance their skills and contribute to their career growth anddevelopment.

Background and Context
In recent years, Ethiopia's garment and textile industry
enjoyed rapid growth at both national and global levels. However,
the workforce lacks the necessary soft skills for sustaining andmaximizing the development in this industry (Schaefer and Oya,
2019; Yamada et al., 2018). Work-related soft skills such as
occupational health and safety, tidiness and cleanliness,
workplace efficiency, product quality control, and teamwork are
crucial for workers to succeed in the dynamic and competitive
garment industry. Traditional soft skills training programs basedon lectures often struggle to connect abstract concepts with real
work situations. As a result, workers find it challenging to apply
their acquired skills effectively in their work environment.

game-based training emerged as a promising approach todeveloping and teaching soft skills in an engaging and practicalmanner. Combining a game-based training approach withbehavioral modeling principles inspired by Bandura's (1977)
theory creates a powerful training method. Our developed
training program allows workers to learn modeled behaviors,
engage in hands-on activities, and practice the modeled behaviors
in a simulated work environment. This combined approach totraining will ultimately bridge the gap between theory andpractice, ensuring the application of the worker's newly acquired
skills in their work environments.
This policy brief explores what a game-based training program
grounded in behavioral modeling theory and its impact on work-In response to the need for an innovative training approach,NAGOYA UNIVERSITY
Graduate School of InternationalDevelopment (GSID)

This research is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research (A) “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Understanding African Youth’s ‘Knowledge’1related soft skills development in Ethiopia's garment sector. The
Policy brief aims to provide evidence-based insights forpolicymakers and industry stakeholders to enhance work-basedsoft skills training to promote sustainable industrial growth.

Training Program Design
A lot of thought and consideration was put in the design anddevelopment of the game-based training. Previous research
primarily employed online and mobile games for behavioral
modeling training (BMT). However, we found that Africans are
more familiar with board games and that there is a need foroffline access due to unreliable internet connections. We thenconsulted international and Ethiopian garment production

experts. Afterward, we identified four critical domains of workrelated soft skills: occupational health and safety (OHS), tidiness,efficiency, and quality control, woven together by teamwork thatwill be embedded and contextualized in our games. As a result,we devised a training program centered around two physicalboard games.
We crafted two board games: Garment Factory Fun 1 andGarment Factory Fun 2 (Figure 1). Garment Factory Fun 1 uses
illustrated cards to model soft skills, boosting retention. Garment
Factory Fun 2 replicates factory challenges, enabling behavior
rehearsal and skills transfer. Participants assume various roles
inside the firm, collaborating to meet orders while overcoming
obstacles. Post-game discussions after each game reinforces
learning.
Our games integrate BMT elements proven to enhance skills
transfer: rule codes, mental rehearsals, workplace simulation, andsocial reinforcement. Game rules encode learning goals. Soft skills
cards promote the mental practice of soft skills. Lastly, the gamedesign mirrors the factory setting, and players can monitor theirprogress, enhancing motivation.
Through our board game training program, we can effectively
cultivate work-related soft skills, aligning with real-worldrequirements by utilizing established BMT principles. By offering
offline accessibility and context-specific training, we address
challenges African populations face, contributing to skill
enhancement in the garment industry.

Figure 1. The developed board games used in behavioral
modeling training.

Methods
The paper employed a quasi-experimental design to analyze
the impact of game-based soft skills training on workers' workrelated soft skills development, collecting data from 501
participants in 21 garment firms on the outskirts of Ethiopia's
capital city, Addis Ababa through pre- and post-training
questionnaires. The questionnaires were designed to capture thechanges in work-related soft skills of occupational health andsafety (OHS), tidiness and cleanliness, workplace efficiency,
product quality control, and teamwork. Variables for each workrelated soft skill were constructed from 15 psychometric scale
items the SKY Project team developed. Questions about

participants' educational and demographic backgrounds and work
experiences were also included. Firm-level data was captured
using questionnaires provided to human resources managers of
the firms that participated in the study. The participants weredivided into intervention (trained) and comparison (untrained)groups, with the former receiving game-based training. Data
analysis utilized a difference-in-differences approach which
controlled for individual and firm-level factors such as gender,age, education, wage, position, and factory size, to assess thetraining's impact on participants' self-reported work-related soft
skills.

Findings
Figure 2 shows the changes in each work-related soft skills
before and after the implementation of game-based training forboth trained and untrained workers. Before the training, thevalues of the various work-related soft skills and their average arecomparable between the two groups. We can see that workrelated soft skills for the trained group increased significantly
after the training, while the work-related soft skills of thecomparison group remained relatively the same. The results
indicate that the game-based training intervention had astatistically significant effect on all five domains of work-related

soft skills. The participants in the intervention groupdemonstrated percentage point gains ranging from 6.42 to 12.1
percent compared to the untrained group.
Notably, the domains of OHS and quality control showedsignificant improvements. This suggests that prior to the training,participants had limited exposure to the concepts of personal
responsibility for health, workplace safety, and quality control.
The game-based training provided behavior models and rehearsal
opportunities that helped participants internalize these concepts,resulting in substantial gains in these areas.
2▃▃▃▃ Trained▃▃▃▃ Untrained

Figure 2. Changes in OHS, tidiness, efficiency, quality control, teamwork, and average work-related soft skills between the trained anduntrained groups
Gender

The domains of tidiness and cleanliness and workplace
efficiency also showed significant improvements. Keeping
workstations tidy and clean, as well as performing tasks
efficiently, are considered fundamental soft skills in the garment
sector. The study findings highlight the effectiveness of the gamebased training intervention in enhancing these skills among
workers.
Figure 3 shows the percentage point gains in work-related
soft skills disaggregated by gender, position, education, training,and factory size. We see that non-manager female workers
without higher education from medium and large firms would
benefit the most from our BMT game-based training program.
Overall, the study's findings provide empirical evidence thatgame-based training grounded in behavioral modeling theory caneffectively enhance work-related soft skills among garment sector
workers. The results highlight the importance of incorporating
contextualized training interventions and providing opportunities
for rehearsal and skill transfer in the workplace.
These findings have significant implications for policy andpractice in the garment sector and beyond. By recognizing thevalue of game-based training and its impact on soft skill
development, policymakers and training providers can design andimplement effective training programs that address the specificneeds of workers in various industries. The study underscores thepotential of game-based training approaches in developing
countries, where access to computers and the internet may belimited.

Position

Education

Training

Firm Size

Figure 3. Percentage gains in work-related soft skills
disaggregated by gender, position, education, training, andfactory size3Policy Lessons and Suggestions
Based on the results, we suggest policymakers and industry
stakeholders to consider the following policy actions to promote
the development of work-related soft skills, for production line
workers in manufacturing sectors in developing economies:

provide them with the necessary soft skills for professional
growth and development.
3. Workers from medium and large firms. Game-based
training is effective, particularly in medium and large firms.
Focusing on this subgroup will ensure the development of
the necessary soft skills across the industry.

• More participatory training in the environment closer to theactual workplace is important for improving soft skills.
Prioritize more participatory training situated in environments
closely resembling the actual workplace to enhance soft skills.
Even when workers received in-house training, those whounderwent training still exhibited gains comparable to theiruntrained peers. This underscores the limitations of traditional
training methods, such as lecture-style presentations, whichlack hands-on learning components. The following aresuggestions to improve Ethiopia's current soft skills training
program:• Collaboration and sharing are the keys to soft skills
improvement. The game-based behavioral model training
effectively develops the work-related soft skills of garment
sector workers. This training method can also be used indifferent industrial contexts. We suggest the following
measures in order to achieve this:

1. Create a platform for sharing best practices in game-based
training approaches and their application in different
industrial contexts.
2. Establish industry-wide forums or networks to encourageknowledge exchange among garment firms, trainers, andpolicymakers.
3. Establish partnerships between training institutions,providers, industry associations, and garment firms toensure alignment between training curricula and industry
requirements.

1. Incorporate game-based training grounded in behavioral
modeling theory into existing soft skills training initiatives.
2. Encourage collaboration between training providers,industry associations, and garment firms to integrate gamebased behavioral modeling training into existing on-the-job
training to enhance workers' soft skills development
further.
3. Allocate resources for developing and distributing board
games that simulate workplace environments for soft skills
development.

By implementing these policy recommendations, stakeholders
can enhance the work-related soft skills of garment sector
workers in Ethiopia, improve their employability, and contributeto the overall growth and productivity not just of the garment
industry but also of other industries as well.

• Target the training for women, less skilled and inexperienced
population in SMEs. The study has shown population
subgroups that had significant gains when using a game-based
behavioral training approach. The following are suggestions
for different population subgroups to develop a more
motivated and skilled workforce:

References:Bandura A, 1977. Social Learning Theory. Prentice Hall, Englewood cliffs.
Schaefer, F., Oya, C., 2019. Employment patterns and conditions in construction
and manufacturing in Ethiopia: A comparative analysis of the road building
and light manufacturing sectors. London.

1. Women. Developing targeted game-based training
programs for women in the garment sector will address thegender disparity in work-related soft skills.
2. Non-managers. Training programs tailored explicitly for non-managerial workers with low educational attainment will

Yamada, S., Otchia, C.S., Shimazu, Y., Taniguchi, K., Nigussie, F., 2018. Bridging theSupply-Demand Gaps of the Industrial Workforce: Findings from a Skills
Assessment of Garment Workers in Ethiopia. Nagoya, Japan.

This policy brief is based on the paper “The effects of game-based soft skills training: A quasi-experiment with Ethiopian garment workers,” published in
the journal International Journal of Educational Development on June 13, 2023, at DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2023.102823.

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