Carl Ditchburn (COMMACT UK) writes (May 2007):

COMMUNITY CAMPUS ’87’s INTERNATIONAL LINKS

Despite its name, Community Campus ’87 is 21 years old this year. 1987 was the year of incorporation but the work actually began a year earlier. In shorthand we would probably be called a youth housing organization, but our slogan is ‘more than just a roof’, because we recognize that there is more to ‘housing’ than bricks and mortar. We support, train and develop young people towards independent living. Each young tenant of Community campus ’87 has a personal support plan, tailored to their needs, focusing on areas such as managing a tenancy, health, personal development, housing/resettlement, employment, training and education. We also run a construction skills training programme, renovate empty properties and carry out building work through a trading company.

International links

In the early 1990s we became involved in COMMACT. One of its aims is to bring together grass-roots workers to learn from each other. At a COMMACT gathering in Liverpool in 2003, a group of workers hit upon the idea of devising a project together that could deliver something for all involved. We saw an opportunity for using our building training scheme to deliver a build project in partnership with local agencies in south India. We see this as a personal development opportunity for young people as well as a way of investing in the infrastructure of our partner agencies – much like delivering our first project in the UK…….and probably easier! Having decided to carry out a project, a group of us went to Banglore and Kerala in India. The local partner agencies working with us are HILDA (High Land Development Agency) trust and the Read (Rehabilitation Education and development) Centre. We have built up a working relationship with both these agencies and their core staff members over the last decade.

Long term plans

Ambitiously, we put a 3-year plan together. The initial phase is the building of two classrooms in a school serving slum areas in south Bangalore. The read project worker carries out personal development work with the children. For us, this is the starting point of a relationship with the school. We have already sent a consignment of books and are looking at linking with primary schools here in the UK and organizing staff exchanges. Phase two will be the building of a small community centre in Sultan Bathery in north-east Kerala, for use by Akshaya groups – self-help savings groups, similar to a credit union. This programme has developed links with community business in Scotland. The idea here is that a small gathering place will give the federation an asset to manage and promote greater self-reliance. Again, on one level for us it is a build opportunity, but it will also support the federation to become sustainable.

Working trip

For the young people from the UK we are taking to deliver the first phase, there is a sense of adventure, combined with a lack of understanding about the levels of poverty they will witness. This has provided us with a great teaching opportunity around cross-cultural understanding. At the time of writing, it’s ‘injection time’ – tough young people afraid of needles! The exchange rate has shifted 12% over the last week, which creates havoc for planning. The young people here are starting to worry about things now…….no McDonalds, what will we do?........eat healthy food with fresh ingredients???!!!! An interesting novelty for the ‘takeway generation’!!! I’m confident it will all work, because we have built relationship and trust with our partner organisations over the last decade and I know there are good workers on the ground.

For further information contact:

www.communitycampus87.co.uk

www.hildatrust.org

www.readcentre.org

*****

Garry Bargh (COMMACT Australia) writes (March 2007):

Vocational Education and Training Manual and Toolkit.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) contracted me to develop a practical Manual focusing on costing and pricing of Products and Services, targeted at: Vocational Education and Training (VET) managers and supervisors, course coordinators and financial controllers of VET institutions.

The Manual and Toolkit are used in developing countries in Asia, Africa, South America and eastern Europe.

The Manual was developed over 12 month research phase which involved feedback surveys from VET institutions around the world, workshops and focus groups in Asia when the draft was completed.

The Manual is in PDF and web based formats with some sections in the Toolkit (which complements the Manual ) in an interactive format.

The next stage in the development is to upgrade the web based format on the SDC VETNET website, which includes VET resources and information from a number of sources.

For institutions that do not have access to the web a CDROM is available.

The long term plan is to update the web based version on a regular basis.

Currently the Manual and Toolkit is available in English and Vietnamese. The translation for the Vietnamese version was funded by Jobs Australia. It is currently being used in VET training institutions throughout Vietnam.

There are plans to translate it into French and Spanish.

Manual content:

1 VET Systems

2 Financial Systems

3 Costing and pricing of Products and Services

* Enrolments

*Recognition of Prior Learning

*Distance Learning

* Assessment

*Quality

* Return on training Investment

4 Financing

Toolkit content:

1 Financial Systems

2 Enrolments

3 Distance Learning

4 Assessment

5 Quality

6 Return on Investment

7 Labour Market Analysis

8 Voucher Programs

9 Competitive Tendering

10 Generic Skills

11 Tracer Studies

The Toolkit also contains forms, spreadsheets and examples of best practice and case studies.

The Manual and Toolkit are available free of charge.

Should anyone want a CDROM version they could contact me: Garry Bargh at garry@betc.org.au

or wait till the final web based version is available. It should be completed by the middle of this year, 2007.

Garry Bargh
garry@betc.org.au
General Manager
Ballina Employment & Training Centre
PO Box 1020
Ballina, NSW, 2478

Australia
Phone: +61 2 6686 8068
Fax: +61 2 6686 9452
http://www.betc.org.au/

Garry Bargh (COMMACT Australia) writes (March 2007):

AUSTRALIA – NEPAL Link

Ballina Employment and Training Centre (BETC) has a close link with an NGO in Nepal, F-Skill.

The connection began in 2002 when Helvetas Nepal (a large Swiss NGO) organised a study tour for Helvetas, F-Skill and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) staff to visit Australia to learn about franchising. The ‘F’ in F-Skill stands for franchising.

Franchising was virtually unknown in Nepal at that time whereas Australia has one of the highest numbers of franchise businesses per capita in the world.

We started in Brisbane and visited a variety of big and small franchise businesses, all of whom were happy to share their knowledge and intellectual property. We also visited Business Enterprise Centres and Small Business Incubators.

The trip finished in Sydney where our Nepalese guests left for home with a lot of knowledge on the principles behind franchising.

BETC is a training and employment organisation with 18 years experience with extensive experience in the TVET sector and is a Registered Training Organisation. It also provides support and training to new small businesses.

It developed a relationship with Helvetas/F-Skill and it was thought that BETC could be of assistance with the development of the F-Skill project.

Initially BETC prepared the operating documents and franchise agreements as well as cash flow predictions for the Business Plan. Most of these forms have now been modified to suit the local operating conditions.

The first business planning training for F-Skill franchisees was organised by BETC with a business trainer from BETC travelling to Kathmandu to deliver the training and train an F-Skill staff member. All franchisee business training is now carried out by local organisations and trainers.

F-Skill staff have also travelled to Australia for Total Quality Management Training and have put a quality system in place in the organization. This was a first for a community based NGO.

BETC staff provide online support to F-Skill on a regular basis and travel to Nepal at least once a year to give technical support.

The relationship between the two organisations has developed and is now a close personal relationship. The connection has benefited both organisations and has been very successful.

For further information contact:

Garry Bargh
garry@betc.org.au
General Manager
Ballina Employment & Training Centre
PO Box 1020
Ballina, NSW, 2478
Phone: 02 6686 8068
Fax: 02 6686 9452
http://www.betc.org.au/