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Vol. 03 No. 01 April 2017

In this issue

Guest Column 02

Sportlight On 05

CEMCA News 07

Success Story 13

Research Shows 15

Case Study 18

Regional Round Up 21

Forthcoming Events 24

From Director’s Desk

With best wishesDr. Shahid Rasool

“To ensure continuing prosperity in the global economy, nothingis more important than the development and application ofknowledge and skills.”

- Martin Rees

V ocational Education and Training (VET)and Skill competency, in today’sglobalised world, seem more important

than formal education, as they increase hope forlivelihoods and contribute towards sustainabledevelopment. Ideally education should ensure thatthe educated have some skills for livelihood. Buteducational systems,owing to the lack of focus onexperiential learning, could seldom ensure this.Therefore, an alternative system, called VET, wasbuilt to cater to the demands of industry andyouth. The increasing global demand for skillpersons, however, created an urgency and forcedgovernments to focus on quantity at the cost ofquality.

When the buzz about the demographic dividendstarted, private players were also encouraged toimpart short-term skill training. This was the timeNSDC was formed in India. Bangladesh created theNSDC Secretariat. Pakistan started special focuson Skill Development, especially with the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being set up.While speed in skilling the youth is desired, thesubstance and quality should not be compromised.

But in this number driven, target driven world,human beings have been reduced to mere numbers– how many impacted, how many trained, placedand how much money made? The irony is thatmore we run after these numbers the lesser weachieve. Conversely, more we run after quality thenumbers improve automatically. As quality ensuresbetter employment for youth, it automaticallyattracts more of them. Quality trainers, therefore,are the very essence of any skill developmentorganization. Sadly, many institutions think that

investing in development of trainers is anavoidable overhead. Whereas the organisationslike the World Bank and Asian Development Bankare focussing more on creation of infrastructure,we at CEMCA try to focus on people -the trainersand trainees. CEMCA recognizes “VocationalTrainers” as the pivot on which quality andquantity can be achieved. We, therefore, buildcapacity of trainers to deliver quality trainingusing better resources and pedagogies.

Another issue facing skill development ismobilizing youth for training. Despite providingfree training, food and accommodation, trainingproviders struggle to attract youth for skillingprogrammes and retain their interest. This isbecause none of the interventions so far isfocusing on employee satisfaction anddissemination of positive skilling stories. CEMCAthrough Community media, is motivatingvocational trainers, enhancing their capacity,supporting them, listening to them and urgingthem to speak up and connect with thecommunity as an agency for mobilization of youthfor the skilling ecosystem.

CEMCA in its various interventions is integratingCommunity Media and is constantly looking atsuccess stories, the world over, which can beadopted and adapted to benefit the massesespecially the youth, attracting them to Skillinginitiatives. The idea is to assist governments andorganisations in attracting youth for skilldevelopment programmes and providing qualitytraining to ALL, leaving no one behind.

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Guest Column...

Young Women’s Voices at Work

Dr. Orlanda Ruthven

Tarang Vaani, a collaborationbetween Gram Tarang and

Gram Vaani and supported bythe ILO, is an audio mobilephone-based platform foryoung women moving into

employment far from home.In helping young women startand sustain careers, TarangVaani hopes to support the

transformative andempowering effects of a first-

time job.

1. The upheaval

“BANGALORE, India — The factoryfloor is going full throttle when thenew girls walk in. Everywhere is thethrumming of sewing machines, thehum of fans, the faint burning smell ofsteam irons. On narrow tables thatrun between the machines, half-assembled Marks & Spencerminiskirts are thrust forward byfistfuls. The tailors, absorbed in thetask of finishing 100 pieces per hour,for once turn their heads to look.

“The new girls smell of the village.They have sprinklings of pimples.They woke well before dawn toprepare themselves for their first dayof work, leaning over one another’sfaces in silence to shape the edges ofeach eyebrow with a razor blade.Their braids bounce to their hips,tight and glossy, as if woven by asurgeon. On their ankles are silver

chains hung with bells, so when theywalk in a group, they jingle”,

Ellen Barry, New York Times,24th September, 2016.

Barry is writing about young Oriyawomen arriving in Bangalore to take upjobs in India’s apparel factories. Otherthan their two month stay in GramTarang’s residential training centre, it isperhaps the first time they have left theirdistrict. They have moved from village tocity. They have become shop floorworkers while before they were daughters,sisters, students. They have beenuprooted from the nurturing ifconstraining net of the extended family tothe girly gabble of the hostel and wardenrule.

Evidence shows us that upheavals asdramatic as this are contexts for change.They transform the particularistic identityof villagers into a shared identity as

workers on the shop floor. Theyaccelerate the renegotiation of genderroles, as women become keybreadwinners perhaps more than theirbrothers. Young female migrants earning aregular living become mobile and ‘livetheir own lives’ by new norms and codes.They delay marriage, have new kinds ofrelationships… at the cost of easyreintegration back in the village.

The upheaval here is special because it’snot altogether spontaneous: Barry iswriting about girls who have joined oneof the many “PLT” (placement-linkedtraining) programmes which have arisenthanks to government funds. Ostensiblyabout skilling India, such programmeshave the enormous side effect offacilitating migration. Well over a third of‘placed’ boys and girls were placed out ofstate in last year’s Ministry of RuralDevelopment’s DDU-GKY scheme, and inthe labour surplus state of Odisha, thiswas almost two thirds. The young womenof Barry’s account are a handful of the400 girls whom Gram Tarang trains,escorts across the country and places inapparel factory jobs every month.

2. Positive disruption andtransformation

From the viewpoint of developmentcommunications, the question we mustpose is what opportunities for changepresent themselves in the context of suchupheaval, be it synthetic, and how canour interventions support these changesfor the most positive effect?

Even after coming to Bangalore, there aremany factors which keep the youngwomen firmly in the folds of their familyand patriarchy, which appear to reducethe opportunity for change:

• Many girls find their mobility limitedto the shuttle between hostel andfactory. Those around them and theythemselves may believe the lessexposure the better, and non-

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assimilation to the city is viewed asa safeguard more than a failing.

• They take calls from home and arefrequently under pressure to returnto the village after a few months.Short stays are OK but long onesviewed with misgivings.

• Leaders from ‘back home’ (trainersand recruitment agents from GramTarang) continue to play animportant role in their lives, relayingmessages from family, securingsupport in an emergency and evengiving advice when grievancesarise.

In short, the context of upheavalprovided by the transition fromintermittent un/underpaid work in thevillage to full-time work in urbanindustry, holds out scope fortransformation and empowerment. Butfor that to happen, we have to ensureyoung women are not too cocooned orchaperoned to experience the upheaval.In other words, we have to ensure thatthe upheaval is big enough so thatdisruption – the essential precursor tochange - kicks in. What do we mean bythis?

• They must be able to resisthomesickness so they stay longerthan a couple of months.

• When pressure to return steps upfrom relatives in the village, theymust not succumb, instead musterthe tools and negotiating skills toresist.

• Their new identities as employeesneed to be felt with full force. Beingan employee is a completely newrelationship for these women, whichimplies duties, rules, procedures,rights.

• It must be worthwhile for theseyoung women to stay. The wage isgood enough but what abouthaving fun, having a fuller life whereone is learning more than justmeeting production targets?

• It must be possible for themto overcome hitches at theirworkplace destination, sothey don’t have to retreathome. Such hitches are verydiverse: fights withroommates, coping withreduced water supply andstrange food, illness,breakups with boyfriendsand so on.

If these conditions are in place,the young migrants will stay forlonger, build careers, assimilatein their new homes and launchon a path of self-efficacy.

But we must also recognize thatdisruptive change goes both ways, sohow can we try to ensure it’s morepositive than negative? More critical still,when we get down to the detail of thekinds of attitudes and behaviours wewant to encourage, we may not alwaysagree. While one person might considerthat taking a boyfriend or quitting one’sjob and shopping around for higherearnings is a gateway to empowerment,the next person may see it as a gateway tonew vulnerabilities and exploitation. And

Changed situation, put positively

Exposure to new place (language, city,habits), creeping towards assimilation

Learning from peers (fighting it out), newsocial networks, new adult friendships, lifeskills

Becoming a worker (non kin, standardizedsystem of rules & procedures)

Wage earner (evidence of paid work astransformative)

Increased productivity (large factoryversus small farm); even if ‘exploited’, thisis better than being left to languish inidleness and poverty

Exposure to new professional relationships

The same situation, put negatively

Sense of marginalization, at risk fromtraffic, heights, new disease, etc.

New friendships mean elopement,banishment from village

Inability to fit back in to village, rejectionof farm work

Exploitative families make their daughters‘cash cows and neglect their daughters’marriage arrangements because they wanttheir income

Churning jobs, flat wages, poor careerprogression, health hazards of the grind

Masculinity, sexual exploitation, failure tonegotiate, bringing about ‘sullied’ reality

this, in turn, leads us to what we mean byempowerment? Do we temper ourdefinition to choice/ agency/ controlwithin the gendered structures ofconstraint, to use Naila Kabeer’s phrase,or do we agree that it needs to be moredisruptive than that, that the structuresthemselves need to be challenged?

The table below provides some examplesof how the same change can be viewed ashaving widely differing effects:-

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3. A media intervention tosupport positivetransformation through full-time work

When Gram Tarang and Gram Vaanigot together to discuss the creation ofan audio service for these youngwomen, accessible through their basicmobile handsets, they wanted:

• a platform to communicate with ourtrainees (entertainment, guidance onsolving problems, information)

• a service which should be theirs, ledby them (a social network in whichpeer learning and self reflection wouldabound), including bridging the gapwith their homes

• a means to stay connected to theiralumni, learn of their views andpathways, a route to understand betterthe impact and their transformation.

Tarang Vaani uses the platform built byGram Vaani for its core brand, MobileVaani. It is an IVR technology requiringno smart phones or data. Users give amissed call and get a call back. Theylisten to a playlist (typically a mix ofscripted content and user-generated)which is changed once a day so thatwhen young workers finish work at 5.30pm, they can hear a new list. Listeners cannavigate the playlist, comment onsomething and record their content whileonline. This content is published withinone or two days, there by inspiringfurther contributions.

The inherently user-contributed (bottomup) character of Tarang Vaani means itsmessaging may be muted compared tomainstream media. Its pace may also beslower since it reflects the low key andquotidian pace of its user-contributors.But, as a counter to this, the platform isnot only a reflector of where itscontributors are at; it is also an agent ofchange, in the way it facilitates new kindsof engagement, information flow, socialnetworks and mobilization of commonlisteners.

We are only five months old (havinglaunched in November 2016). We receive100+ calls per day and have accumulated2500 unique users (across Bangalore andOdisha) and 5-10 contributions daily.

The mainstay of the user-contributedcontent are songs, shayaris (short poemsor riddles) and stories. The guidance, peerlearning and self-reflection we expectedhas not burst forth as such, but, if we lookclosely, we see the allegory of life skills inthe stories, the creative expression in theshayari, etc. Clearly these young womenare comfortable with certain expressiveforms. To this extent, such expressiveforms are gendered. Debate or argument isperhaps seen as masculine.

This begs the questions: how can we usethese allegorical, less direct forms tochannel our messages? And how can wesupport our listeners to develop their self-expression (sharing, peer learning etc)through such forms?

The other form is testimony, sometimes inthe form of letters home or one-on-oneinterview. The young women are highlyfocused on their narratives of the journeyfrom village to Bangalore, and throughthese accounts, reflections on detailedexperience gradually emerge: what thisupheaval has meant, for them, for theirfamilies.

It is presumed that empowermentmust mean an increase in autonomy,and agency (in the sense of ourcapacity to act) is conflated with this.The young women’s accountspresent a challenge to this view: whatif agency is relational? The mainmotivation of these women is clearlyto enhance and consolidate their role

in the family rather than distancethemselves. It is up to their families toaccept it. This is nicely illustrated in thefollowing accounts.

“Villagers and neighbours may say “no”[to sending girls off for work] butconsider this: if money is required backhome, 10-20 rupees, our families nolonger have to ask for favours fromanybody, they no longer have to stretchtheir begging hand out to anybody. Nowwe work for one month and sendRs.5000-6000 to our family. Now theycan manage the house hold expensessmoothly. Why should we listen toothers?”

“People in the village claim that work istoo hard for girls. If there is a boy athome, why should parents send out theirdaughters to work. If we are right and ourparents are right, then everything is rightfor us. I have been working outside forfive years now. But people still talk.People say that Bijaya Kumar Behra’sdaughter is going out and doing this andthat. But I am doing exactly what I amsupposed to do. People say that a bombhas exploded when mustard seeds burst.If boys can go and work, then why can’tgirls do it? We also need to stand on ourown feet. Should someone else continueto provide for us forever?”

Seeking to combine development practice with research and writing, Orlanda’s focus ison employment and labour standards in India. She is especially interested in how firsttime jobs can become transformative opportunities for youth. Until recently shemanaged an ILO-funded project with Gram Tarang Orissa, to pilot new kinds ofsupport to young women entering full-time employment in India’s apparel industry. Shehas just joined Gram Vaani, a community media organisation, on a project to extend alow-tech audio platform to workers’ groups across the country. She has a PhD inDevelopment Studies from the University of Oxford and has published on India’sskilling programmes, labour regulation and financial behaviour of the poor (she is co-author of Portfolios of the Poor, Princeton, 2009). Over the years, she has worked onIndia for various organisations in the public, research and consultancy sectors,including Impactt, ODI, OPM, IDPM and DFID.

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Spotlight On

Bultoo Radio: Connecting the Base ofPyramid

Shubhranshu Choudhary

In the world of mass communication,today’s Indian society can be divided inthree castes (categories). Caste is avedicsystem of stratification of Hinducommunity. One section of the Indiancommunity can be labelled as Internetcaste. This group comprises of peoplewho have access to computer andinternet, who most of the time live in theirown world of internet. Second is themobile phone caste, comprising of thepeople who own a mobile phone, haveaccess to phone signals and some moneyto make phone calls. They are often in ahurry to join the internet caste. Third andlowest is Bultoo caste. Some from thiscommunity own a mobile phone but donot have access to mobile signals at theplaces where they live and seldom havemoney to make a phone call.

The Bultoocaste was earlier categorisedas the radio caste which has no voice foritself, it can only listen. One mobile phonedevice is shared amongst many peopleand used mainly as a tool to listen tosongs and taking pictures. They useBluetooth technology available in theirphones to transfer audiofiles amongst each other.They cannot pronounceBluetooth and call itBultoo.

People from the earlierradio caste tell me, “Wedo not listen to radio anymore. It does not speak inour languages and talksof some Obama andOsama who we do not

understand. It hardly talks of anythingwhich is related to our lives. Radio isalmost dead for us”.

But they use Bultoo a lot now. Bluetoothis probably the most used communicationtool in remote areas of India today. Evensmall children know how to transfer musicfiles from one phone to another. If you goto any remote village in India today youwill find at least half a dozen mobilephones. They often do not have mobilesignals in their villages so they can’tmake a phone call. Mobile phone is thenew tape recorder to listen to songs andtake pictures. When they go to marketapart from doing buying and selling theyalso go to a download centre and buysome songs which they later share witheach other using bluetooth which doesnot cost anything.

CGnetSwara (www.cgnetswara.org) isusing this pattern to develop Bultoo radio- a democratic intervention. People walkto a place where mobile signal is availableto record their songs and messages toCGnetSwara server (computer connectedwith internet and a phone with InteractiveVoice recorder software). A trained team ofeditors from the same community knittogether a radio program using thiscontent; in the dialect of the communityon their computers sitting anywherewhere they have internet connection.Once the program is ready it can bedownloaded by calling the same servernumber. If the person has an internetconnection which is rare in remote areasthen they can get the radio program using

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internet dependent features likeWhatsApp. If they do not haveinternet then they download theaudio and record it on their featurephones.

Once the radio programme isavailable as an audio file, thisCommunity Media Vendor (CMV)goes door to door in thecommunity and delivers Bultooradio to each customers’ phone.The program can be heard andshared as many times as one wants.The programs are in local language, bylocal people and raises local issues whichis the Unique Selling Proposition of theintervention.

When the CMV delivers Bultoo radioprogramme, s/he collects goods which thecustomer wants to sell to urban markets ina barter; thus creating market linkages forthe rural producer. Collected goods areoften organic agriculture products, forestproduce, handicrafts or some rural artifactwhich has high demand in urban markets.This way the model builds in self-sustainability.

Earlier, the people from Bultoo castepeople were selling the same goods inlocal market for lesser price. CMV givesthem access to lucrative markets inexchange of their contribution to Bultooradio. Earlier there was no supply chainfor the goods due to lack ofcommunication. Bultoo radio creates one.

The producer of news in this model;called Bolkar, is not paid for the contentcreation, especially for news reporting.Like in political democracy anyone shouldnot be paid for their votes otherwise theywill vote for the richest. Similarly,information must come out of concernand must not be paid for. What we need isJournalism of Concern rather thanJournalism for vested interest as we havein the current mainstream model. Thecommunication platform for thecommunity needs to be dependent on theeconomy of the same people for whom itoperates as much as possible so that it

remains independent and self-reliant. Itmust also raise money for the people whowork for managing and improving thesupply-chain of goods andcommunication.

When we have a critical mass of Bultooradio stations which are also called“VoiceBooks” then we can do datajournalism to find the best trending news.

This can be the basis of ademocratic and representativenews unlike the currentaristocratic and non-scientificmodel of mainstream media andinternet based social mediaplatforms which reaches only asmall minority. Thiscommunication platform ismonitored by electedrepresentatives, called Jodkarsfrom the community to make it aplatform for responsibleJournalism.

We cannot have a robust politicaldemocracy unless we have democraticcommunication. This experiment showsus that democratic media is possible alsoin remotest parts of the world who are yetto get connected to internet and mobilephone signals. Internet, mobile andBultoo can create a democratic and freemedia for a country like India.

Mr. Shubhranshu Choudhary is a journalist and co-founder of CGnetSwara, world’sfirst Community Radio on mobile phone (www.cgnetswara.org). He worked as BBCSouth Asia Producer for more than 10 years before starting work on experiments forDemocratization of Media in forests of Central India. He won Google Digital Activismaward in 2014 and was also named as one of 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2014 byForeign Policy magazine. Currently, he is trying to set up Community Mediaentrepreneurship College in a remote tribal village in Central India where he doesfarming with students to create a self-sustainable school to create self-sustainablerural community media entrepreneurs. He can be reached at shu@cgnet.in

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CEMCA News

MoU Signed between ORMAS-CEMCA-ASD

Finalisation of Draft coursematerials as OER for professionalenhancement of teacher educatorsin Inclusive settingsCommonwealth Educational Media Centrefor Asia (CEMCA) has been supportingthe development of skill based open anddistance learning courses using OER. Inthis regard, CEMCA has initiateddeveloping a modular programme entitledProfessional Development Programme foran inclusive education system incollaboration with Netaji Subhas Open

University (NSOU),Kolkata. A two-dayWorkshop onFinalisation of Draftcourse materials asOER for professional enhancement ofteacher educators in Inclusive settingswas organized by the School ofEducation, Netaji Subhas Open University

& Commonwealth Educational MediaCentre for Asia (CEMCA) at NetajiSubhas Open University (NSOU), Kolkatafrom 13th -14th February, 2017. The

April 12, 2017, New Delhi – The4thAustralia-India Skills Conference washeld on April 10th and 11th, 2017 in TajPalace, New Delhi where the PrimeMinisters of Australia and India agreedon collaborating to make India a SkillingHub for the world. There were severalpanel discussions held during the two

day conference and many a businesspartnerships forged.

Commonwealth Educational MediaCentre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhisigned a tripartite MoU with AustralianSkill Development Education Pvt. Ltd.(ASD) and Odisha Rural Development

Marketing Society (ORMAS) to provideInternational Training and AssessmentCourses(ITAC) certification to 1000vocational trainers involved in skillingrural youth in the state of Odisha. TheMoU was signed by Dr. Shahid Rasool,Director, CEMCA, Shri P. J. Nath, IAS,State Mission Director, ORMAS, Shri B.N.Das, Executive Director, ORMAS, Mr.Suresh Padmanabhan, CEO, REACH forTraining and Mr. Rao Vamaraju, Director,ASD Education Pvt. Ltd. This programmeaims at improving the quality ofvocational training in the state of Odishaunder DDU-GKY by building the capacityof the trainers especially focussing onimparting best pedagogical or platformskills to the trainers. The project will runfor a year and will be evaluated by a thirdparty for its effectiveness. Theintervention aims at addressing the dearthof good quality vocational trainersespecially in rural and semi-urbanlocations.

The MoUs were exchanged in thepresence of Senator the HonourableSimon Birmingham MP, Minister forEducation and Training, Government ofAustralia and Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy,Honourable Minister for SkillDevelopment and Entrepreneurship,Government of India.

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workshop deliberated on following issuesto resolve the progress and review of theongoing project:

• Finalisation of Draft course materials,PPTs & A-V lectures

• Mode of delivery of the course

• Target learners & expected size of thelearners

• ·Announcement for courseregistration

The workshop was inaugurated by theHon’ble Vice Chancellor, NSOU and wasgraced by Prof. Amitav Mishra, SoE,IGNOU & Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi,Programme Officer (Education), CEMCA.All the course editors & content writerswere present. Dr. A. N. Dey, Director, SoE,NSOU delivered the welcome address. Dr.

Manas Ranjan Panigrahi & Dr. SumantaChattaraj, Project Director, SoE, NSOUreported the status and progress of theproject. Prof. Amitav Mishra discussed onthe concerning issues of the project. Allthe respective editors presented draftcourse contents from their respectiveunits before the house for validation.Suggestions and recommendations werewell appreciated and accepted for furtherand finalisation of the draft contents.

At the end of the 2-day workshop, thefollowing course of action and timelineswere agreed upon:

• The final content material of the SLMafter vetting will be prepared by25th Mar, 2017.

• The supplementary A-V materials,

appropriate PPTs etc. will be preparedby 15th April, 2017

• The course will be delivered using ablended approach.

• Expected users may be wide, rangingfrom researchers, teacher educators,teachers and pupil teachers.

• The MOOC registration may launchfrom July 2017.

“We sincerely believe that through suchplatform, the users will develop a betterand comprehensive understanding aboutthe concept of inclusive education, itsmagnitudes and the socialresponsibilities”. With these words, theworkshop concluded followed by a formalvote of thanks.

Finalisation of OER repositoryand assigning of CC license toEducational Resources of NSOUThe “Meeting-cum-Workshop for Finalisation of OERrepository and assigning of CC license to EducationalResources of NSOU” was held on 16th February, 2017 at11:00am in the Board Room of Netaji Subhas Open University(NSOU), Kolkata which was a review meeting of the projectentitled “OER Initiatives for ICT enabled Programme ofNetaji Subhas Open University” with support from CEMCA.All the five members of NSOU OER committee were present inthe meeting along with CEMCA consultant Professor UmaKanjilal, Professor of LIS, Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU andRegistrar of Netaji Subhas Open University. The main focus ofthe meeting was to:

i) Recommend the revised OER Policy,

ii) Assign suitable CC licenses for different print and non-printeducational resources of NSOU and

iii) Demonstrate prototype design of NSOU OER Repository.

Ms. Barnali Roy Choudhury & Dr. Anirban Ghosh, ProjectCoordinators gave the Present status of the project and alsopresented the revised OER policy which was circulated to all themembers present in the meeting. A prototype of the OERrepository design and system was presented and all membersprovided their inputs. Educational resources of the university indifferent forms and formats were also identified and the memberspresent in the meeting recommended CC licenses suitable foreach type of educational content. The Consultant from CEMCArequested the team from NSOU to host OER Repository withinthe stipulated timeframe and suggested to adopt CC licenses asper the OER policy of the university.

NationalConsultation on OERPolicy for HigherEducation in IndiaNew Delhi, March 06, 2017: On therequest of Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment (MHRD), Government ofIndia, the Commonwealth Educational

Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), NewDelhi, organized a National Consultationon Open Educational Resource (OER)Policy for Higher Education in India. Theconsultation took place at Hotel Oodles inChattarpur New Delhi on Friday, 3rd

March, 2017. The objectives of theNational Consultation on OER policy forHigher education in India were:

• Sharing experiences of OER practiceand policy of other countries;

• Sharing experiences of OER practiceand policy of Open Universities inIndia; and

• Developing insights and strategies fordrafting OER policy for HigherEducation in India.

The National consultation was conductedunder the Chairmanship of Prof.Nageshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor,Uttarakhand Open University, for draftingOER policy. CEMCA, with support from

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COL, also invited an international expert,to share the international experience onOER Policies & Practices. Forty FiveAcademic Leaders, Vice-Chancellors ofIndian Open Universities, Directors ofDirectorates of Distance Education,teachers from Central Universities, StateUniversities, National institutions, CivilSocieties and all the members of theAdvisory Cum Consultative Committeeparticipated in the National Consultation.

The consultation commenced with thekey note address by Prof. V.S. Prasad,

Former Director, National Assessment andAccreditation Council (NAAC); followedby a presentation on ‘OER PolicyDevelopment and International Practices’by Mr. Neil Butcher, South Africa. Thiswas followed by the sharing ofexperiences on OER practice and policy inIndia by Prof. Ravindra Kumar, ViceChancellor for IGNOU, Prof. MangalaSunder Krishnan for National Programmeon Technology Enhanced Learning(NPTEL) and Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao forUniversity of Hyderabad, which set thescene for the subsequent group

discussions.The presentationshighlighted various examples of OER inpractice, both in India and internationally.It was encouraging to note that therewere already good examples ofdeveloping and sharing OER in India thatmight be emulated by others.

Building on the introductorypresentations, participants were dividedinto five group viz. (1) Goals, Mission,Vision, (2) Copyrights and Licencing (3)Curriculum Development, Teaching andlearning (4) Capacity Building (5)Infrastructure, Connectivity and QualityAssurance, to deliberate on key aspectsof a national OER policy for highereducation in India. After the discussion,the moderator of each group presentedtheir issues and challenges to beconsidered in policy development.

The proceedings of the consultativemeeting and minutes of the Advisory CumConsultative Committee meeting wereconsidered for drafting of OER policy forHigher Education in India.

Engaging CR Stations to produceCLP related to Skill DevelopmentDhaka, Dec 20th, 2016: Right after Vijay Diwas, on Dec 17th,Rupantar, an NGO based in Bangladesh, with support fromCEMCA, launched a programme for 5 CR Stations, namely, RadioNalta, Radio Lokobetar, Radio SagarGiri, Radio NaF and RadioPollikontho with an intent to engage these CR Stations to bringabout a positive impact in the lives of people by helping themsecure sustainable livelihoods. The project has been designedwith five distinct parts. The first part involves conducting a

Baseline Survey for about 1000 youth in the community tounderstand their aspirations and their current level ofeducation and exposure to opportunities available invocational education. This survey will also help to identifytraditional skills of the community and the challenges theyare facing in becoming sustainable. The survey will befollowed up by Focussed Group Discussions leading toidentification of issues around which Community LearningProgrammes will be produced. There will be about 100 radiospots and an equal number of long episodes produced bythe CR Stations which will also conduct Field Activities forthe Community helping youth enroll into vocational

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courses, open university or find employment or self-employment. This is quite an ambitious intervention and thefirst of its kind which guarantees financial sustainability to theCR Stations. The programme was inaugurated by the CEO ofNational Skill Development Council Secretariat, Shri A B MKhorshed Alam. Mr. Khorshed Alam, addressed the gatheringand urged them to work towards building a “SkilledBangladesh”, so that the citizens of Bangladesh findlivelihoods with dignity within the country and outside thecountry. The Executive Directors of Rupantar, Shri RafiqulKohkan and Shri S. K. Guha were present in both theinauguration and valediction of the programme. Shri Saifuddin

Sabuj from Rupantar conducted the three-day orientationprogramme with great efficiency and effectiveness and wasassisted by Shri Sumon Francis Gomes as the technicalresource person. Dr. Kabir Mia, formerly working with ILO, toldthe group about the National Skill Development Policy andexplained the role of various stakeholders in the Skill Ecology.Dr. Ankuran Dutta, HOD, Dept. of Media & Journalism, GauhatiUniversity was the resource person who equipped theparticipants with the required knowledge to produceCommunity Learning Programmes. This programme marks thebeginning of a long journey set in front of the participating CRStations, Rupantar & CEMCA.

Skill Development Trainingthrough Community RadioJan 10, 2017, Guwahati – A week long capacity buildingprogramme on Integration of Community Learning Programme(CLP) in Skill Development leading to sustainability of theCommunity Radio Stationswhile transitioning passivelisteners to active learnerswas held from Jan 2nd to 7th,2017 at SVD House, AirportRoad, Borjhar. Theprogramme was organized byDr. Anamika Ray MemorialTrust (ARMT) incollaboration with CEMCA.The workshop was declaredopen by Prof. ChandrabhanuPattanayak, Director,Institute of KnowledgeSocieties and former Advisorto Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship whosaid, “It is really important for us to understand that skilldevelopment and livelihood building are inter-related; hencethis workshop is designed to skill the community radio tobring in all-round change in society”.

Altogether 20 representatives from 8 CR Stations from eastern Indiaparticipated, namely, Radio Luit, Radio Brahmaputra, Radio JnanTaranga from Assam, Radio Snehi from Bihar, Radio Bulbul fromOdisha, Radio Jadavpur University and Salesian Radio of WestBengal and Radio Integrated Community from Manipur. Ms. DeviLeena Bose, Dr. Ankuran Dutta, Dr. Badab Burman and Ms.Sanjogita Mishra were resource persons who gave the participants

an opportunity to appreciateSkill Ecosystem of India whiledoing exercises on ConceptMapping and Message Matrix.

The participants are expected toconduct Baseline Survey of theyouth (500-1000 youths) oftheir community prior tostarting production of CLPs. Inthe week-long training camp,they also designed aquestionnaire for the youth inorder to understand theiraspirations, existing level of

education, exposure to avenues of skill development & livelihoodsand challenges & threats to their traditional livelihoods. Thisprogramme will run for about a year and will include Field Activitiesin the Community, related to Skill Development, Employment,Entrepreneurship, Open Schooling, etc.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)Integrated with EducationMar 30, 2017, Kolkata – A One-Dayworkshop was held on March 29, 2017 atKolkata by International College andCEMCA to increase “Awareness aboutRecognition of Prior Learning (RPL)” and

integrate it with Education for the workersemployed in Automobile Sector. Theawareness workshop was held to launch ayear-long programme aimed at mobilizingand recognizing at least 2500 youth

currently engaged in automobile servicingand sales in rural and semi-urban pocketsaround Kolkata. Along with the RPLprovided by Automotive SkillDevelopment Council (ASDC), theseyouth will be hand held to pursueeducation through National Institute ofOpen Schooling (NIOS), Netaji SubhashOpen University (NSOU) or elsewhere; as

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apt for their current education andconstraints.

The Key note speaker for the workshop,Shri Jaikant Singh, Head of Strategy andProgramme Development, National SkillDevelopment Corporation (NSDC) in hisaddress emphasized that Skills andEducation have to go hand-in-hand forthe betterment of the individual. Heprovided clarity to the participants onroles of various organizations likes NSDC,ASDC, NCVT, NIOS etc. and urged theparticipants to take advantage of theofferings of the Government of Indiaespecially in the form of Pradhan MantriKaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) whichlays special stress on RPL.

ASDC was represented by Mr. D. P. Daswho addressed the gathering ofAutomobile Dealers, Garage Owners, TaxiDriver Union Leaders, eRickshaw Unionleaders, etc. whose buy-in is a must forthe success of RPL. Prof. Anirban Ghosh,Director, School of Vocational Studies,NSOU informed the participants about

Making of Master Trainers byORMAS-CEMCA-ASDMar 22, 2017, Bhubaneswar – On March 21, the phase 1 ofthe project titled “Making of Master Trainers” funded byCEMCA was declared successful when 46 out of the 71vocational trainers trained in the intervention were felicitatedand presented the International Trainers’ Assessors’ Course(ITAC) certificate. CEMCA undertook this pilot incollaboration with Odisha Rural development Marketing

Society (ORMAS), the State Implementing Agency (SIA) ofDeen Dayal Upadhyay – Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), a Placement Linked Training Programme (PLTP) run byMinistry of Rural Development (MoRD). CEMCA engaged theservices of Australian Skill Development (ASD) Education Pvt.Ltd. represented by Mr. Senthil Kumar, CEO,for carrying outthis work. ASD Education Pvt. Ltd. is the Indian office of theAustralian Training company called “Reach for Training”. Theyare also NSDC partners in India and have aligned their trainingcurriculum to National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF).

how they and their employees who havecompleted 10+2 studies can pursue abachelor degree while continuing to work.Dr. Rachna Bhatia, Regional Director,NIOS made the most informativepresentation where all participants cameto know the various avenues availabletoday for a school drop out to completehis/her education through openschooling. She said that NIOS and NSDChave already signed an MoU and haveagreed to align their courses to NationalSkill Qualification Framework (NSQF).Ms.Srabani Rai from Community Radio,Jadavpur University talked about howCommunity Radio can help build manybridges between institutions like NSDC,ASDC, NIOS or NSOU and the communityof automobile workers. She invited oneand all to fully realize the potential ofCommunity Radios by participating aslisteners and producers.

The participative audience includedrepresentatives from Tata Motors whowere also co-sponsors, Jyote Motors,

TVS Motors, Mohan Motors, SaneiMotors and Lexus Motors. Md.Safiruddin Sheikh pledged hiscommitment for the project to make a verysuccessful and an effective intervention.

CEMCA in collaboration withInternational College conducted this“RPL Awareness Workshop Integratedwith Education” in Kolkata as a first steptowards a long journey. For the firstphase of implementation Automotivesector has been chosen. The intent is todirectly tie up RPL with education byinviting the multiple stakeholders for theyear-long intervention. The projectinvolves multi-party arrangement wheremobilization cost will be borne byCEMCA, training cost will be borne byInternational College and Certificationcost will be borne by NSDC. There will beenrolment in Secondary and HigherEducation for which there will becooperation sought from NSOU and NIOSRegional Centre.

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The course commenced as planned on the 9th of January 2017.Batch 1 consisted of 26 participants, Batch 2 of 22 and Batch 3of 23 vocational trainers. These trainers belong to variousProject Implementing Agencies (PIAs) or DevelopmentPartners of ORMAS.

The training of 10 days was split into three parts of 3 days, 3days and 4 days interspersed with a week’s break in betweenwhere the trainers went back to their place of work andimplemented their learning in live classroom environment withreal learners. They produced evidences of better engagementwith students as a result of better pedagogy learnt during theintervention. These were being monitored and documented.The trainers were being mentored through groups made onWhatsApp.

Ms. Anuradha Prusty, an ITAC certified and highlyexperienced trainer was engaged by ASD Education Pvt. Ltd.as a Master Trainer. Ms. Niharika Reddy was also engaged as atrainer. Admirable coordination, planning and support wasprovided by Mr. Sree Charan, Operations Head. Mr. SujeetNishank from ORMAS team was the Project Manager andCoordinator. Ms. Sanjogita Mishra, PO Skills, CEMCAprovided her inputs related to transforming classroomenvironment to Activity Based Learning process.

The entire cost of infrastructure, logistics, travel, boarding andlodging of the participating trainee-trainers and ASD team wereborne by ORMAS while CEMCA funded the cost of training,assessment and certification of the trainee-trainers. Of the 46certified about 30 trainers will be taken into phase 2 of “Making

of Master Trainers” where they will impart this training to 1000trainee-trainers. These 30 trainers will be mentored to make thetransition from being a trainer to a Master Trainer while 1000vocational trainers will get trained and certified in the process byASD Education Pvt. Ltd. The benefit of the better quality oflearning will then be passed on to the end learner from ruralOdisha.

CEMCA has also undertaken the project of creatingcontextualized training content related to platform/pedagogicalskills and will make the same available through multiple mediaplatforms under an open license of CC-BY-SA. This content willbe freely available for all vocational trainers to improve theteaching-learning process in their class by engaging better withthe students.

On March 21, 2017 Dr. Shahid Rasool, Director CEMCA,emphasized on the need for improving the quality of vocationaltraining by creating better quality trainers. This interventionaddresses multiple issues, like, improving quality of learning,creating more trainers and increasing the motivation of thevocational trainers.

Shri P. J. Nath, IAS, State Mission Director, ORMAS has beenvery supportive and has been a very dynamic leader bypioneering this intervention. This is the first of its kind in India.Sri B.N. Das, Executive Director, ORMAS recognizes “VocationalTrainers” as the pivot on which Substance and Scale can beachieved in the Skill Mission of India. He has left no stoneunturned to make DDU-GKY Odisha the “model” implementationof the scheme, so much so, that other states and schemes mayadopt their best practices.

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Success Story

ABLE-CEMCA Workshops inGovernment Schools:A Success Story

By conducting Activity Based Learning and Employabilityworkshops, which we call ABLE workshops, CEMCA isattempting to improve the quality of learning in governmentschools which is remarkably different from the private orinternational schools.

The intervention has three components – working with teachers,working with students and improving content. The interestingbit of this intervention is to train the trainer in his/her own environment. While training the trainer, the students take their first

big step towards inculcating some generic employability skills likeSelf-Management, Team Work, being Enterprising andCommunication Skills which are essential in almost all the jobs thatone can think of. Infact, the workshop also involves getting thestudents to talk to some guests, ideally 10 guests per day, whohave had experience of livelihoods. The interaction is wellstructured and is in a controlled environment where the studentsinteract on their own with either strangers or other grown-ups andask inquire and learn about the real world challenges, struggles.This orients the students subtly into planning for a career infuture. By the end of the session the teachers, students and theguests feel enriched. Some of their feedback is pasted here forreference.

ABLE is currently being conducted as a 3-day intensive trainingworkshop for vocational trainers. As part of the workshop the

trainers conducted variousactivities focusing on impartingGeneric Employability skills tothe school children of the Govt.Senior Secondary School whohave opted for vocationalcourse and are studying in 9th,10th, 11th and/or 12th standard.The technique was originallydeveloped by Worktree, aneducation charity based inMilton Keynes, UK, since1992. The activities have furtherbeen contextualized to Indiancontext, especially forgovernment schools Haryana,by a group of ABLE SkillTrainers, namely, Ms. Anupriya

Feedback from Guests & Teachers –

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Feedback from Students –

Khare, Ms. Aruna Naidu, Ms. Meeta Sharma, Ms. Payal Chiband Mr. Aman Vats who also doubles up as a Coordinator tohelp set up the right support system to get the workshops done.

The intervention has been designed using the principles ofadult learning and has four activities packed in a day leaving nostone unturned to make learning fun and effective. Activity one“Mukh-Bandi” helps students know about various careers andjobs, especially, the ones related to vocational skills. Thesecond activity “News Time” improves the presentation skills ofthe participants and helps the students discover the genericqualities required for finding a job. The third activity “Baat-Cheet” helps students in improving their Communication Skillswhile also learning more about the struggles and challenges inthe world of work. The last activity “Production & Quality”inculcates Team Work and helps them understand concepts like5-S, Division of Labour, Principles of Production and Importanceof Quality.

CEMCA started this journey a year ago in partnership withIndian Institute of Skill Development (IISD) in Gurgaon. Therewas an orientation workshop of the trainers in Gurgaon first inwhich 26 trainers from 6 states were trained. The instrument wasthen taken to the field only in Haryana and Punjab and CEMCAreached 12 government schools training an additional 39trainers (4 females and 35 males) and impacting about 1300students, out of which 313 were females and 982 were males.

Over all, the project was a huge success, and Haryana SchoolShiksha Pariyojna Parishad noticed this workshop and reallyadmired the work being done at the school level. Theyimmediately wanted the benefit to be passed on to all VocationalTrainers and invited CEMCA to conduct a few sessions duringthe Training of Vocational Trainers done twice a year in SCERT

Gurgaon. This will integrate one partof the work being done by ABLEwhich is working with teachers toorient them to adopt ABL (ActivityBased Learning) in the regularteaching.

By being able to address theVocational Trainers in one place atthe ToT sessions conducted byHSSPP, CEMCA has alreadyreached more than 600 vocationaltrainers.

The second part of working withstudents for inculcating “GenericEmployability” Skills is yet to bemainstreamed and CEMCA isworking relentlessly towardsachieving the same.

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Research Shows

Baseline Study – Unleashes brillianceof latent talent in rural communities

Dr. Sushmita Malaviya

In 2016, CEMCA catalyzed the baseline studies for NationalCouncil for Science and Technology Communication’s Sciencefor Women’s Health and Nutrition Project. Fourteen radiostations across the country worked with communities to collectinformation related to media habits, access to health facilitiesand socio economic status. The baseline study was designedto help community radio stations delve into programmingaround women’s health and nutrition. While national healthpriorities – anemia, non-communicable diseases, menstrualhygiene, low-birth weight babies, HIV and tuberculosis - werewoven into the questionnaire, the exercise in itself threw upexciting findings about the impact and significance ofcommunity radio communities in the country.

Based on observing and anchoring the baseline in four radiostations, much of what is discussed ahead has not foundmention in the larger data driven reports. All four stations,mentioned ahead, were not only geographically diverse, butcommunity issues and dynamics were very different. What wascommon, though, was the enthusiasm of school/collegeeducated girls and women who participated in the endeavour;in several places, the commitment of young men and their focusto get a job done was equally remarkable.

Starting with something that is often seen, but its implicationsrarely understood: in rural/peri urban parts of India, a group ofgirls and women working together to fill up a lengthyquestionnaire merits a second glance. With expectationsamongst communities constantly rising, the fact that girls and

women are able to use their education tocontribute to something that is otherwisea complex media product brings full circletheir learning and skill building. Given thatparticipating in community radios requirea certain level of skill, like being able toread and write, (sometimes) being able touse computers, the importance of thepresence and contribution of educatedyouth in these rural/semi-rural

communities could not be underscored more. They evidentlyhave a huge and positive advantage in this space and this wasobvious in different radio stations visited.

In feudal and backward Bundelkhand in the states of UttarPradesh and Madhya Pradesh, a group of women mulling over alengthy questionnaire is not only a sight to behold butcompletely worth cheering. Talking to them on the sides revealedthat many of who were educated– some even up to college –candidly admitted that being married into illiterate or barelyliterate families was a setback for them, especially when theywant to educate and while raising their children. It was veryevident that most women who were educated treasured their hard-fought for education and were willing to explore how they couldput it to use at home; the coming of community radios was a God-sent opportunity for them in their community too.

Women from agricultural backgrounds who had left their villages,completed their education or worked in India’s burgeoning privatesector brought another level of expertise to a community radiostation. These women – with their ‘corporate’ background - ralliedaround teams and were keen to deliver on their deliverables – inthis case looking for and identifying voices to be part of theircommunity radio network. It is not enough to set up a radiostation; generating community relevant content is the key andfinding the right voices and grooming them comes easily to thosewho can easily visualize what their end product will look like.Questions like ‘where can I find a resource who knows all thebhajans (devotional songs)’, ‘who in the community sings well’,‘who has a good voice and is a good speaker’ or ‘who is a

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repository of oral stories or the community’s history’, forexample are but some aspects of their new found responsibilitiessuave youngsters in these communities have learnt.

During the baseline survey, each community radio station had asystem of checks and balances for data collection. This waseasily put in place by the stations because they had teams thatwere from the community who were essentially the datacollectors while ‘senior’ teams from the radio station supervisedtheir work. It is important to understand the seamless learningthat was evident: young people were applying their learning tofill questionnaires while the ’seniors’ who were familiar with theobjective of the data collection exercise checked and verified theforms.

Thus, for instance, it was not unusual for a bright data collector– who had finished faster than her other colleagues - to chip inwith verifying forms or help with otherresponsibilities in the data entry or collectionprocess. It would take just a nudge to get her to thedesk, and while she may be hesitant with the first fewforms, she was also quick to pick up the rhythm andsurge ahead. In a five day turn around, from learningthe basics of data collection, verifying forms andsitting at a computer to enter data, the excitementaround these achievements had to be seen to bebelieved. When have we last seen textbookknowledge becoming a tool for the young to use?

It was very evident that this set of skills enabled dataentry to be smoother and much faster. When datawas being collected and entered in real time, it wasfascinating to just watch the young grapple withtechnology and come out ahead. To cope with thevolume of data (1,000 respondents at eachcommunity radio station), extra resources had to beinvariably pulled in. From getting used to working on

a laptop and understanding data entry, manyyoung people worked with knowledge thatthey had only ‘read’ (read theory) about. Theywere faced with the daunting task of enteringforms and completing targets. It was not as ifthere were not a few who were overwhelmed:when a questionnaire is given to you in alanguage you know but the data entry is inEnglish, it takes a while for even the nimbleminded to settle down. But settle down theydid; heads of community radio projects inmany places simply led by example, with seniorresearchers, community volunteers, studentpreparing for entrance exams, anyone whocould, helped in the initial hand-holding.

These community radio stations are also aunique example of how communities can push

themselves out of routine existence. Women across these citieswere managing homes and families and yet were committed to thetask of completing the questionnaires assigned to them. Theirrelationship with their own community and the confidence withwhich they went about their task was but an indication of howknowledge when turned into a skill could lead to futurepossibilities. The realization that collectively communities have aplatform to raise their voice and have a chance of redressal of theirissues and concerns is also growing exponentially. The womenunderstand this and are thus willing to go the extra mile.

In established non-Governmental organizations who work inproject mode, an in-house body of researchers seemed to be ahandy way in handling data efficiently. Also, one could see how ageneration of women have worked very hard (as part of self-helpgroups, for example) to make sure they are able to send theirchildren to school or complete higher education. Interestingly, in

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A former journalist, Sushmita Malaviya, worked with mainstreamThe Hindustan Times and The Central Chronicle (both in Bhopal).She began her career in New Delhi with The Patriot and TheStatesman. She has been the Charles Wallace Visiting Fellow at theCardiff University (UK), and a media fellow for organizations suchas Grouppe Developpment (Kolkata), Sathi (Bengaluru) and aNational Foundation for India, New Delhi. Sushmita has beenfollowing the community radio movement through her writings andhas been visiting many of them as part of research studies. She canbe contacted at sushmitamalaviya@gmail.com

some instances, we saw some of these very children emerge asmedia experts in their own right! They wielded radio equipmentwith dexterity and were quick to conceive audio and videoproductions!

For example, Gauri and Kaushalaya are the lifeline of RadioBundelkhand. Both women come from agricultural backgroundsand their quiet confidence and multitasking skills are theirhallmark. They have overcome several personal obstacles to bewhere they are and are completely at home in the communityradio studio. Making the radio station a platform for theircommunity, they recall that in the village of Baruasagar, Orchhaa young girl was getting married and her mother, during aphone-in programme, called in to say she was not sure if it wasthe right thing to do (her daughter had studied up to Class XII).The Radio Jockey on duty asked the caller to be in touch withthe radio station. When the mother called back, the RJ hadconferred with the team and taken legal advice and even had anoffer for her: Radio Bundelkhand would be willing to train her ifshe was interested!

In the West Indian city of Ahmedabad, SEWA researchers areexperienced hands at complex research. They are, however, alsoquick to identify ‘grassroots researchers’- young students whoare willing to try their hand at something new – and graduallyon boarding them possibly for larger studies.

In the coastal state of Odisha, Radio Namaskar has beenworking with community members featuring not onlycommunity voices but also successfully seeking redressal oftheir concerns. No wonder then that today the radio station isrun by the dynamic Rosalyn, who herself was a communityvolunteer for the station several years ago.

In Shivpuri in the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh,Radio Dhadkhan – despite a series of misses – continues toremain the ‘dhadkhan’ (hearbeat) of the community and women

leaders of the station – many from thesocially excluded and disadvantagedSahayria tribe lend their voice so thatcommunity is able to rise from their positionof social and financial exclusion and becounted by the government and powers-that-be.

Community radios are also a treasure troveof oral history: there are village elders whoknow the history of the community or canconverse or sing traditional songs indialects that are fast disappearing. In Konark(Odisha), Radio Namaskar has close to 2,000folk songs recorded. The one they treasuremost is a wedding song that a father singswhen his daughter leaves his home, whichdates back 200 years!

While the Science for Women project has a focus – it is pertinentthat other Government programmes understand the value of thecapacity that is being built here. To leverage these resources for theSkill India, Clean India and Start Up India movement, diarrhealdiseases, tuberculosis, environment and water conservation aresome immediate priorities.

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Case Study

Implementation of Occupationalhealth & safety practices in thedyeing sector

There are over 250 dyeing enterpriseslocated at Ludhiana (Punjab) which comeunder the small, medium and large sector.The small & medium scale dyeingenterprises are highly energy intensiveandequally polluting in nature. Theworkforce employed in these enterprisesis exposed to unhealthy workingconditions which results in various healthhazards.

The health hazards that affect theworkforce of dyeing enterprises include:

• Exposure to bleaching agents, opticalbrighteners, dyes with strongoxidizing agents, solvents withstrong acidic and alkaline content.

• High level of noise due to theworking parts of the machinery used.

• Ergonomic issues which arise due toimproper working conditions andwrong postures adopted by theworkers.

• The untreated/polluted waterdiscarded from these enterprises getsmixed with the ground water and it

Say YES to Sustainable MSMEs in India

affects the people living in thevicinity of these enterprises.

The above mentioned hazards cause avariety of physical and psychologicalproblems among the workers whichinclude fatigue, anxiety, fluctuation inblood pressure, sleeping disorders,musculoskeletal disorders due toergonomic issues etc.

In order to improve the workingconditions of the workforce engaged inthe dyeing enterprises, variousoccupational health & safety relatedinterventions were carried out in Ludhianaunder a CSR project “Say YES toSustainable MSMEs in India”, funded byYES BANK Limited and implemented byFoundation for MSME Clusters.

The interventions carried out under thisproject for improving the occupationalhealth & safety conditions in dyeingenterprises included:

• Conduction of first aid training byfirst aid expert, Dr. Ashish Mittal, forsensitizing the workers about theimportance of installing a first aid boxwithin the premises of the enterpriseand various first aid techniques thatcan be used in case of an emergency.

• Conduction of safety training bysafety expert, Mr. Pinaki Dasgupta,for sensitizing the workers about thevarious measures that can taken upin order to reduce the risk ofsustaining injuries in the workplaceand for promoting ergonomicallybetter working practices.

• Distribution of PPE (PersonalProtective Equipments) kits amongthe workers containing safetygoggles, helmets, ear plugs, glovesand face masks in order to reduce theimpact of the harmful chemical &dyes to which the workers areexposed to and to reduce the risk ofsustaining injuries.

• Installation of fire extinguisherswithin the premises of the enterprisesfor tacking fire hazards.

• Installation of water purifiers in theenterprises for ensuring theavailability of clean drinking water forthe workforce and preventing thespread of various water bornediseases.

The details of interventions conducted inone such dyeing enterprise of Ludhianaare given below.

Gulaab Dyeing, a small scale dyeingenterprise located at Focal Point,Ludhiana was one of the enterprises inwhich OHS measures were implemented.The owner of the enterprise, Mr. RahulVerma, showed his inclination towardsimplementing measures for improving theworking conditions for his employees.The OHS intervention done in thisenterprise included conduction of a firstaid training, safety training andinstallation of a first aid box within theenterprise.

Sensitizing the workers about theimportance of following various safetypractices within the workplace and aboutthe importance of first aid & the effectiveusage of the first aid box resulted invarious tangible and intangible benefitslike – reduced accident rates, increase in

Since inception, YES BANK has a deep rooted focus on sustainability and throughits Responsible Banking pillar, had been working towards Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development. The BANK believes that CSRand Sustainability in their biggest sense are the purpose of Business and hasembedded them into the core business operations, keeping in mind the impact that ithas on people, planet and prosperity. Real CSR lies in their collective ability to shareresources equitably, accept that everyone has the same rights, and consistently actin the best interest of humanity.

Following are three small case studies of how small changes done for Medium, Smalland Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) related to skill training on Occupational health andsafety practices and Workplace organization have made remarkable impact onproductivity, cost savings and profits.

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the morale of the workers, compliance tolegal/statutory norms, increase in theoverall productivity of the workforce etc.

Dua Industries

M/s Dua Industries started its operationsin 1969 with the objective of supplyingcritical components to the engineeringindustry. The company specializes in C.I.casting in the fields of refrigerationindustry, transmission industry, automobile industry etc and is an OEM forcompanies like Tecumseh Products IndiaLtd, Carrier Aircon Ltd, Electrolux IndiaLtd, GKN Drive Shaft (India) Ltd, MontoMotors Ltd, Automax Ltd, SunriseTransmission Ltd. etc

The feasibility study of the meltingoperations by the technical expert duringthe project “Promoting InnovativeClusters” funded by Department ofScience and Technology showed that bychanging the existing melting technologycalled single blast cupola to divided blastcupola, around 15% coke savings can beachieved. The local fabricator wasidentified and trained on the suggestivedesign of cupola for cleaner production.The analysis of 3 pre intervention runsand 3 post interventionruns showed the cokesavings of 23 tons perannum which isequivalent to Rs 4.61lakhs per annum. Thisintervention was donein year 2010, since thenthe estimated cokesavings in the unit is115 tons of coke cumulatively andmonetary saving of Rs 23 lakhs. This hasenabled increase in melting rate by 34%.In order to ensure sustainability of thisintervention, the workers were trained oncupola operations. Due to standardizationof charge mix, the required temperaturewas maintained, hardness was reducedwhich resulted in reduction of rejectionsto 5-7% which was earlier 10%. Thisensured increase in good casting by4.5%. Also the increase in melting rate

has led to increase in production there byreducing the number of hours ofinvolvement of workers. The reducedworking hours of workers were used inother areas of operation.

Another area which called for interventionincluded controlling maintenance ofworkplace conditions includingoccupational health and safety measuresfor workers.

Therefore, under the Project “Say Yes toSustainable MSMEs in India”, theinterventions were done to improve workplace conditions. Following improvementswere done in the unit.

• The unwanted materials like non-functional machines, motor parts,mould box, generator sets in badcondition etc were either used as rawmaterial in the form of scrap or resold.Due to this the unit could recover Rs1 lakhs due to sale of unwantedmachinery and saving of Rs 20,000-25,000 by using it as raw material inthe form of scrap. This has ensuredavailability of more space for placingmaterial and mould preparation thusincreasing the possibility ofincreasing the production. This also

helped in easy movement of materialand workers.

• Patterns used in moulding processhas been placed in two differentstands-one is running stand whichincludes frequently used patternsand other another includes theremaining patterns provided byclients. This has helped in reducingthe breakage of patterns due to roughhandling and easy identification ofrequired pattern thus saving time of

workers.

• Due to presence of dust in theoperational area, the life of importantmachines like temperature analyser;used for measuring the temperatureof mould was deteriorating. With themaintenance of workplace long life ofsuch machines is ensured.

• The name plates of the differentfunctional areas were missing due towhich raw materials/machines wereplaced by the workers as per theirconvenience and the dedicated space

allocated was not used. With theplacement of name plates the rawmaterial are placed in the dedicatedspace. This also resulted incleanliness and proper managementof workplace in the unit.

• Raw materials like ramming mass,bentonite were placed near thecupola saving time of workers duringcupola run.

• Marking for pathway in the machineshop area for movement of machinesand workers. Along with this,different pallets for good/semi goodand rejected material have been madeavailable. Earlier different type of

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castings was mixed due to which lotof time of workers was involved insegregating the good and rejectedcasting.

• Illumination level has been improvedby installing LED bulbs in themachine shop.

• Water purifier and first aid box hasbeen installed in the unit forproviding safe drinking water andprovision of first aid for the workers.Fire extinguisher has also beeninstalled.

MM Makewell TechnologyCompany

M. M. Makewell Technology Companywas established in 2007. The companyspecializes in manufacturing cast ironelectric motor body’s parts andautomobile parts including tractors andtwo wheelers. They also producepressure tested casting suitable for flame

proof motors,pumps andotherapplication.

One of thechallengesfaced by theunit is themanagement

of workplace conditions and improvingenergy efficiency. Therefore, the unit wasselected under the Project “Say Yes toSustainable Development of MSMEs inIndia” for providing handholding supportin improving energy efficiency in meltingtechnology and also improving workplaceconditions benefitting the workers.

Energy Efficiency

On the basis of analysis of two preintervention log sheets, it was observedthat the melting ratio is low due to low airpressure of blower and improper size oftuyers which was restricting the flow ofair due to which the required temperaturewas not attained. Therefore, the expert

suggested changing the blower of highercapacity which would result increase in airpressure from 11" to 16" and melting ratiofrom 1: 6.7 to 1: 9.

Improving workplace conditions

The unorganized system in theoperational area was leading tomismanagement of the raw material.Therefore, it was decided to providededicated space for different rawmaterials, tools, patterns etc.

• Dedicated space has been created forcoke. Earlier coke was mixed withother raw materials as a result therewas wastage of around 1-2% of thetotal coke per month amounting to Rs32,000- Rs 64,000 per annum which issaved now.

• A tool boxincludingcommonly usedtools has beenprovided to theworkers alongwith stacks forindividualworkers involved in moulding. Thishas ensured time saving inidentifying tools daily.

• Boxes have been provided in themachining area for jigs and fixtures of

Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC) is a pioneering organisation specialising inpromoting of MSMEs through cluster and value chain led development. Established asa trust in June 2005, FMC has experience of working directly and indirectly with over100,000 MSMEs in around 200 clusters in over 15 other countries across the globe.FMC has its corporate office in Delhi and branch/representative offices in the states ofAndhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, andWest Bengal. The organisation can be approached at info@msmefoundation.org

different sized. This again ensuredtime saving in locating jigs andfixtures.

• A dedicated space in the form of rackhas been created for patterns whichare along with codes based on theclient. This has reduced damages ofpatterns which were earlier high dueto rough handling and also time ofworkers is saved due to easyidentification of patterns.

• Pallets have been provided in themachining and grinding area tosegregate the finished/semi-finishedand rejected material. This has helpedthe owner in inventory managementas the inventory has been reducedby 10-15%.

The unwanted machinery, scrap waseither removed from the unit or used asraw material in the unit. The increasedspace can be used to prepare moremoulds per day thus increasing theproduction capacity per day.

Dailymonitoringof mouldingandmachiningis ensuredbymentioning the targets per day on a boardnear their respective areas of operations.This has helped in managing over/underproduction in moulds as target iswritten on board and reduced the chancesof overtime payment to workers as earlierworkers used to make more number ofmoulds than the target for overtimepayment. In case of machining, now thementioned number of material is machinedand dispatched.

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Regional Round Up

Partnering for skill development amongsttribal youth in OdishaThe United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and KalingaInstitute of Social Science (KISS) sign Memorandum of Understandingto support skill development in the state.

30 March, 2017, New Delhi:

UNDP and the Kalinga Institute of SocialSciences (KISS) signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding to expand skillsand entrepreneurship opportunities fortribal youth in Odisha. In doing so, theaim is to reduce povertyand vulnerabilities faced by ScheduledTribes, one of the most vulnerable andexcluded population groups in the

country. The agreement between UNDPand KISS was signed in the presence ofHon’ble Union Minister of Tribal Affairs,Government of India.

Skill development for one of the world’slargest populations of youth is a nationalpriority for India. And with over 18% ofthe state population being youth, thisdemographic potential offers India and itsgrowing economy immense opportunity.

The challenge of ensuring that youngpeople have the skills to meet marketdemands, is particularly acute formarginalized tribal communities, oftenliving in remote locations. Ensuring tribalgroups have access to inclusiveand sustainable livelihoods is key.

The UNDP and KISS partnership aims toalign the aspirations of tribal youth andcompetencies by increasing access toquality, market relevant and area specifictraining programmes for the tribal youth.

Contact information:

Mrinalini Santhanam,Communications OfficerMobile: +91-9560456963eMail: mrinalini.santhanam@undp.org Website: http://www.in.undp.org/content/india/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2017/03/30/partnering-for-skill-development-amongst-tribal-youth-in-odisha.html

eVIN eMPOWERING: Skillingwomen vaccine managers fordigital healthcareWomen health workers in India are adopting andusing technology at last mile health centres toperform their daily tasks of vaccine management in asmarter way.

Women health workers are taking to technology to revolutionizevaccine management in the country. India’s UniversalImmunization Programme, one of the country’s most pivotal publichealth initiatives, is driven by women. More than half the vaccinecold chain handlers responsible for managing vaccine stocks inoptimal quantities and temperatures are women. Using the eVIN

app, they are able to get complete information about vaccinestocks at their storage centres, at the click of a button. “Myvaccine data is in my pocket now and this information hasbecome my power. I get notifications well in time so I place ordersfor vaccines accordingly, and as a result vaccine stock-outs arerare. I am so happy that through this technology I am able to savemore lives,” says Alka Sinha, the vaccine cold chain handler at apublic health centre in Bihar, had never used a smartphone untilshe was introduced to eVIN.

An e-step towards efficient vaccine logistics management, eVIN,the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network is enabling a simplerand smarter way for health workers to perform their routine task ofensuring vaccine availability at all health centres, at all times.

http://www.in.undp.org/content/india/en/home/ourwork/health/successstories/evin-empowering—skilling-women-vaccine-managers-for-digital-hea.html?cq_ck=1488971126274

Jammu University to start shortterm skill development courses

Apr 16, 2017, Jammu :

Prof. R. D. Sharma, Vice Chancellor, University of Jammulaunched three- months Skill Development Course in ElectricalMaintenance and Repair launched by the Department ofElectronics, University of Jammu.

In his address to the participants, Prof. Sharma highlighted theapplications and utility of such type of skill development coursesin day-to-day life and motivated the students to go for suchcourses apart from their regular academics to enhance theprospects of their employability.

In his welcome address, Dr. Susheel Sharma, Head of theDepartment of Electronics, dwelt upon the various initiatives takenby the department in the recent past and other activities planned

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for the future whereas Dr. Parveen Lehana, the course coordinator,highlighted the content and structure of the programme.

Prof. Rakesh Vaid presented the formal vote of thanks while Dr.Rockey Gupta conducted the proceedings of the event. Prominentamong those present were Prof. Vivek Gupta, Head of the Physicsdepartment, Prof. Arun Bharti, Dr. Neeraj Sharma, SS to ViceChancellor, Mr. Navneet Gupta, Mr. Deepak Anand, Ms. Richa

1Youth 1Skill targets 45pct ofSPM school leavers

8 April, 2017, Putrajaya:

Malaysian Youth Council under its 1Youth 1Skill (1B1K)programme plans to reach out to some 100,000 SijilPelajaranMalaysia (SPM) dropouts through its programmes.

Council president Mua’mar Ghadafi Jamal Jamaluddin said thatabout 45 per cent of students, out of the 470,000 SPM schoolleavers every year, do not have the minimum qualification topursue tertiary education.

“There are about 230,000 or 45 per cent of students who cannotpursue tertiary education because of their results.

“Out of this number, some 120,000 will be offered vocationalskills programmes under TVET (Technical and VocationalEducation and Training) institutions,” he told reporters heretoday.

The remaining 100,000 students, Mua’mar Ghadafi said can beassisted through various vocational and skill-based training.

He was met at the signing of memorandum of understanding(MoU) between 1B1K and 43 private skills traininginstitutions throughout the country including Sabah andSarawak.

Through the strategic partnership with private skills traininginstitutes, it is hoped that more students will be given achance to build a future for themselves, he added.

“We also hope this partnership will allow us to explore moreareas in skills training to develop talent and potential amongour youth,” he said.

Mua’mar Ghadafi said IB1K, since its inception in 2010, haveseen about 5,000 students graduating from both public andprivate institutions.

“We are targetting to double the number in the near future,”he added.

Also present at the event was Malaysia Board ofTechnologies board member Feroz Hanif Mohamad Ahmad.

Website: http://www.nst.com.my/news/2017/04/228486/1youth-1skill-targets-45pct-spm-school-leavers

‘Focus of education to shift from scholarshipto vocational training in light of CPEC’

13 April, 2017, Punjab, Pakistan:

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharifspeaking at the ground-breakingceremony of Air University’s Multancampus announced hefty financialassistance for Air University’s Multancampus and hinted at the possibility ofthe construction of a Metro bus routenear the varsity in the future.

“The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) has forced us to revisit oureducation policies. We have previously

produced great scholars, eminenteducationists, and researchers but nowwe need engineers, technicians, motormechanics, and so on,” he said, addingthat information technology was the“name of the game” these days.

“Sixty-five percent of our populationcomprises youth ranging from 15-30 yearsold and it will be a challenge for us toconvert them into the skilled manpowerthat we need, but if we can do so, it will bea win-win situation,” Shehbaz Sharif said.

Gupta, Ms. Roshni Gupta, Mrs. Vimmi Kholi, Mrs. RomillaMalla, besides many research students, scholars and staff ofthe department of the Electronics department.

Website: http://www.skillreporter.com/jammu-university-start-short-term-skill-development-courses-launched-3-month-course-electrical-repairing/

“We should empower the youth with highquality and job oriented education,” headded.

Speaking about the government’seducational projects, the chief ministersaid that the Punjab EducationEndowment Fund (PEEF) was perhaps amatchless fund in all of South Asia.

The assets of the PEEF total Rs 20 billion,he said, adding that the educationalexpenditures of countless needy anddiligent boys and girls were being paidthrough the fund.

He said that the PEEF had disbursedscholarships worth Rs 11 billion from 2008

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to date, adding that the first IT universityof South Punjab was nearing completionin Rahim Yar Khan.

The chief minister stated that over 100,000laptops would be disbursed among thehigher achievers of schools, colleges, andvarsities during the current year, addingthat over 300,000 laptops had aleardybeen distributed.

HEC chairman, Dr. Mukhtar alsoaddressed the ceremony and stressed theneed for producing upstanding citizensbesides providing quality educationthrough educational institutions.

Website: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/04/13/focus-of-education-to-shift-from-scholarship-to-vocational-training-in-light-of-cpec/

India, Malaysia tieup for skilling,entrepreneurshipdevelopment

April 3 2017, Ahmedabad:

The Entrepreneurship DevelopmentInstitute of India (EDII), on Monday,said it has tied up with HumanResource Development Fund underMinistry of HRD, Malaysia, for skilldevelopment, and assist the South-EastAsian country in its target of ensuring35 per cent skilled Malaysian workforceby 2020.

EDII and Pembangunan SumberManusia Berhad (PSMB), an arm ofHuman Resource Development Fundunder Ministry of Human Resources,Malaysia, have signed a Memorandumof Understanding, in the presence ofPrime Minister and Dato Sri MohammadNajib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, PrimeMinister of Malaysia, in this regard,according to a press release here.

PSMB has a mandate by theGovernment of Malaysia to implementstrategic initiatives to empower thequality and employability of theMalaysian human capital to support theMalaysia aspiration of a 35 per centskilled Malaysian workforce by the year2020 while creating job opportunities tothe locals.

Through the collaboration, EDII willshare its expertise with PSMB in thefield of education, training, research andinstitution building comprehensive andhigh quality training under PSMB’sprogrammes for up-skilling and re-skilling Malaysian women, lowhousehold income community andyouth.

PSMB and EDII will work together inthe areas of skill development, re-skilling, entrepreneurship development,capacity building, training andmethodology, content development,consulting and research. The firstactivity after signing the MoU would beto train close to 100 youth inentrepreneurship through classroomtraining, simulation exercises and fieldexposure.

EDII would assist the MalaysianGovernment to equip, develop andassist unemployed graduates andschool leavers with high-end skills andcompetencies required by industriesand which will enhance their futureemployability. It is open to allMalaysian graduates who havesuccessfully acquired their diplomas,degrees or equivalent education. Theschool dropouts are also targeted.

Website: http://www.skillreporter.com/india-malaysia-signed-mou-ensure-skill-enrichment-entrepreneurship-development/

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Forthcoming Events

Asia Media Summit (AMS) 2017

Media on the Frontline of GlobalDevelopment

AIBD in collaboration with its partnersand international organisations isorganising the Asia Media Summit(AMS). The conference provides aunique opportunity for broadcasters inthe region to share their thoughts onBroadcasting and Information.

Date: 6 - 8 June 2017

Venue: Shangri-La Hotel, Qingdao, China

Deadline for registration: 1 May 2017.

For more information:

http://www.aibd.org.my/node/5756

Smart Grid Technologies andImplications for InclusiveDevelopment (TA 7831 FinalWorkshop)

The workshop will help build knowledgeand capacity of participants to integrategender and social inclusion in smart gridtechnologies and systems.

Date: 19 - 20 April, 2017

Venue: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

For more information:

https://www.adb.org/news/events/smart-grid-technologies-and-implications-inclusive-dev-workshop

IMF Seminar on Innovation,Technology, and Jobs

Date: April 19, 2017

Day & Time: Wednesday, 11:00 AM -12:00 PM

Venue: IMF Headquarters 1 Atrium

For more information:

http://www.imf.org/external/POS_Meetings/SeminarDetails.aspx?SeminarId=214

Driving Digital FinancialInclusion in Africa

This session analyzes the promises andchallenges of advancing digital financialinclusion in sub-Saharan Africa. Ourspeaker will focus on his entrepreneurialexperiences in the financial servicesindustry, and subsequent discussion willexplore how both the public and privatesectors can leverage technologicalinnovation in this field—in Africa andbeyond.

Date: April 19, 2017

Day & Time: Wednesday, 4:30 pm -5:15 pm

Venue: IMF HQ1 Gallery

Moderator: Eric Chinje, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, African Media Initiative

For more information:

http://www.imf.org/external/POS_Meetings/SeminarDetails.aspx?SeminarId=216

Regional Conference on E-Learning Modules for ImprovingADB Project FinancialStatements and Project CostEstimates

Date: 26 - 27 April, 2017

Venue: ADB Headquarters, Manila,Philippines

For more information:

https://www.adb.org/news/events/regional-conference-e-learning-improving-project-financial-statements-cost-estimates

The Canadian Association forUniversity Continuing Education(CACE) conference 2017 will behosted by Simon FraserUniversity’s Continuing Studies.

Date: 24 - 26 May, 2017

Venue: Vancouver, Canada

Theme: Currents of change of change:learners, communities, programs andeducatorsResponsive and InnovativePractices

For more information:

http://cauce-conference.ca/2017/