Planning for four levels
sustainability
A component of the Project “Vocational education and training for
inclusive growth for tribal communities in East Indian states of Jharkhand,
West Bengal and Orissa” in cooperation with EuropeAid.
This
document summarize the activity of
sustainability planning carried out by DWHH
and its partner organizations as one of the components of the EU co-funded
action “Vocational education and
training for inclusive growth for tribal communities in East Indian states of
Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa”, that
is a component of the EU sponsored programme Vocational education and training for vulnerable and marginalised
groups in India.
The overall
objectives of the action are:
- Strengthen quality Vocational Education Training (VET) in the
BRGF districts for the underprivileged youth in three focal regions in
India, to contribute to livelihood promotion, mainly in the informal
sector, for excluded communities.
- Awareness creation among different stakeholders (Government,
private and NGOs) about the importance of VET and the need for its
promotion in the current skill mismatch in the country for sustainable
development of the unorganised sector as well as sensitising the
stakeholders on the need for maximum allocation of resources for VET.
The specific objectives are:
- Market-demand based vocational education training for
underprivileged youth in the BRGF districts of three regions in India with
special focus on women, leading to employment and entrepreneurship
development.
- Increased livelihood opportunities for the underprivileged youth
with a focus on more entrepreneurs
- More participation of women in VET
Main activities are Training and Enterprise Development
Target groups are: underprivileged school
dropout and illiterate youth
A Development
project must not aim to make the EU co-funded NGO partner institutions
sustainable but must aim to make the beneficiaries capable of utilizing the
outputs of project activities in a sustainable manner such that these continue
beyond the life of project.
In line with the overall DHHW overall development cooperation approach, the sustainability of the action is envisioned at four levels.
- Sustainability of the income of the VET trainees
The quality of the training, post training support for trouble shooting and requisite handholding towards initiating the trade/activity has contributed towards lifting the confidence and skill level of the trainees so that they can pursue the trade without any external support in future. The trainees post training are not left on their own and are guided during the project period to experience the business cycle under expert supervision, which prepares them to take up their trade in future independently. The trainees are also facilitated to develop their business plan and share the same with Banks, Financial Institutions and Government Departments for support. A number of trainees have already received support for initiating their enterprise/trade. 51% trainees have (out of 1377 trainees trained till October’2011) established grant/ credit linkages whereas 25% have already received financial support post training.
- Sustainability of the actions at the community level
o
The trainees at a village and
cluster level are facilitated to initiate their activity groups. Individual
trainees having tiny production units are made part of an activity cluster
resulting into economies of scale and also supported towards setting systems
for procurement and marketing. This in turn contributes towards making their
business units more viable. Efforts are being initiated to connect the whole
sellers with the producers and the groups are being facilitated to manage the
processes for collective marketing and procurement of inputs and services.
Efforts are being given in forming small group of Ecopreneurs taking up
similar trades from nearby areas and making them learn the management of their
operations so that post intervention these groups are able to manage these
activities and also negotiate efficiently with the market. Till October’ 2011 60% trainees have been organized into
activity groups and 54% trainees have been supported to identify market for
their products/services.
- Institutionalization of Vocational Education and Training
The Institutionalization of VET is being tried at two levels
- Efforts are being given to standardize the knowledge, training
manual and course curriculum so that these can be taken up by Government,
other NGOs and globally by Welthungerhilfe in other project locations across
South Asia,
- The training centers will be shaped into “Community College” (detailed concept note attached). Current efforts are ongoing to transform few of the training centers as “Community College” which will be able to deliver such courses sustainably in an area. . Community College will be able to meets its costs primarily from the fees received from the trainees, Government sponsorships and sponsorship from various donors to promote skill training for the rural poor. Last few years after framing of National Policy on Skill Development there have been a lot of thrust in the area of imparting skill training for rural unorganized sector, the proposed community colleges will be able to link up to these programmes. Welthungerhilfe is currently exploring further resources towards infrastructure development in these colleges so that the current “Training Centers” can be transformed into future “Community Colleges”. Till date Welthungerhilfe has received very positive response from all quarters in shaping the idea.
- Environmental sustainability:
The activities taken up under VET project implemented by Welthungerhilfe aims at enhancing the productive efficiency of natural resource base by adopting sustainable practices. Sustainable practices which does not harm the nature, rather promotes the well being of the community and their environment have been particularly taken up under the project. The Ecopreneurs being trained under the project will adapt only to the sustainable practices of cultivation/processing and along with improvement in their livelihood bring positive changes to the eco system they live in. The technology that is being imparted is a mix of traditional wisdom with scientific knowledge and is not foreign to the area. The trades taken up for training are also form the basket of traditional livelihood of the tribal and marginalized in the area. However improved practices which can bring significant changes in productivity without causing harm to the environment are being imparted as part of the training.
Practice in planning towards sustainability and impact-orientation
In any
VET program, there is much uncertainty in the assumption that a person who is (a)
trained will also (b) make use of this training, then (c) make more money from
the new skills or even (d) earn in a sustainable manner. This is true for
short- to medium term trainings in developed economies and applies certainly
also to developing countries such as
In order
to achieve the links from (a) to (d), the VET program is designed with much
focus on the follow –up of the trainees, on groups formation and linkage
building to ensure they will actually benefit from the training. In a way, the
training is only the starting point and Welthungerhilfe has put much effort to
communicate this to partners and motivate them to do their utmost to actually
reach sustainable outcomes by accounting for each trainee.
The main
factors that the project partners consider are the following:
§
Capacity building and continuous support of each trainee for a defined
time frame of one year: The
quality of the training is an important requisite to ensure the impact of the
intervention however along with it post-training support for trouble shooting
and advice towards initiating the trade/activity was found equally important. After
the training the trainees are not left on their own but guided to experience
the business cycle under expert supervision. They are also facilitated to
develop their business plan and share the same with Banks, Financial
Institutions and Government Departments for support. A number of trainees have
already received support for initiating their enterprise/trade. 51% trainees
have (out of 1377 trainees trained till October’2011) established grant/ credit
linkages whereas 25% have already received financial support post training. In
the VET program both components- quality training and post training support- have
contributed significantly towards
lifting the confidence and skill level of the trainees so that they can
pursue the trade without any external support in future.
§
Establish and strengthen self-organization: The trainees at village and cluster level
are facilitated to initiate their activity groups. Individual trainees having
tiny production units are made part of an activity cluster resulting into
economies of scale. Common procurement and marketing is encouraged. This in
turn contributes towards making business units more viable.
This self-organization process is
strengthened by Community planning and monitoring exercises.
The group analyses its situation and defines the parameters (e.g. skills+
attitude, economic, social, cultural etc.) that contribute to the problem
situation. Based on these parameters goals and milestones are defined to
improve their situation. In a time interval of 2-6 month the group meets again
to monitor the progress of their action. In this way, group cohesion is
strengthened, ownership for the action is created and self-confidence of the
group is strengthened. A very successful example is the case of the Rabbit
marketing group in the DRCSC project.
§
Efforts are being initiated to connect the whole sellers with the
producers to create short and sustainable value chains. For every trade the potentials of the
producers, markets and marketing options are carefully explored through
marketing studies. Good cooperation has been established with the
§
Once the trainings are conducted the groups are being facilitated to
manage the processes for collective marketing and procurement of inputs and
services. Efforts are being given in
forming small group of Ecopreneurs taking up similar trades from nearby
areas and making them learn the management of their operations so that post
intervention these groups are able to manage these activities and also
negotiate efficiently with the market. Till October’ 2011 60% trainees have been organized into activity
groups and 54% trainees have been supported to identify market for their
products/services.
Apart from the described practices that are directly part of the
current EU-funded intervention, the project partners have also developed ideas to
build upon the existing interventions and bring Welthungerhilfe and partner
programs on VET to another level – . Most important plans are:
§
Long-term program approach to progressively develop certain trades and
support groups: It
is important to mention that Welthungerhilfe and the partners have a
longer-term vision in working in the areas and also on certain trades. This
continuity of support is critical to progressively build knowledge and groups.
On Tussar or Lac production for instance RKM and Welthungerhilfe have been
working since many years, while the current program gives new inputs into the
production cycle through use of better inputs, knowledge and further improving
the management of host trees. In this sense, the project partners have also
plans to further develop some of the new trades, for instance palm sugar, in a
systematic manner and through support that will extend the scope of EU-funded
program.
§
Also on partner-level, there are institutional perspectives that go
beyond the current program. Notably, a number of training centers will be shaped into “Community
College” in the nearer future to deliver 6-month courses modules on sustainable
farming, food processing, NTFPs etc to young leaders and entrepreneurs. The
action aims at Community Colleges as independent entities that can meet their
costs through diversified sources, e.g. public and private funds as well as moderate
course fees. The framework
for the community colleges are good: There is further growing demand for rural
produce at good quality, government has committed to support such initiatives
financially and there are options to certify such courses in order to make them
more attractive to the youth.
