In its effort to aid its member countries in introducing sustainable TVET initiatives to alleviate poverty incidence in the grassroots sector of the community, the Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education (CPSC) conducted its ninth Special In-Country Program on Champion Leaders Development Program for TVET Skills for Poverty Alleviation at the Mongolian-Korean Polytechnic College in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from November 4-8, 2013. The program, which is in implementation of the CPSC- Government of India Skills Development for Poverty Alleviation (SDPA) program, was held in collaboration with the TVET Department of the Ministry of Labor, Government of Mongolia.
The objective of the program was to impart relevant ideas, strategies and resources for those involved in the training and development responsibility in order to meet the learning needs of the various institutions/organization for dealing with poverty alleviation. This program was conceived on the premise that specific approach is considered necessary to deal with the TVET skills for alleviating poverty in developmental challenges of meeting the present needs and the future needs.
Some of the invited guests during the opening ceremonies of the program included the head of the TVET Department of the Ministry of Labor, Mr. M. Jadamba and the senior expert of occupational standards and qualifications Mr. EnkhbaatarChuluun. In his opening speech, Mr. Jadamba relayed his appreciation to the participants for attending the training and encouraged them to consider the dissemination of knowledge they will gain from the five-day training to all their stakeholders. He also expressed his appreciation on the importance and relevance of the program to the needs of TVET institutions in the country in increasing capacity of trainers. He shared his hopes for a more efficient and effective dissemination of information to encourage poverty reduction strategies in Mongolia.
Other guests who graced the program were: Mr. D. Buyandelger, Manager, Mongolian Methodology Center, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and Mr. D. Ulambayer, Director, Mongolia-Korean Polytechnic College, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The 30-strong participants coming from all over Mongolia actively participated in the program.
Dr. Mohammad NaimYaakub, CPSC Director General, in another mission in Thailand, addressed the attendees of the opening ceremonies through a video presentation. He expressed that with the increasing poverty rate in many areas especially in Asia, the crusade to fight poverty must continue. Therefore, programs like SDPA through the kindness of the Government of India and with the support of member countries like Mongolia must be supported.
In conjunction with the ICP, a National Seminar on Building Skills for Employability: Trends and Perspectives was held on November 6, 2013 at the same venue. A totalof 60 attendees, mostly Directors from different TVET institutions in the country participated in the seminar. The seminar provided a platform for knowledge and experiences sharing on the educational and training dimension of enhancing skills for employability through TVET systems and discussion on policy tools, coordinating mechanisms and scope of national educational and training strategies to deal with the prevailing situation. The seminar also examined opportunities towards harmonization of education and training standards and strengthening cooperation among stakeholders to combine efforts for future pro-poor growth through skills development.
The program was coordinated by Dr. GodelynHisole, CPSC Faculty Consultant and assisted by Ms. Rosalinda Gonzales, CPSC Finance Officer. The local coordination was headed by Ms. Garamkhand Surendeleg, Training Manager of the National Learning Resource Center of Mongolia.
 Mongolian participants listening to the lecture |
 National seminar participants with the organizers. |
