Project Summary
The Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education (CPSC) in collaboration with the Ministry Government of India (GOI) commenced the implementation of the TVET Skills Development for Poverty Alleviation (SDPA) Project as a first joint project to contribute in alleviating poverty using TVET sectoral approaches under the GOI’s Technical Cooperation Scheme.
Under funding of the Government of India, CPSC has initialized the implementation of the project with a series of key project components from August 2010 to January 2011. As per initial design of the project, a consultative process of gathering and synthesizing experiences, best practices and approaches were undertaken to ensure that efforts for the project are built upon the lessons learned from international and regional initiatives in poverty alleviation that are already in existence and that the project is owned and understood by concerned governments for greater participation once fully executed. These processes are believed to contribute in planning appropriate capacity building programs that are linked with national agenda and are instrumental in fast-tracking country achievements in reducing poverty.
In the months of August 2010 to January 2011, three major programs had been successfully conducted under the SDPA project, including the (1) First International Symposium on TVET Skills for Poverty Alleviation (August 2-3, 2010) which achieved the successful assimilation of experiences, research results, ideas, innovations, initiatives, practical models and frameworks including best practices from multiple sectors and leaders in strengthening TVET skills of the human resources for employability and decent work that impact upon poverty alleviation, outcome of which later served as input to the subsequent discussions in regard to the planning for the SDPA project; (2) First International Experts Consultation Workshop (August 5-6, 2010) which achieved the identification of cross-cutting issues in poverty alleviation in the CPSC member countries and brainstorming on the initial Project Road Map, curriculum framework and initial modalities and arrangements, as envisaged by CPSC, with the help of regional TVET experts, taking as input the lessons gained from the international symposium deliberations; and the (3) First Regional Consultation Workshop (November 5-6, 2010) which gathered senior administrators and liaison officers of CPSC from the participating countries to essentially validate and confirm the roadmap as the fulcrum of the project, and to study, agree upon and refine the working modalities and arrangements for the SDPA project implementation at country level.
As outcome of the three activities, CPSC has crystallized and refined the initial Project Road Map as basis for the program planning in the subsequent months. Key decisions made were the (a) identification of the type of in-country programs to be organized by CPSC which was unanimously decided to be a “Champion Leaders Program” in each country, with particular focus on leaders, who can train and create opportunities for effective mobilization of potential education and training leaders, who can further execute training initiatives for employability; (b) identification of four modules including ICT, Technical and Social Entrepreneurship, Generic Skills and TVET Skills, that would serve as bases for designing appropriate programs corresponding present requirements, priorities and niche area of the country with respect to addressing poverty; (c) determining the major selection criteria for the Champion Leaders who should benefit from the program; and (d) identifying country government administrative modalities and commitments in the actual implementation of the projects.
