As the societies grow and develop the question of trust stands out as the prime issue. While not so long ago a word of mouth was the accepted accreditation of one's skills, in current times it requires a formal proof. Globalisation has opened a plethora of opportunities for people to choose their life and lifestyle but has also put constraints on how they fit in that lifestyle. It poses a challenge to the historic foundation of family professions and shakes the trust of many societies, based on caste, particularly in India. Here, the issues of accreditation and standards clash with the mindset of people on equal opportunity and dignity of work. Governments and educational institutions across the world now have skills assessment criteria, development tools and standardisation of skills obtained. Skills obtained outside their own system are assessed in terms of equivalence with a similar qualification obtained elsewhere. For example social work is a diverse and complex area where a range of services are required.
This presentation will pose some questions of relevance and recognition of one's skill and the related issue of trust in it.
Institutional development & international cooperation
Indo-German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the area of vocational education and training during the last 40 years has lead to the emergence of a number of mature and capable training providers who support the application of advanced technology in the SME sector and who boost employment by means of technology transfer, continuing technical education, entrepreneurial support, consultancy and information resources. Whereas in the beginning the focus lay on the promotion of skills development for SMEs, the unorganized sector gradually gained importance.
Skills development for the unorganized sector, which accounts for roughly 93% of the total workforce, is of critical importance for achieving inclusive growth in India. As formal employment in the organized sector of the economy is stagnant and unemployment among agricultural labour households is rising, the majority of the approximately 12 million youth entering the labour market every year have no other option than getting absorbed in unorganized non-agricultural employment. But the quality of employment in this sector is generally poor and constrained by low productivity. The large majority of workers in the unorganised sector has a low level of education and has received little or no training.
The Government of India has, in last few years, launched several initiatives to open up the formal vocational education and training system to the needs of the unorganized sector. A number of International Organizations/Agencies have been present in India as part of International cooperation - they have supported Indian organizations both as technical advisors or financial support agencies. I had the opportunity of working with the German Technical Cooperation I the area of skills development, in the project - "Advisory services for Restructuring and Expanding National Vocational Training System (with emphasis on informal sector)".
The National Vocational Training System (NVTS) project contributed largely to the development of employment oriented skills development programs together with various partners in different sectors, which are being adapted and replicated throughout the country.
In my presentation, I would
1) Share some of the experiences from this International Cooperation;
2) Expand the learning to share my understanding & analysis of the challenges my country flings on to the agencies looking for IC;
3) The limitations we have as well as the weakness of the Vocational Training system in India - so that we can stress on these aspects as part of IC.
Capacity building for e-Governance learning by doing methodology
With serious effort in Government of India in using Information and Communication Technology at Cost of over Rupees 45000 Crores in next few years there is inescapable need to have suitable manpower resource both in quality and quantity in Government and Corporate world to undertake the challenges of implementing e-Governance projects.
This paper gives details of one such effort made at International Institute of Information Technology at Hyderabad to train budding engineers in the domain of e-Governance. The positive feed back encouraged the authors to attempt a new approach of Learning by Doing Methodology for its applicability across the country, for training thousand of e-Governance specialists.
Options for Imparting Effective Skills Training for Better Livelihood to Rural Poor
We need have Livelihood skills education policy based on the need in particular localities to ensure an environment that would enable livelihood skills will actually to result in higher productivity, incomes and well-being.
Such skills education needs to be backed up by giving access to micro-finance to those completing the training. We need to follow a strategy of decentralization and capacity-nurturing that will permit locally feasible patterns of livelihood.
Such training should combine savings and credit training with livelihood skill development with related literacy/numeracy content.
Skills training for illiterate poor adults should promote active, participatory and interactive forms of instruction and learning in both livelihood and literacy components of training.
It extremely important to create in free public domain expert training software in various subjects of interest for the productivity gains of the rural people. It needs to be comprehensive and serially usable by the instructors to supplement and make their training rewardingly attractive. Examples of the success of such projects in various states can be a great motivator. Competition after all is a great driver to provoke efforts.
Success of such initiative will need local alliances of government, non-governmental and community agencies and micro finance agencies involved in rural development as focus than merely profit making due very high interest possibilities.
Given the global skills shortage, I will advance the argument that we should NOT be stuck in the
paradigm of a "Brain Drain" scenarios but rather a "Brain Tank"
Looking at the South Africa scenario in particular; a fundamental shift in migration policy is required to
deal with the country's prevailing skills crisis, that even much-needed improvements to the domestic
education and training environment will not be sufficient to deal with what is a deepening deficit.
This will call for a drastic re-formulation of immigration policy away from the current focus on the "Control
of movement", to one that is more strongly aligned to "economic growth objectives."
This would inevitably lead to Economic & Development Ministries having a far greater influence over
guiding policy formulation, which is currently fashioned primarily by the Departments of Home/Internal
Affairs and Labour/Manpower.
It is highly impossible that any government's desired (eg. + 5% upwards) growth aspirations can be
achieved without "a rapid infusion" of foreign skills and the opening of the country's doors to "very large
numbers of skilled immigrants". The quota system which most countries operate wrt Immigration control
relies on bureaucrats to sift through historic data to forecast a country's future skills needs. In so doing,
emerging skills were often neglected, owing to often incomplete consultation processes. In a country
desperate for skilled people, spending effort on predicting the precise skills needs of a dynamic market
economy is a complete waste.
It is crucial that countries eg. South Africa - therefore depart from their current "fortress South Africa"
policy and a quota-list system that is "flawed and misguided".
A review is long overdue, as it is not fully appreciated that the country would need to compete strongly
against other countries for scarce skills.
There is also currently no sense that immigration is actually a partnership between the public and the
private sectors,
There is a need for some more immediate "tweaking" and is concerned that many of the proposed
changes to the Immigration Act of 2006, which have been formulated in the Immigration Amendment Bill
of 2010, are more attuned to dealing with parochial departmental challenges than with the urgent need to
improve South Africa's relative competitiveness in attracting foreign skills.
There is a salient argument that South Africa has to "stop playing victim in the global war for talent" and
begin competing. We must go beyond filling existing skills gaps in large companies. We urgently need
immigrants to revitalise our faltering public health, education and skills production systems, and to boost
innovation and entrepreneurship. This also necessitates a "pathway" to be created for unskilled "irregular"
immigrants from Southern African Development Community countries to legalise their status in South
Africa - with specific reference to the southern migration of the African diaspora into SA
Surely a legal migrant population would be easier to manage than an unknown, underground one, and it
would also enable South Africa to tap into the entrepreneurial energy of these immigrants, many of whom
would set up job-creating enterprises and become taxpayers.
Senior Project Manager, Australian Council for Private Education and training (ACPET)
Quality assurance of vocational education and training in Australia
Australia's vocational education and training sector now comprises more than 5,000 private, public and enterprise training providers delivering the skills required by industry to individuals, employers and their employees.
Over the past 15 years the Australian training system has developed to be an industry-led system underpinned by national quality standards for both training providers and for the courses and qualifications they deliver.
In relation to the accreditation of courses and qualifications, in Australia employers and industry peak bodies identify the skills needed for current and emerging occupations. These requirements are codified as units of competency and qualifications in Training Packages, which are nationally endorsed. Qualifications in Training Packages are currently available for occupations covering approximately 80% of the Australian workforce. For providers delivering training for niche and emerging industries an agreed course accreditation process is available.
Alongside national quality assurance arrangements for Training Packages and niche courses, the Australian training system is also underpinned by national standards for training providers. These standards are regularly reviewed and have recently been strengthened. Additional standards must be met by providers delivering training to international students. These have also recently been strengthened.
This presentation explores Australia's arrangements for ensuring training quality through the experiences of some of the country's leading private training providers.
For thousands of years, India had a caste system which was essentially a loosely defined guild of employment where the son followed the profession of the father. In recent years, both the economy and the culture has changed -- youngsters do not, often cannot, follow the profession of the parents. There is also a great desire for white collar jobs.It is also a fact that employers are unable to get the talents they need even as many "educated" youth cannot find the type of employment they desire only because they are unemployable.
Evidently, the kind of education we have is not what the economy requires nor does it have quality.At the same time, many scholars and activists strongly contend that education is a fundamental right; therefore, as many persons as possible should be-come graduates. However, it is a fact that most students study not for the scholar-ship but in the hope to get better employment, as also higher status.
Hence, we need two kinds of programmes: One that ensures employment and the other that offers status. The former can be ensured only in consonance with em-ployers;the latter, which is a long time proposition, has to be left to students, their parents and teachers.
I suggest that all employers should be asked to define the kind of skills they expect from the persons who they intend to employ as well as the basic education the per-son is expected to have. Then, we should have two kinds of institutions one for training and the other for education and scholarship. Employers should pay the cost of training as a part of their capital investment and the state (or the student) should meet the cost of the education desired.
Quite often the skill desired may be provided within a few weeks or, at the most, a few months. Because it is possible for employers to anticipate their precise require-ments, for-job training is not difficult. Unfortunately, it has not caught on in the coun-try as well as it should have. We should have many more institutions that can pro-vide the specific training employers desire.
However, education is a long-drawn process; it takes years. Few employers have such a long perspective. Ideally, we should recruit the way the defence forces do most of their senior staff -- at the end of school education. Then, further education (and training) can be matched to what employers need; most education will not be wasted the way it is at present. On the other hand, as most employers are unable to predict what kind of personnel they will need years in advance, it is the student (and his parents) who decide the discipline of their university education. It may be con-sidered desirable to have an informed and well trained group that can collate and es-timate future requirements. Unfortunately, such predictions can never be accurate.
Under the circumstances, the best an economy can have is a system of cross-discipline programmes that will divert youth trained in one discipline where not enough jobs are availableto another where not enough educated youth is available.
Challenges of Implementing Workforce Development Initiative for Disadvantaged Youth
Often, employers cannot find the type of employees they need. At the same time, there are millions of youth who are seeking employment and cannot find employment. Thus, there is a mismatch between supply and demand. This is partly due to the out dated system of vocational education and training. The current system is supply driven with poor quality vocational training with innumerable access barriers. It makes the disadvantaged youth unemployable. What is needed is a model that will develop the required workforce to meet the growing needs of easily available, competent and ready to work labour force to match business needs.
CAP Foundation has evolved an Employability Training Programme, called "Ek Mouka", specifically designed to meet this challenge. The goal of Ek Mouka is to facilitate end-to end Livelihood solutions using the Business for Community platform. It provides access to market oriented livelihood opportunities to the disadvantages youth and women through locally sustainable Employment Exchanges. This livelihood promotion training programme is designed for school dropouts / unemployed secondary school graduates / street youth / retrenched workers/ migrant youth/ resettlement community members from the poorest sections of the population. The programme supports both employment opportunity oriented workforce preparation as well as tiny and micro enterprise development.
The CAP Foundation has in the last seven years reached out to over 100 communities, covering over a lakh young people in urban, rural and tribal settings in India. Besides a programme in 16 states in India, the foundation has worked on Livelihood Reconstruction projects for Tsunami affected young persons and women in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. The CAP Foundation has also worked with trafficked victims in Mumbai and Nepal, street children in Vietnam and refugees and migrant workers from Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, besides working with youth from nomadic and criminally oriented communities across the country. CAP Foundation has been implementing these programmes partnering with different funding agencies, including government, international and corporate sectors.
Some of the challenges faced by the CAP foundation are gaining entry and trust of the community, mobilising and enrolling the potential beneficiaries, retention of the enrolled to prevent drop outs, recruiting, training and retaining a large number of facilitators. There are also challenges pertaining to local culture and gender sensitivities as well as availability and quality of infrastructure in rural remote areas. In addition, there are issues of placement and follow up. Government policies and corporate interference also hinders the autonomy required to experiment and adjust the project to meet the special needs of each community.
This paper discusses some of these challenges and how CAP foundation was able to deal successfully with these challenges and why some issues were beyond the control of the Foundation. The lessons learnt are also discussed which should be of interest to those who would like to get involved in this initiative.
Owner and Director,
Australian Registered Training Organisation CHARLTON BROWN®
Vocational Education and Training in Australia: The role of the private sector
Since the 1990s, Australia's vocational education and training system has moved from one largely run by the states and territories to an increasingly student centred system, with many national features.
A national competence-based system of qualifications has been established and industry is actively involved in both policy making and in the development of standards and delivery. VET competencies and qualifications currently cover around 80 per cent of occupations in Australia.
Several market-based approaches have been adopted in the Australian system. Entry of private providers has been encouraged, and employers and their apprentices are able to select the provider and type of delivery for public funding of training. Under national quality arrangements, qualifications issued by a registered provider are recognised across all states and territories, and moves are now underway to establish a truly national regulator.
Australia's VET system is characterised by its flexibility, allowing people of all ages to participate. Courses range from a single unit of competency to advanced diplomas. The types of training on offer to students and employers range from formal classroom learning to workplace-based learning. Increasing numbers of training providers offer some or all of their courses on-line.
VET is offered by both private and public registered training organisations (RTOs), in schools, universities, adult and community education providers, and various cultural, religious or other bodies. Australia currently has 5 000 RTOs and in 2010, more than two-thirds of all students were enrolled in a private provider.
Ms Kay Ganley will provide insights into the Australian VET sector, drawing on her considerable experience as both the Chief Executive Officer of Charlton Brown, one of Australia's largest providers of training in aged care, childcare, community services, and disability services, and the Chair of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training.
Strengthening Agro Based Livelihoods through Warehousing Infrastructure in Rural Areas
The physical, ecological and knowledge infrastructure for agriculture needs urgent strengthening under changing economic and environmental scenario. Appropriate structures are required to reinforce the three pillars of agro based livelihoods, namely production, consumption and commerce. Measures are required to make the production process more efficient and environmentally benign, the post harvest systems robust and ensure better price for the produce through efficient management of the value chain.
A unique socio technical and agri business project promoted by AMR Warehousing Limited (AMR WL) will attempt saturating the rural areas with a chain of hi-tech warehouses aimed primarily at eliminating post harvest losses and the phenomenon of distress sale soon after the harvest.
The broader objective is to empower the rural communities with appropriate technological and soft skills to manage their livelihoods with a basket of options in hand. Implementation of a well designed and expanding plan of inclusive growth will begin with six light house projects in all the regions of Andhra Pradesh (Andhra, Rayalseema and Telengana) which will direct our thought and action deep into the hasty mists of the future.
The Unique Service Proposition (USP) of this project will be to provide scientific storage facilities for agricultural produce along with high value mentoring and other support services.
The down-stream activities in the catchment area of the warehouses will include supply of quality seeds, farm inputs, credit facilities and insurance coverage. The up-stream activities on the other hand will include small scale processing and value addition, marketing support and linkages and quality assurance under ISO, Agmark, Hazard Control and Critical Point (HCCP), Fair Trade, National Standard for Organic Products (NSOP).
Regular capacity building events will be organized for the farmers and rural youth in the areas of good agricultural practices (GAP), food processing, entrepreneurship, business management and legal literacy and computer use.
A computerized Village Knowledge Centre (VKC), operated by trained rural youth (boys and girls), will act as a knowledge hub providing information relating to local food systems, production technologies, health and nutrition, market intelligence, career options, government schemes etc, as well as rendering services like on line crop protection and so on. Each VKC will also function as a store house of relevant knowledge in the form of books, pamphlets, CDs and DVDs. Each centre will also act as agri clinic and agri entrepreneurship platform with round the year live demonstrations on emerging technological and business options like vermi-compost production, medicinal and aromatic plants, production of bio pesticides, hand-made paper unit based on agro fibres and rain water harvesting.
Attempts will also be made on creating seed villages for supply of locally produced quality seeds and organic villages for demonstrating the potential of ecological agriculture.
The project structures will adhere to the "green buildings code" as well as Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Standards.
Attempts will be made for empowering of rural women and involve in the process of development. Also focus on financing and facilitate farmer to repay loan both in the form of produce and money.
Overall, the partnership with the farmers envisaged under this innovative project has the potential of transforming the rural landscape by providing them with basic infrastructure, empowering them with access to livelihood services and enhancing their technical and soft skills.
What is meant by competency
How is competency measured
What is needed for someone to achieve competency
What is meant by CB training
What are the implications for delivery and curriculum design
Flexible delivery
Resources required
Methods and activities
Airline pilot example
What is meant by competency based assessment
Methods of assessment
Purpose of assessment
Tools for assessment
Assess first ? TNA ?
RPL
Observable evidence
Knowledge and skills (why and how)
Dimensions of competency
Principles of assessment
Rules of evidence
Capability of trainers and assessors
Technical and vocational competencies
Professional development
Supporting individual learners
LLN
Implications for training organisations
Communication with industry and enterprises
Workforce development planning
Utilising competency standards
National qualifications framework
Implications for industry and enterprise
ISCs and training packages
Job descriptions and performance management
On job and off job training
Succession planning
Workplace coaching and mentoring
Route to Higher Education
Schools to work
Rural communities and social inclusion
Infrastructure
500 million
General Manager, Australia India Institute, Australia
Capture Business Opportunities in India
One of the most exciting emerging markets in the world
This Mission has been designed to provide a cost-effective entry to the Indian market, expose mission members to one of the world's fastest growing economies and provide a comprehensive business-matching program for mission participants to identify real project opportunities.
As India moves ahead with its economic reforms, opportunities wait to be utilised in sectors such as energy, telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, urban development, and other areas of infrastructure. This will be the most important multi-industry mission to the market in 2010/2011. Companies across various industry sectors who are ready to export and are able to take a long term view of success in the Indian Market should consider participating in this mission.
The mission falls on the occasion of 2010 Business Partner City Network Roundtable. The Business Partner Cities Network was founded by City of Osaka and has 13 member cities including Osaka, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai and Tianjin. In addition to these networks, the mission will also be utilising the significant networks of both the City of Melbourne and The Australian Industry Group.
Senior Faculty of Institute of Applied Manpower Research, Institute of Applied Manpower Research,
(Autonomous body of Planning Commission, Government of India) ,
India
Skill Development Efforts in Organised Sector:
A Case Study of Apprentice Training Scheme (ATS) of Ministry of Labour, Government of India.
Government of India has enacted The Apprentice Act in 1961 with a view to utilise the training facilities in industrial establishments for skill enhancement of youth entering into labour market with no or less skills for gainful employment. Presently, the Apprentice Training Scheme (ATS) is in practice in more than 30,000 industrial establishments spreading in 250 sectors providing skill development to more than 2 lakh youth in nearly 150 trades.
However, the Act, and the scheme is plagued by several bottlenecks in the domain of state PSUs and private enterprises though the scheme is successful in meeting the objectives of the Act in most of the central PSUs. More than 90% of these units are falling in the private sector, and the capacity utilization in these industries is far from expectations besides the failure of the training facilities to meet the skill demand of the youth who are mostly school drop-outs.
Compared to the available figures of more than 5 lakh small, medium and big establishments throughout the country, the enlisted units for ATS are very small with less than 30,000. The problem is further perplexed as the onus of execution and implementation of this Act is imposed on the existing ITI s who are already burdened with their routine duties.
The pilot study in two regions of the country exposes the lack of organizational mechanism at the district level to network the existing splintered units, and to bring the unsurveyed units under the gamut of the Act to enhance the skill development efforts towards self/wage employment of youth. With a poor absorption rate of these apprentices within and outside the establishment, several issues such as quality of training, wage- employment versus employability, wastage of training resources, etc. are to be further examined thoroughly. These issues are being investigated through a nation-wide survey.
India's Colleges and Universities produce graduates who are unemployable - this is elaborately documented. Yet, every Commissioned report recommends creation of larger number of similar institutions rather than approach radical reform.
Fundamental transformation will require, as first priority, the present model of a teacher/trainer replaced by a "Learning Facilitator". The situation cries out for an entrepreneurial leader, capable of "creatively destroying" the educational status - quo - an edupreneur.
Transformation of education is a global concern. The Obama administration has just released the National Education Technology Plan (NETP) that questions the very foundation of the present system. It is the first comprehensive effort to transform education in America, rather than make changes at the margin. In a study of America's most successful schools, Willard R. Daggett describes nine findings that include focusing instruction around students' interests, learning styles, & aptitudes; high-quality curriculum & instruction; and solid & dedicated leadership.
The evolution has many currents, some have already been commonly accepted:
1. People: an asset, not a burden
2. English: global language of aspiration
3. Technology: empowering, essential
4. Globalization: providing opportunities not just competition
5. Democracy: deepening roots, consequent rights and entitlement
6. Entrepreneur: a role model not a cinema villain
Other currents that are in flux and are still being debated:
1. Focus of education: is employability
2. Infrastructure: work around constraints, inadequate
3. Various Paths: skills/cerebral mix
Some ideas are in open conflict:
1. Ideology: reservations, subsidies
2. Regulations: government driven, profit is wrong
3. Labor laws: obsolete, apply to small organized sector
4. Cost: high quality vs. dramatically lower cost for masses
There are yet other ideas that will emerge as we move forward:
1. Leap frog: Why merely catch-up ?
2. Body-Mind Connection: nutrition as pre-requisite to learning
3. Systems Theory: theoretical frameworks: Micro, Meso, Exo, Macrosystem
4. Beyond Content: new learning concepts
5. Continuum: coordinated life- long learning path
These currents will require a serious redesign of the educational curricula for Learning Facilitators -with a method of quickly scaling to large numbers. This graduate will be at ease with appropriate and emerging technologies and have the requisite entrepreneurial skills and training to implement them.
Our approach: We will present several initiatives, at Indian costs, including a Masters level U.S. degree program. The M.S. in Learning Facilitation begins with a rigorous selection process of the individual based upon interest, aptitude and personal characteristics; an intensive "repair" program with modules to provide missing skills; a foundation curricula that sits at the intersection of Business(B), Education(E) and Technology(T) involving practice, feedback, and structured reflection; and an "elective" curricula and practicum that provides advanced proficiency against a rubric of this 'teaching as leadership' approach. The pilot program will launch in two cities in January 2011 with plans to expand to additional cities in India.
Our Goal: Train an army of Learning Facilitators who, in their own way, will create novel and innovative programs that neither a bureaucrat nor any committee can begin to imagine.
Village level Entrepreneurs : Citizen Services centers creating new opportunities in Rural India
The National e- Governance program that had its beginnings in AP with the statewide infrastructure established in 1998 has moved on with a nationwide adaptation of the infrastructure program. The citizen services program in the form of e- Seva has also been adapted with different names across the country. While e-Seva and the similar programs were urban oriented with focus on municipalities, extending the citizen services to village became a priority. The services are now being extended to the villages through citizen services centers. The key player of the CSC program is the Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE), who runs the CSC.
The CSC is a strategic cornerstone of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), as part of its commitment in the National Common Minimum Program to introduce e-governance on a massive scale. The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment as well as other private services. A highlight of the CSCs is that it will offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills.
What is CSC ?
CSC - an important component of the NeGP is a network of service points across the length and breadth of rural India. CSC aims to provide access to information, backed with relevant infrastructure and end-to-end services that would allow rural population, the opportunities to enhance their quality of life.
IT infrastructure and the rural services
A "CSC" is an internet kiosk in a village with PC + Camera+ Internet + Printer, etc. A CSC would be serving the people residing in the village where it is located and also a catchment of population 5-6 villages surrounding the CSC Village. The range of CSC Services are B2C (Sale of Agri-Products, IT Training, Railway Tickets, DTP Services, Digital Photography); G2C (Form Downloads, Land Records, Certificates, Online Application Registration, Mandi Rates).
The Scheme creates a conducive environment for the private sector and NGOs to play an active role in implementation of the CSC Scheme, thereby becoming a partner of the government in the development of rural India. The PPP model of the CSC scheme envisages a 3-tier structure consisting of the CSC operator (called Village Level Entrepreneur or VLE) the Service Centre Agency (SCA), that will be responsible for a division of 500-1000 CSCs and a State Designated Agency (SDA) identified by the State Government responsible for managing the implementation over the entire State.
Village level Entrepreneur . In actual implementation the VLE becomes most important element . It is the responsibility of the state level implementing agencies to motivate and train the VLES imparting necessary skills and hand hold the operation
In the State of Jharkhand to extend the reach of Information Technology (IT) facilities upto the village level, the Jharkhand Government took a lead to introduce e-Nagrik services at the Panchayat level through Pragya Kendras (CSCs) across the State. UTl is the lead partner in establishing 3000 CSC. The IT facilities will be made available to villagers under the e-Nagrik scheme that envisages issuance of various certificates like birth, death, income, caste, etc, from the CSCs at a nominal cost. The JharNet, State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and JAP-IT (Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of Information Technology) together have been assigned the job for developing necessary infrastructure at the Panchayat levels to make the CSCs function smoothly. Nearly 2500 VLES have been identified and equipped with necessary Infrastructure and skills. UTL as the implementing agency is identifying other business opportunities involving VLEs.
Enabling Rural Transformation through Village Resource Centres: Initiative of Mata Amritanandamayi Math
Spiritual organisations have made several inroads in the developmental process of our nation. Mata Amrithanandamayi Math, founded by Mata Amritanandamayi is one such institution that has played a vital role in fields like education, healthcare and promotion of cultural and spiritual activities. The Math has established several and offers specialised programmes in higher learning through its University. It also provides extraordinary health care through its multi-speciality hospital. It has also been engaged in several charitable initiatives like disaster relief, social welfare and nature care.
In order to offer opportunities for the village communities, the Math established centres called Village Resource Centres with initial support from global IT giants like Microsoft, Intel, CTS and HP, these centres were launched by President A P J Abdul Kalam in Kerala and Tamil Nadu to create sustainable space technology-supported community infrastructure for the transformation of rural India. Currently this initiative is being supported by Cognizant Foundation for the phased development of infrastructure and ISRO for setting up the satellite communication network to provide telemedicine and impart knowledge of some of the best practices in agriculture, fishery and health care across multiple centres.
The locations chosen to launch the village resource centres are those that are predominated by people belonging to the socially and economically backward classes and tribal communities. Identification of the training needs and matching these through programmes is taken up by the Math. Each centre is administered by dedicated personnel recruited by the Math. Training is imparted on usage of computers and appropriate software packages and also on spoken English. The participants are primarily housewives who join the course with the objective of passing on the knowledge to the rest of their family members, especially their children.
The objective of this paper is highlight the benefits that have accrued through the initiative in two of the centres, Mananthawady in Wayanad and Puthiyacavu near Amritapuri. A case study approach has been used to feature this.
After Independence India in essence followed the Industrial Policy as laid down by the Congress Resolution. This was based on Socialistic Pattern.
This served well as far as Core Sector Industries were concerned at that time, but for Rural & Unorganized sector we never thought beyond regime of SUBSIDIES.
The industrial Policy is going through a transformation, after debacle of USSR. The market forces are now driving the policy. The dogma of Socialism, which called for State Control, is vanishing & it is now well established that Individual is Paramount & unless there is competition the nation will not progress. The euphoria of Socialism is ebbing & we are moving towards open economy.
However this is true only for Organized Large Scale, Medium & to some extent Small Industries. Small Scale industries still have to come out of Government provided Protectionism.
Unfortunately there has been no Fresh or Innovative thinking as afar as Rural & Unorganized (Traditional) sector is concerned. We still are in the same Subsidy regime.
Track: Life and livelihood skills & employment
Role of Third Sector in Development of Drought Prone Region: Insights from Kachchh,Gujarat"
By S Usha Nandhini, Amalendu Jyotishi and Deepika M G
Interactions between 'ecological systems' and 'livelihood systems' have generated debate among the social scientists as well as ecological scientists. In recent years, degeneration of the ecosystem has been a major concern worldwide. It is also known that such degeneration has severe implications on the poor and marginalized group of people who largely depend on these ecosystem services for their livelihood.
The multiple, geo-physical, socio-cultural and agro-economic diversities of Kachchh pose a complex mix of opportunities and challenges in determining a livelihood base for the people in Kachchh. The opportunities refer to a diverse resource base consisting of large land mass, mineral and long coast line besides an enterprising community and strong social capital built through generations of migratory links outside the region. Some of the major challenges facing the region, however, are frequent drought, severe scarcity of water along with increasing salinity; inappropriate management, aggravating the initial disadvantages with respect to natural resources; and physical remoteness.
In this context, the present study attempts to analyze some of the above-mentioned issues especially looking at the livelihood questions. Analysis of the study is based on a baseline survey of about 2600 households conducted in twenty-six villages of Kachchh district. Our finding suggests that the trade off between ecosystem requirements and livelihood requirements is very high. Therefore, any intervention by any development agency need to be sensitive where a higher premium is put on to livelihood issues.
Track: Empowerment and Transformation of Rural Land Scape
Project Cheyutha: Intervention of Coromandel Fertilizers Limited to empower rural women and enable transformations
The key to economic development and social transformation is creation of entrepreneurs out of the poor and serving consumers at the grassroots level by the intervention of large firms with the local governments and various agencies such as donors, non governmental organizations and civil society organizations (Prahalad 2004). Companies such as Avon of Brazil and Bata Shoe Company of Bangladesh have developed their own ways of creating entrepreneurs and transformed the distribution mechanisms for these markets. In India, Hindustan Unilever Limited through its Project Shakti, largely engaged self help group women formed by non governmental organizations for micorfinancing activities, to function as rural distributors and produced positive impacts on fronts such as economic, social and entrepreneurial for the members engaged with the company ( Xavier et.al, 2008) . The intervention has also resulted in increased sales and provision of quality goods to the rural consumers. In this paper, a case study of Project Cheyutha ('Cheyutha' meaning 'helping hand' in Telugu), an intervention of Coromandel Fertilizers Limited of the Murugappa Group, with Self Help groups (SHGs) has been drawn up.
Project Cheyutha was intiated by the company in 2003 in the state of Andhra Pradesh, at a time when the farm input companies were faced with the challenge of matching the farm requirements on a timely basis. This was largely because of the dominance of layers of intermediaries--dealers, wholesalers (distributors) and their insulation of the companies/manufacturers from the consumers (farmers). The dealers' loyalties were limited to companies and products that gave them more margins and not what was ideal for farming. The farmers were as a consequence, also plagued by woes such as non availability of fertilizers during peak cropping seasons, high costs of transportation of fertilizers from the nearest town to remote villages, high interest rates charged by the channel members, black marketing,opportunistic practice by distributors and influx of spurious products. Coromandel Fertilizers Limited , in order to limit the role of the dealers, and also to supply fertilizers directly to the farmers, engaged the Self Help group members as direct dealers, simultaneously creating livelihood opportunities for these members. The self help group members were appointed as direct dealers of the company and were entitled to a waiver on the trade deposit and bank guarantee. The groups were trained by the company's marketing team on the provisions that had to be fulfilled by the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO), maintenance and updation of stock registers, stock boards and bill books. Project Cheyutha engaged as many as 750 groups in the state of Andhra Pradesh and provided these groups with an avenue for income. at lowered prices.
The objective of this research is to draw a case of Project Cheyutha as an example for other corporations to adopt in their respective strategies for business development in rural areas and alter their mechanisms of distribution and their forms of service to the end consumer.
References:
1. Prahalad, C K, 2004, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits, New Delhi: Pearson Education
2. Xavier M J, Raja J, Usha Nandhini S, 'Impact Assessment of a Rural Women's Entrepreneurship Project using Path Analysis Models' IIMB Management Review,Vol 20, No2,pp 215-227
Enhancement of Job Skills and Global leadership through International Internship
We live under a fiercely competitive business world -- a world where scarcity and abundance co-exist. It appears that jobs are scarce and there is increasing unemployment. At the same time businesses and industry unable to find right people to employ.
The globalization and rapid advances technology are causing pressures on the traditional paradigms of education at all levels. Many countries, including Korea have accomplished 100% literacy following universal education at elementary school levels. In view of globalization these school education as it is incomplete without exposure to other cultures and languages. Since there is an increasing exchange of technology and know-how, the employees and executives are subject to pressures to understand and appreciate traditions, cultures and practices across the world. Since the changes are accelerating a continuous process of education is a necessity. The GATE Korea would undertake activities to the gaps arising from these processes by offering practical training students to the participating its member countries. This is a bilateral exchange internship programs which has been very successful..
Since most of the businesses are looking for different marketing opportunities in different regions of the world, international exposure and global experience becomes a very important criteria for recruitment. New employee must have good communication skill, absolute command on English, wide global network and ability to adjust with different cultures and different work styles.
In this presentation, I would like to state that students can easily gain such a Global leadership through international internship during their college life, and to support this I present my personal success story from Korea.
