A4e -Improving People's lives

A4e is a private sector organisation with a strong sense of social responsibility. Their aim, in everything they do, is to improve people's lives.

To overcome social exclusion, the community as a whole needs to be involved in the solution, with the understanding that all people have their own unique contribution to make. A4e works in some of the most deprived areas, delivering programmes that offer a range of services like vocational skills, training and support, alternative youth education and specialist support, employment for individuals and households and financial literacy for the most excluded and vulnerable. A4e understands that programmes need to be developed to help address the following issues:

Labour force and unemployment

• 140 million workers are categorised as casual labour, with no regular source of work or income
• 90% of the workforce employed in the informal sector - with no formal recognition of their skills.
• National unemployment rate of 9.6% (49 million residents)

Education and skills

• 270 million people are below the poverty line with little access to formal skills training
• For those in work, 70% are defined as illiterate or educated below primary level
• Youngest population in the world (median age of 24)
• School drop out rate of 90% - with no active, large scale, skills development programmes
  for school drop-outs
• Structured vocational training/general education only reaches 3% of the population (30 million)
• 2.5 million graduates pass out of college each year without skills connected to employment

Our Commitment

 A4e recognises that supporting the Government to drive social change and inclusive growth in India will require long term investment and significant levels of effort and resource.A4e India is committed to working closely with the Government, private sector organisations, private foundations, non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, industry-led organisations and local community organisations to meet India’s inclusive growth challenges.

Building on A4e's international experience and expertise in skills training and service provision, we plan to focus our efforts initially on the following projects:

• Develop A4e’s Prime Contractor Model to help India scale-up the skills training services, while maintaining the quality of delivery and qualifications and helping government meet the targets for its growth agenda
• Provide sector specific employment skills training for Graduates and Post-graduates to help meet skills shortages in the high-growth sectors.
• Offer vocational skills training leading to certification and sustainable employment opportunities for the unemployed youth in rural areas

A4e India Pvt Ltd., a subsidiary of A4e Ltd, U.K participated in the just concluded Global Skills Summit organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India.

A4e India has been working closely with the Government of India for delivering globally benchmarked skills for the bottom of pyramid clients on a pan-India basis. A4e India aims to create a Credible, collaborative, competency based and transparent skills training system with the government, private and third sector organisation partnerships.

The 4th edition of the FICCI Global Skills Summit, held on the 15th and 16th of September 2011 at the FICCI Federation House, New Delhi served as a central platform for international dialogue on the modernization of vocational education and training (VET) in India. The theme of this year's conference was, 'Vocational Education & Training: Developing Strategic and Implementation Framework'. The conference brought together more than 300 delegates including prominent functionaries from the state and central government departments, chief executives and business heads, training providers and institutions, industry associations, civil society organizations, etc. to focus on discussions around the skills initiatives taken and planned by the key stakeholders of the country and debate ambitions, challenges and solutions to reach out to 500 million people by 2022.

Rt. Hon. David Blunkett, Member of Parliament, UK and A4e advisor honored the event with a special address concerning the importance of skills and knowledge of human resources to address the challenges and opportunities of growth in a highly competitive and globalized world. Addressing the inaugural session, Mr. Blunkett said "India has acknowledged its need to convert its young population into a skilled, trained workforce to continue its phenomenal economic growth. The UK has a strong competitive advantage in the education and skills sector, and is capable of world class skills provision. I am here with one of the largest business delegations of UK education and skills providers to form partnerships with Indian businesses and institutions from which mutual learning and practical action can emerge."

Mr. Roy Newey, Group Board Director, A4e Ltd. and Co-Chair of the UK India Skills Forum presented information on the UK experience of vocational education and training in schools and the importance of improving processes in response to the need for a properly trained 21st century workforce. Presenting at the panel discussion on 'Overseas Collaborations: Key initiatives', Mr. Newey emphasized, "The cost of not providing vocational skills to our young people is unthinkable. It is all about vocational skills and competency, leading to smiles and sustainable employment. Then people feel valued, then they can be financially independent, then you have a legacy."

In addition, the conference also witnessed distinguished guests and eminent speakers who shared their experiences and insightful thoughts on key issues concerning vocational education and training in India. Mr. R.C.M. Reddy, Chairman, FICCI Skills Development Forum and Managing Director, IL&FS Education, stated that there is a dire need for convergence between various government and the private organizations to make the skill development agenda a success.

Mr Abhaya Agarwal, Executive Director & Leader PPP, Ernst & Young, India, gave the theme presentation on "Skills development: Developing Strategic and Implementation Framework". He focused on different aspects related to global skill mismatch, existing framework in India, the global scenario with case studies from key countries and strategies for enhancing skill delivery in India.

Mr. Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, National Skills Development Corporation, shared his experiences on how the industry is coming forward to enhance awareness on skill development. Giving the examples of TATA Steel and DMRC, he highlighted the impact and reach that an organization can have towards contributing to skill development.

Mr. R.V. Kanoria, Senior Vice President FICCI and Managing Director, Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Limited underlined the need for a policy framework that includes an awareness campaign and an incentivized scheme for facilitating development of institutions for imparting vocational education.

To showcase the achievements & international experiences from across the country & globe, an exhibition of skills services was parallely organized to supplement the discussions. Organizations including IL & FS, City & Guilds, Future Learning, Bharti Centum, IndiaCan, UKIERI, TUV, etc. showcased their products and services to the delegates and visitors. A4e India displayed its 'Vox Centre' as its exhibition theme and conducted an interesting skills challenge which gave stall visitors an opportunity to learn more about the Vox centre and also win exciting gifts.

Overall, the conference was a huge success and many important topics were presented and shared in front of a large audience. The conference witnessed two days of power packed discussions and nine knowledge sessions covering issues and topics including development of a strategic and implementation framework for vocational education & training, overseas collaborations, national vocational qualification framework, structuring sector skill councils, etc.

The caliber of presenters at the conference was remarkable. The audience was greatly invested in the question and answer sessions held after every panel, and many important inquires into the speaker's research were discussed.


A4e Ltd. is a global organisation that manages and delivers public services in partnership with the Government, public and private sector organisations and the not for profit sector. With presence in 11 countries, the overall goal is to improve people's lives through social change. A4e provides specialised services to its stakeholders for long term and sustainable impact on their lives.


http://www.a4eindia.com

NSDC Funded Organizations - 6 - ESDL - Everonn Skill Development Ltd

 In order to provide vocational education and training to students, Everonn launched Everonn Skill Development Limited (ESDL) as its wholly owned subsidiary.ESDL is focused on  imparting   industry  relevant  skills  to  youth  to help increase   industry- ready  and  skilled  personnel  using world  class content and methods. Towards this, ESDL has partnered with leading universities and vocational content providers across the globe. In addition, ESDL has tied up with industries from diverse sectors for the validation of the courses and placement of the trainees.

ESDL has come up with the following:

·         Indian Skill School (ISSchool)

·         Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE)

·         Academy for Culinary and Hospitality Studies (ACHS)

·         Global Institute for Gaming and Animation (GIGA)

Indian Skill School (ISSchool)
India is one of the most progressive economies in the world, with more than 71 million youth entering the working population by 2012. Regrettably, only a small percentage of this population is industry-ready as many lack the required trade relevant skills.  With more industries and companies starting their production and outlets in India, there is a growing demand for skilled personnel in varies trades like construction, fabrication, retail, textile and apparel, fashion, logistics, etc. To meet this demand and to make students industry ready, Indian Skill School offers a variety of courses, which aims at employment and are industry relevant. The following courses are offered at Indian Skill School:

·         Construction

·         Welding and Fabrication

·         Plumbing

·         Carpentry

·         Retail

·         A / C and refrigeration

·         Life Skills

·         Electrical

·         Electronics

·         Apparel and Textiles

·         Fashion Designing

·         Lab Technician

·         HealthCare

·         Hospitality

·         Automotive

·         Aviation

Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE)
ESDL’s Center for Nursing Excellence has kept  up  with  the  latest in technologies  that  empower  Nurses  to  impart  hands  on  training  and enhance knowledge to ensure  the quality of  nursing  practices  through simulation and  V- SAT.  Nursing simulation is a platform to understand “Live” clinical experiences, breaking barriers associated with clinical Learning. Simulation as a means to offer innovative learning experiences and foster   richer understanding of didactic content, is rapidly gaining popularity. 

Simulation offers the opportunity to assess critical and clinical judgment thinking without   affecting patient safety.  A simulated experience allows students & nurses to critically analyze their own actions (or failure to act), reflect on their own skills and clinical reasoning, and analyze the clinical decisions of others students / Nurses.  Simulation   provides   a   new  avenue  for  educators  and researchers  to   improve   nursing   education  and  practice  as  well  as take the field of nursing to a superior level.

 Academy for Culinary and Hospitality Studies (ACHS)
Today, Professional and Leisure travelers alike expect only the best out of hotel stay stressing on service par excellence thus initiating a great demand for professionally qualified employees in the service oriented Hospitality sector.  To meet this growing demand of well trained personnel, ESDL has designed special courses which would facilitate students to acquire internationally recognized qualifications in hospitality.

 The demand for nutritive meals produced under hygienic conditions and served efficiently has increased manifold leading to an explosive growth in the commercial Food Services sector. ESDL has, for the first time in India introduced short term programs specifically focused on creating qualified personnel for the commercial food services industry. ESDL has also teamed up with  International  Hospitality  Institutions  of repute  to  bring   updated   content  and  delivery  strategies  for the benefit of Indian students. Students would become world class Hospitality professionals capable of working around the globe. The philosophy of the Hospitality division of ESDL is to create a “Skilled India which would be a Strong India”.

Global Institute of Gaming and Animation (GIGA)

Global Institute of Gaming and Animation is the first ever Animation Academy, to offer full time graduate and Diploma programs backed by industry acknowledged courseware, content and training and placement assistance of Autodesk adoption partner, MAXIMUS, a brain child of Aditya Infotech Ltd.

GIGA is the only gaming and animation academy in India to be able to offer Graduate, Post Graduate and Certificate courses in gaming, interactive media, and virtual PLM (Project Lifecycle Management), product design, manufacturing and production.
With world class content and practices, GIGA is the only animation academy in the world, capable of imparting training through V-SAT technology and virtual classrooms.
For more information on the programs offered by GIGA,
please visit: www.giga.ac.in

GA Studios

GA studios, an extended arm of Everonn, the world’s largest networked education company. GA studios, is an up and coming animation, gaming and VFX studio dabbling in executing national and international projects as well as providing extensive and well-equipped training aimed at making animation students ready for instant employability in the industry.

Corporate Office & Correspondence Address:

ESDL
"Everonn House"
Plot No # 96 - 99, Industrial Estate
Perungudi, Chennai - 600096
Tamilnadu, India.
Phone No:             +91-44-23718202      , 42968400
Fax No: +91-44-24962800

NSDC Funded Organizations - 4 - EduBridge Learning Pvt. Ltd.

EduBridge is an organisation started by a group of alumni and professors from IIM Bangalore & Lucknow in 2009.They have been working  towards transforming the lives of the unemployed youth in our country across urban, semi-urban and rural areas. They provide them with a commercially relevant training at their doorstep and arm them with the necessary skillsets and mindset to succeed in their professional careers and thus help transform their lives. 

At Edubridge, they bring together the academic rigour of a university, the practical needs of the corporate world and theirr innovative andragogy, which helps in providing training of the highest quality to the often ignored section of our country's workforce.

Theirr strong management team has over 50 years of cumulative experience of working in some of the largest organisations in the world like Procter & Gamble, Mckinsey & Co, ICICI, Frost & Sullivan among others. Strong pedigree, coupled with a burning desire to make a significant change in people's lives has laid the foundations of our organisation.

Headquartered in Mumbai, we have a strong presence in TN & Maharashtra and are looking to expand across the country in the coming few years.


Corporate Office
Unit no 118, National Storage Building,
Senapati Bapat Marg,
Mahim (W)
Mumbai - 400016

Tel: 91-22-32229774/5

NSDC Funded Organizations - 3 - CREDAI Pune

The CREDAI-Pune (formerly PBAP) established in 1982 and since then is operating for the promotion of Real Estate Sector for the benefit of their Members over more than 25 years.It has a strong membership of 296 members consisting of leading Promoters and Builders of Pune which accounts for about 70% of the construction activities in Pune.

It has seventeen Expert Committees in the area of Taxation, Finance, Government Liasioning, City Greening, Labour Welfare, Environment and Energy, Exhibition and Website, Training etc

 Construction workers are given updated training in plastering, masonry, carpentary, plumbing and other allied activities under an agreement signed by the Pune chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai, Pune) with the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC). 

While the target is to train 100,000 construction workers over a 10-year period, about 20,000 of them will be trained over the next three years, Magar said.

It is an onsite, learn-and-earn programme where the training campus shifts to the construction site rather than the participants shifting to a fixed campus. The cost of the first phase is an estimated Rs 30 crore, of which the developers and contractors will bear Rs 12 crore and the NSDC will bear the rest, says vice-president J P Shroff.

NSDC Funded Organizations - 2 - BASIX Academy for Building Lifelong Employability Ltd. (B-ABLE)

BASIX Academy for Building Lifelong Employability Ltd. (B-ABLE), an initiative for those whose schools could not complete their education works towards enhancing the ability of the under-educated and the under-skilled to become self-employed, find meaningful work and continually upgrade their competencies by offering them technical, commercial and life skills.

B-ABLE is a subsidiary of BASICS Limited (www.basixindia.com), the pioneering organization in microfinance and livelihood promotion, having presence in 20 states and working with over 2.5 million stakeholders, through its team of over 8000 people across 27,000 villages.

B-ABLE launched its initiative last year with a model skill training campus at Dehradun. New Centres have been opened in Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttarakhand,Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim with 90 planned this year.

B-ABLE has chosen to take the path less trodden when choosing the trades as well as the areas where it will take this national initiative. We feel skill training is primarily the privilege of the semi-formal and informal sector school dropouts, and real results will come only from taking the initiative to their doorsteps with locally relevant training.

From a wide list of Sectors, we have chosen the following 7 sectors looking also to fit them to the aspiration needs of the target audience: 


1.   Construction and Allied Trades

2.   Health Care services

3.   Tourism Hospitality and Travel Trade

4.   Food Processing

5.   Banking Insurance and Finance

6.   Rural Farm and Non-Farm Trades

7.   Automobile


Shifting away from the educational qualification based system of technical training, B-ABLE adopts a more aspiration based approach in selection of trades as well as the training methodology. 

B-ABLE will target the skills best suited to the bottom of the Pyramid. A sector wise sample set of skills that align with our focus on is shown below. (This list is only indicative and does not indicate actual courses being run)

New Delhi:

315/274, 2nd Floor,
Above "Bibs n Cribs",
Garden of Five Senses Road, 
Behind Saket Metro Station,
Saidulajaib, 
New Delhi - 110030.

NSDC Funded Organizations - 1 - ARUNIM (Association for Rehabilitation Under National Trust Initiative of Marketing)

ARUNIM (Association for Rehabilitation Under National Trust Initiative of Marketing)

ARUNIM (Association for Rehabilitation Under National Trust Initiative of Marketing) is a path-breaking initiative of the National Trust, a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

At ARUNIM we strive towards creating opportunities for people with moderate to severe disabilities, where none exist.  In order to live with dignity people need to have a certain degree of independence and this independence stems from economic empowerment.

Unfortunately, due to various social and psychological barriers open placement opportunities are practically non-existent in our country. Although great progress is being made towards creating an environment of equal opportunities for people with different abilities, it will take time. This gap is being filled by ARUNIM.

We are an independent marketing federation that aims to get at least minimum wages for persons with disabilities employed in sheltered/supported work environments. We follow an entrepreneurial approach to ensure that persons with disabilities can actively participate in the global economic growth and consequently, gain at least some level of financial independence. Through creating capacity building partnerships we give shape to viable business ideas that turn people standing at the fringes of the society into vibrant stakeholders.

In order to create a level playing field through our various initiatives ARUNIM facilitates

• Skill development
• Innovative product design and development
• Adaptation and mechanization (within present constraints)
• Quality assurance
• Product marketing
• Packaging and pricing strategy
• Placement and promotion

Chaired by Ms. Sminu Jindal, Chairperson of Jindal SAW, ARUNIM is registered under Societies Registration Act 1865. The ARUNIM Board draws active support from an enthusiastic team of professionals who have had extensive experience in the fields of marketing, product design, human resource, special education, law and the NGO sector, working with persons with disabilities.

http://www.arunim.in

Skills

·       “Skills are learned abilities that help an individual be successful in living a productive and satisfying life.”

   What are the various kinds of skills

o   Life Skills

o   Functional Skills

o   Vocational Skills

LIFE SKILLS

Life skill education aims to provide students with strategies to make healthy choices that contribute to a meaningful life. Life skills are the abilities that help to promote mental well being and competence in young people as they face the realities of life. It helps the young people to take positive actions to protect themselves and to promote health and meaningful social relationship. Life skills facilitate a complete and integrated development of individuals to function effectively as social beings.

"Life Skills are living skills or abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with demands and challenges of everyday life" (WHO).

The following are the ten generic skills. They are five pairs of related skills.

o   Critical Thinking: It is the ability to analyze information and experience in an objective manner.

o   Creative Thinking: It is an ability that helps us look beyond our direct experience and address issues in a perspective which is different from the obvious or the norm. It adds novelty and flexibility to the situation of our daily life. It contributes to problem solving and decision making by enabling us to explore available alternatives and various consequences of our actions or non-actions.

o    Decision-Making: The process of making assessment of an issue by considering all possible/available options and the effects different decision might have on them.

o   Problem Solving: Having made decisions about each of the options, choosing the one which is the best suited, following it through the process again till a positive outcome of the problem is achieved.

o    Interpersonal Relationship: It is a skill that helps us to understand our relations with others and relate in a positive/reciprocal manner with them. It helps us to maintain relationship with friends and family members and also be able to end relationships constructively.

o   Effective Communication: It is an ability to express ourselves both verbally and non-verbally in an appropriate manner. This means being able to express desires, opinions, and fears and seek assistance and advice in times of need.

o   Coping with Emotions: It is an ability, which involves recognizing emotions in others, and ourselves, being aware of how emotions influence behaviours and being able to respond to emotions appropriately.

o   Coping with Stress: It is an ability to recognize the source of stress in our lives, its effect on us and acting in ways that help to control our levels of stress. This may involve taking action to reduce some stress for example changes in physical environment, life styles, learning to relax etc.

o   Self-Awareness: Includes our recognition of ourselves, our character, strengths and weaknesses, desires and dislikes. It is a pre-requisite for effective communication, interpersonal relationship and developing empathy.

o   Empathy: Is an ability to imagine what life is like for another person even in a situation that we may not be familiar with. It helps us to understand and accept others and their behaviour that may be very different from ourselves.

Life Skills develop over the years continuously in an active manner. There are many skills, which are needed to successfully negotiate each and every interaction.

Skill based approach in life skill education follows well established mentoring techniques to develop student’s innate quality and also motivating them to adopt socially acceptable pattern of life styles by identifying their talents and directing them to choose appropriate steps to enhance their skill and abilities as a part of development. Through the experiential learning process, youth internalize the knowledge and gain the ability to apply the skills appropriately.

FUNCTIONAL SKILLS

We all need a range of skills to succeed in our jobs and in our lives. Functional skills are the practical skills such as language skills ( English), information and communication technology (ICT) and mathematics that allow people to work confidently, effectively and independently in life.

Functional skills such as communication, vocation, personal grooming, laundry, dining, meal preparation, housekeeping, leisure activities, anger management, social etiquette, money management, and responsible citizenship are abilities and everyday routines that every human being should be able to take care of and exercise for their own livelihood and health, as well as his or her purpose and place in society. All students need to be able to function in the home, workplace, and society according to what is expected for individual, physical, social, and financial matters. With functional skill competence, individuals increase their employability opportunities, since their productivity and independence increases.

Learning functional skills is extremely useful in enhancing an individual’s ability to perform her or his job. Considering all of these future benefits, developing the necessary proficiencies to live, survive, and prosper with their creative abilities is what youngsters need to learn.

VOCATIONAL SKILLS

‘Vocational education can be broadly defined as a training program, which prepares an individual for a specific career or occupation’. The key objective of vocational education is to help develop individuals’ skills in very specific fields by giving them applied or concrete experience in specific vocations or trades. This not only makes them employable but also helps create opportunities for entrepreneurship.

The number of students in the age bracket of 5 years to 24 years will be 486 million by 2025, exceeding the combined target population in China (354 million) and US (91 million).

The huge drop-out rate in schools is largely due to reasons ranging from accessibility to affordable education to low perceived short-term benefits, to household circumstances that demand immediate employment for the students.

Driven by the urgency to start earning at a young age due to poverty; and other circumstances like lack of interest in education, most Indians youngsters resort to acquiring employability skills informally in a trade; which would provide livelihood… a path to feed themselves and support their families. Most of the times employers take advantage of this helpless situation of the youngster being unskilled and pay them very low wages, which has resulted in a huge shortage of a skilled workforce in India (they are employed even before they acquire a skill) Apart from that they tend to look out for opportunities abroad once they pick up the skills on job.

Eg.. In the construction industry the UAE has been a primary destination of choice for Indian workers, followed by Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia and Bahrain. Workers from the Indian states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Bihar have been relocating, making the shortage in these areas even more severe. ‘Until the crisis hit, Indian workers comprised 42.5% of the total labour force in the UAE, with 65% in the blue-collar category with descent earning possibilities.

Youngsters lack orientation and proper counseling at the right age and stage of life.

If schools catch them young and watch them grow VOCATIONAL EDUCATION can transform Indian economic development scenario and lead to very high per capita income.