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Vol. 03 No. 03 October 2017

In this issue

Guest Column 02

Sportlight 06

Regional Round Up 08

CEMCA News 09

Case Study 13

Forthcoming Events 16

From The Director’s Desk

With best wishesDr. Shahid Rasool

“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The formal education system is designed forchildren and young adults by the grown-ups which can be compared in some sense

to an intervention designed by the “haves” for the“have nots”. People who HAVE grown up decidefor people who HAVE NOT. Questions are beingasked about the “Outcome” and “Impact” ofeducation. The question that perhaps very few areposing is “Are the children happy with the systemdesigned for them?”

“Happiness” is today at the top of the globalpolicy agenda, with the United Nations GeneralAssembly’s 2011 Resolution recognizing ‘thepursuit of happiness as a fundamental human goal’(United Nations General Assembly, 2011). TheSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alsopromote well-being across various goals andtargets. As Aristotle said, “Happiness is themeaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and endof human existence”.Then why is “happiness” notsystematically integrated into the educationalsystem that constitute first 15-20 years of aperson’s life? Why has there been no attempt todesign a “happy learning process”? Educationwhich should be aimed at creating “love forlearning” and inquisitiveness has been reduced tocreating salary earning, conforming, dispassionateyouth.

Today the challenges have transformed from“finding jobs” to “creating jobs”. Additionally, thefuture of technology is so uncertain that skillsbecome obsolete over a fortnight. Hence, insteadof creating a generation adept at using a particulartechnology, our focus shall be on creating ageneration ready to quickly learn-unlearn-relearnand most importantly have love for learning. As

Alvin Toffler stated in Rethinking the Future,“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be thosewho cannot read and write, but those who cannotlearn, unlearn, and relearn.”

In recent years, various countries either havemade happiness a specific goal of theirdevelopmentand education policies or haveincluded elements relating to happiness in theirpolicy frameworks.

UNESCO, Bangkok undertook a “Happy SchoolProject” in 2014 and briefly examined the policiesof five countries,namely, Bhutan, Japan, Republicof Korea,Singapore and Vanuatu. Each have aunique interpretation of happiness and well-being.Evidence presented in the report also showsthat “Prioritizing happiness and well-being canresult in higher academic achievement, whichunfortunately, is undervalued by a continuedpredominant focus on ‘numbers’ or test scores asindicators of the quality of education.”

It is time that the endeavour spreads beyondschooling into higher education and training in allof Commonwealth Asia. Therefore, CEMCA hastaken a first step towards creating “positivevocational trainers” through its intervention in thestate of Odisha where the focus is on Empathy,Team Work and Problem Solving. Another suchattempt by CEMCA is to create a MOOC on LifeSkills for Engineers. The idea is to bring happinessto learning. By happiness of learner, doesnot meanthat academic rigour is compromised. What thisreally means is to feel included and valued,through an engaging, collaborative and creativelearning processes.

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Guest Column...

Employability – what is it, why is it ‘new’,and can it be taught?

Prof. Malcolm Harper

Nearly everybody who reads this note islikely to be employed, or like the writer, atleast to have been employed in the past.Very few of our readers,if any, however, willhave received any‘employability training’as such. You may havebeen trained as anaccountant, or acarpenter, a doctor or adriver, and this trainingprobably helped you tobe employed in one ofthese professions, or itmay have been legallyrequired for you do it,but generic training, to be employedirrespective of the specific skill required,is a new and relatively unfamiliar notion.

What isemployability, andwhy (if at all) doesit now requiretraining whenmost people whoare in any wayeconomicallyactive in ‘modern’societies havealways beenemployed,without anygenericemployabilitytraining?

It is instructive tocompareemployability, the

ability to be a good employee, with a verydifferent skill; the ability to start andsucceed in a new business, which is

generally known as‘entrepreneurship’.This ability, orcharacteristic, was firstconceptualised byJoseph Schumpeterabout a hundred yearsago, and has since thenbeen analysed, defined,studied and taught in awide variety of differentways; in India thenational

Entrepreneurship Institute of India (EDII)has spawned twelve state-level institutes,and has also helped to set up a number of

similar institutions in SE Asia(www.edii.org, accessed 13.09.2017).Entrepreneurshipis seen as a genericability, or characteristic, which can beapplied to any type of business, in thesame way that anyone who is employed,that is hired by somebody else to do ajob, presumably needs to be employablefor any kind of work.

Numbers of references in a search engineare not an accurate representation of theimportance which society ascribes tosomething, but the word ‘employability’brought up 10.3 million references while‘entrepreneurship’ produced 166 million,over ten times as many (www.google.com,accessed 15.09.2017). This is surely odd,given that far more people want to be andare employed than want to start their ownbusinesses; the difference may in part beexplained by the relative youth of‘employability’ as a term, when comparedwith ‘entrepreneurship’, but it doesillustrate the greater attention which hasalways been given to entrepreneurs ratherthan employees.

It is understandable that the skill ofemploying other people, of selecting,training, motivating and administeringthem once they are employed, that is,management, has been defined andtaught for a hundred years; the HarvardBusiness School was one of the firstmanagement schools, and it was startedin 1908; although it’s initial emphasis wason administration for the public service itrapidly came to be perceived as aninstitution which trained, or moreelegantly ‘educated’, young men forcareers in business, any business. Thegeneric ability to be employed, rather thana specific skill required in a particular job,remained unrecognized and untaught formany years.

There have been many attempts to defineentrepreneurship, but ‘employability’ isstill a relatively unfamiliar notion. Whatcharacteristics do people need to be

What is employability , and

why (if at all) does it now

require training when most

people who are in any

way economically active

in ‘modern’ societies have

always been employed,

without any generic

employability training?

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employable? Many of the characteristicsmay seem to be self-evident, if only bytheir absence in many employees withwhom readers may have been required towork, but the following summary lists theskills which were most often deemedimportant by a wide range of authorities.

• Verbal ability, being able to expressyour ideas clearly and confidently inspeech.

• Team work, ability to workconfidently in a group.

• Commercial awareness, ability tounderstand the commercial realitieswhich affect an organization (thisrefers not only to employment incommercial businesses, but also togovernment and the voluntary sector,in any setting where resources mustbe used efficiently)

• Analysing and investigating, abilityto gather information systematically,to establish facts and principles andto solve problems.

• Initiative and self-motivation, theability to act on one’s own initiative,

to identify opportunities and to beproactive in suggestion ideas andsolutions.

• Drive, determination to get thingsdone, to make things happen, to lookconstantly for better ways of doingthings.

• Written communication, ability tocommunicate clearly, in writing.

• Planning and organizing, ability toplan activities and to carry themthrough effectively.

• Flexibility, ability to adapt successfullyto changing situations andenvironments.

• Time management, ability to managetime effectively, to priorities tasks andto work to deadlines.

(Bulman T Harper M, EmployabilityNow, Worktree, Milton Kenyes, 2014)

I referred earlier to the less common butmore celebrated skills of the entrepreneur.It is interesting to compare the attributeswhich are often deemed necessary for asuccessful entrepreneur with the abovelist of employability characteristics.

As noted above, these have beeninvestigated and listed for much longerthan the characteristics of employees, butthe concept of entrepreneurialcompetences was first developed byDavid McLelland and others in the 1980s,and programmes which attempt to instilthese ten competences in aspirantentrepreneurs have been offered for manyyears by Management SystemsInternational of Washington DC,(see http://www.msiworldwide.com/approach/trainings-courses/entrepreneurship-development-program/).

There have been many

attempts to define

entrepreneurship, but

‘employability’ is still a

relatively unfamiliar notion.

What characteristics do

people need to be

employable?

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The employability qualities,characteristics, abilities or whatever onecares to call them are fairly self-evident,but why has employability only quiterecently been identified as being worthyof attention; far more people have alwaysbeen employed than have employedothers and even most entrepreneurs haveat one time or another themselves beenemployed; why has employability onlyrecently been identified as somethingwhich merits examination and training?

Governments, colleges, developmentagencies and others are always searchingfor apparently innovative and un-crowdedareas of activity wherethey can justify theirexistence and growth,but is employabilitymore than a ‘fad’, is it aquality which somepeople serious lack andwhose absence explainsthe mass unemploymentwhich affects so manysocieties today, in spiteof their economicgrowth and apparentprosperity?

The massive growth inthe numbers of youngpeople in emerging economies such asIndia is seen as a ‘demographic dividend’, which will enable these countries tocompete effectively with richer but slower

growing societies suchas those in Europe,Eastern Asia and NorthAmerica whosepopulations are rapidlyageing. These youngpeople will make up alarge and growing workforce, while ‘the ‘older’countries will have tocope with ever increasingproportions of older andless productive people.The new workers,however, will have to beproductive if they are toenable their countries to

take advantage of their more youthfulpopulation; if they cannot or will not beeffective employees, they will be a dragon the economies, not a benefit.

This new workforce will also have to workin a ‘modern’ environment, which is verydifferent from that to which their parentswere accustomed. Many of these youngpeople have grown up in rural, nomadic orother more traditional societies, wherethere is no tradition of formalemployment; their parents have probablyworked very hard for a living, but as self-employed farmers or in other activitieswhich require very different attitudes and

behaviours, as well asformal skills, from thosethat are needed in‘modern’ and morewealthy societies. Theyneed to learn IT skills, orto serve in modern retailoperations, which requirespecialized skills whichcan be taught, but theyalso demand a wholeapproach and life stylewhich is very differentfrom the traditionalenvironment in whichyoung people may have

been brought up. This is part of‘employability’.

The ‘modern’ world is also morechallenging in other ways. We may

The ten competences are as follows:

• Seeking opportunities

• Planning and monitoringsystematically

• Seeking information

• Persuasion and networking

• Being committed to work contracts

• Setting clear goals

• Demanding efficiency and quality

• Being persistent

• Being self-confident

• Being willing to take risks

The two lists share a number of items incommon, but they are nevertheless quitedifferent, even allowing for differences inlanguage. As might be expected,entrepreneurs are expected to be able totake risks, and there is a greater emphasison ‘using’ and working with other peoplethan in the earlier list for employability.Readers must judge for themselves whichset of characteristics is more likely to beassociated with being a good citizen, orbeing an agreeable person, but the‘rugged individualist’ of theentrepreneurial myth is almost certainlyless common, and less able to fitcomfortably into society or anorganization than the person who isemployable.

but is employability

more than a ‘fad’, is it a

quality which some

people serious lack and

whose absence explains

the mass unemployment

which affects so many

societies today , in spite

of their economic

growth and apparent

prosperity?

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Malcolm Harper: Educated at Oxford, Harvard and Nairobi, Malcolm Harper, workedin marketing in England, and then taught at the University of Nairobi. He wasProfessor of Enterprise Development at Cranfield in the UK, and since 1995 he hasworked independently, mainly in India. He has published on enterprise development,micro-finance and livelihoods, and on child protection.

He was the Chairman of Basix Finance for ten years, and is the Chairman of M-CRIL.He is Chair and board member of other institutions in the UK, the Netherlands andelsewhere, and has worked on poverty issues in South and SE Asia, Africa, China since1970.

exaggerate or even idealise the timelessunchanging nature of the work done bytraditional craftspeoplesuch as masons orcarpenters, but there isno doubt that old skillsare disappearing andbeing replaced by newones much faster thanin the past. The word‘vocation’ actuallyrefers to a ‘calling’, anactivity to which aperson is attracted andwhich she or he feelsmay be a lifelongactivity, but the label‘vocational’ is in thatsense no longer applicable which appliedto training .

We are familiar with the rapidly changingnature of the skills required for work ininformation technology, which happens tobe an area in which many young peoplefrom traditional backgrounds are findingjobs, but work in older and more familiaractivities such as retail, transport andconstruction is also being radicallychanged, or even eliminated byinnovations such as on-line shopping,driverless vehicles and modularbuildings.If a young person learns how todrive, he or she may have to learn acompletely new and different skill in a fewyears, and that may in turn becomeredundant within a few years; peoplehave not only to know how to do theirfirst job, they must also learn to beadaptable, to learn to learn; which is partof employability.

Schools often act as strongholds of thepast; many schoolgirls and boys have towear neckties and blazers which havelong gone out of fashion in the adultworld, and the educational world is oftensuspicious of change. Schools’ andteachers’ performance is also increasinglysubject to rigorous measurement, and thecommonest indicator of a school’s qualityis its pupils’ examination results. This

tends to narrow down the curriculum tothe specifics of what can be examined,

and this does notinclude theiremployability. Thismakes it all the morenecessary for otherinstitutions to try to fillthe gap, either bypersuading educatorsto allow them toprovide someemployability trainingwithin the schools, orby providing itelsewhere.

There may also besome element of elitism

in the neglect of employability; we tend tolook up to ‘entrepreneurs’ and it isperceived to be ‘better’ in some sense tobe a manager than to be managed, toemploy than to be employed. Onlyrecently have we started to analyse anddevelop the far more ‘democratic’ and‘popular’ ability to be employed.

The study of employability and of waysto enhance it is in its infancy, but theexperiments and experience so far suggestthat it is an important characteristic, whichcan probably be enhanced throughtraining. People who are employable aremore likely to be able to obtain and retainjobs, and to succeed in them, than thosewho are not, and it can not only improvetheir life chances but can also enhancethe performance of the institutions whichemploy them.

There is still little definitive evidence thatemployability training can have long-term

tangible results, but the preliminaryindications from numerous experimentsare positive. Orlanda Ruthven’s paper inthe April 2017 edition of this newsletterdescribed some of the results of arevolutionary attempt to enable young

women and men from traditional tribalcommunities in Eastern India to fitsuccessfully into the totally different,regimented, disciplined environment ofmass production garment factories, and ashort note in the same issue describedCEMCA’s own efforts to introduce someelements of employability training intogovernment schools in Haryana.

Given that nearly everybody aspires andneeds to be employed at some time intheir lives, it is to be hoped that someforms of preparation for employment willeventually be included in school curriculafor every young person. Over 50000school children have participated in jobplacements in the new city of MiltonKeynes in the United Kingdom, and over20000 children from the city have eachhad the opportunity of meeting andtalking informally and individually withabout a dozen representatives ofemployers under Worktree’s ‘Workout’programme. Similar initiatives are alsobeing undertaken in three states in India,in Uganda and in Yunnan province ofChina. These are brief, low cost and easilyreplicable programmes which can beorganized by schools themselves with noexternal assistance; similar activities canand should be part of children’seducation, everywhere.

Malcolm Harper, Filgrave, September2017.

We may exaggerate or

even idealise the timeless

unchanging nature of the

work done by traditional

craftspeople such as

masons or carpenters, but

there is no doubt that old

skills are disappearing and

being replaced by new

ones much faster than in

the past.

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Spotlight On

Spotlight On: The Sustainability Platform

The Sustainability Platform (TSP) wasfounded at the 26th Engineering Congressof the Institution of Engineers, India heldin Bangalore in December 2011.Subsequently, TSP has become widelyrecognised as a platform involving widerprofessionals other than engineers and asa genuine platform catalysinginterventions that involve knowledge andcompetency building. TSP is unique inhelping organizations and individualsaccess knowledge resources as well assharing concrete experiences andproviding knowhow in a practical anduseful manner and, where necessary,creating forums for policy dialogue andpolicy formulation.

TSP’s unique network enables theidentification of agencies and groupsdoing sustainability activities at variouslevels starting from the local communityto the state level activities and helps themin executing their mission by identifyingthe right resources, expertise, knowledgeand technology. TSP hand holdsorganizations at different levels of theirexecution lifecycle.

TSP has a Memorandum ofUnderstanding with the AtKisson’sGroup. The AtKisson Group — whichconsists of AtKisson, Inc., AtKissonEurope AB (Sweden), Center forSustainability Transformation GmbH

(Germany), and other contracted affiliatesand associates around the world. TSP hasa globally-tested and applied program oftools, workshops and training courses,specifically focused on issues ofsustainable development, innovation,learning, and organizational change.These tools are available in manycountries, but are not well known in India.

TSP is currently engaged in catlaysingthe involvement of higher educationinstitutions in the SDGs Agenda and theUnited Nations 2030 Road Map. TSP hasbeen an active participant at UN-ESCAP’sAsia Pacific Forum on SustainableDevelopment especially in promotingKnowledge Partnerships.TSP isorganizing a major InterdisciplinaryInternational Conference on KnowledgePartnerships to Advance the SDGs; inMysuru on November 17th and 18, 2017.This workshop will have eight parallelworkshops on the following sub-themes.

The Future of Cities -Inclusive and

Sustainable Cities(SDG-11)

Managing WaterResources Sustainably -

Natural Water andReclaiming Water

(SDG-6)

Climate ChangeChallenges and

Resilience Strategies(SDG-13)

Energy Self Reliance -Options and Public Policy

for Renewable Energy(SDG-7)

Skilling for the SDGs(SDG-8)

Good Health and WellBeing

(SDG-3)

Business andSustainability

(SDG-17)

Financing for the SDGsInternational PublicPolicy and Finance

(SDG-10)

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Ms. Anjana Iyer, a TSP Associate and specialist on Solid Waste Management now an entrepreneurmanufacturing is marketing Orbin a wet waste recycling equipment for apartments. TSP held a TrainingProgramme on Systainability (Systems Thinking and Sustainability) for TSP Associates, domainorganisations and head of Higher Education Institutions. In the picture are Mr. Ravishankar and Mr. AnilHebbar TSP Founders and Directors. Systainability Training was also conducted by Mr. Robert Steele, ofAtkissons Group. Dr. Sukumaran Nair, a TSP founder and associate and an internationally renowned Chemical Engineeringspecialist speaking at a TSP Capacity Building session on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Also in the picture are Dr. Jagadish, ISROScientist, Dr. D. K. Senthil a TSP founder, associate and LCA expert and Mr. Rajan Gandhi specialist on Sustainable Production andConsumption. Ms. Shantha Sheela Nair, a TSP Associate, former Secretary Government of India, renowned for her work on water,sanitation and especially eco-sanitation speaking at a TSP capacity building session. Ms. Wilma Rodrigues, Founder and CEO,Sahaas, one of the pioneers in solid waste management and e-waste management assisting TSP in a capacity building session.TSP ata session on Energy Policy to promote Renewable Energy. In the picture are D. K. Hari, a globally renowned renewable energyspecialist and engineer, Prof. Lawrence Surendra, Chairman TSP and Harish Hande founder of SELCO and Chairman SELCOFoundation.TSP is active with the Asia Cooperation Dialogue – University Network promoting Sustainability Integration in Highereducation. TSP signed an MoU with Chulaongkorn University Global Network (CGN) and TSP at the Institution of Engineers,Bangalore to promote cooperation between India and the Asia Pacific Region.

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Regional Round Up

Reference :https://ischolareducation.com/newsroom/press-releases/ischolar-launches-i30-an-interactive-online-iit-jee-exam-preparation-programme-in-association-with-anand-kumar-of-super30/

iScholar launches i30, aninteractive online IIT-JEEexam preparationprogramme

iScholar Education Services, aninnovative provider of on-demandeducation and learning services,announced the launch of its muchawaited i30, an online IIT JEE exampreparation course speciallydesigned for the masses inassociation with renowned AnandKumar of Super30. iScholari30, aone-year entrance exam preparationcourse, is targeted at candidatesattempting IIT-JEE in 2017 andbeyond. The courseware is priced atjust 5988/- per year making IIT JEEpreparation now easily affordablefor all aspiring candidates especiallythose located in remote locationsacross India.

“We are particularly excited toassociate with iScholar to bring anonline IIT JEE courseware for themasses, “ said Anand Kumar,Super30, “We are working closelywith iScholar to translate thepowerful Super30 IIT-JEEcourseware for online audiences andbring a near real life experience of aSuper30 classroom and interactions.The i30 courseware is designed topave the way for many more brightstudents across India to get intoIITs.”he added.

AMIC Annual Conference

The Asian Media Communication andInformation Centre (AMIC) hosted its25th International Annual Conferencein Manila, Philippines between the 27th

to 29th of September, 2017. This was thefirst conference after its headquarterswas moved from Singapore to Manila.The theme of the conference wasRethinking Communication in aresurgent Asia.

About 400 participants attended theevent which was held in the Hallowedhalls of the Miriam College. 130 foreigndelegates from several countriespresented papers both in the plenaryas well as break-away sessions. TheIndian contingent was the largestfollowed by the Indonesians.

The conference started with welcomeaddresses by several dignitaries,including the Mayor of Quezon Cityand a video message from the VicePresident of the country. The keynote

address was given by the JusticeConchita Carpio Morales, theOmbudsman of the Republic of thePhilippines, who emphasised the roleof Ethics and Good governance inmedia.

The opening session was followed bythe first plenary of AMICDistinguished Forum which sawluminaries of the field ofCommunication such as ProfessorsShelton Gunarathne, John Lent, RonnyAdhikarya and Florangel Rosario Braidpresented their views on the subjectsof their expertise.

Professor Shelton Gunarathne andProfessor Wijayananda Jayaweera werethe two AMIC Asia CommunicationAwardees for 2016 and 2017.

The meeting of the Board ofGovernors and the General Assemblyof AMIC were attended by ProfessorsBinod C. Agrawal and ChandrabhanuPattanayak from India.

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CEMCA News

CEMCA Directoraddressed a Batch ofMedia Students atIndia Today MediaInstituteDr. Shahid Rasool, Director, CEMCA, wasinvited as Guest of Honour and Key NoteSpeaker at the orientation programme forthe new batch of Media Students enrolledfor various courses at India Today MediaInstitute. Union Minister of State ShriBabul Supriyo was the Chief Guest. Dr.Rasool enlightened the youth aboutjournalism as a career and media as achange agent in the society, besidestalking about CEMCA and COL

initiatives, vision and mission. More than200 participants including

teachers,scholars, students and theirparents were in the audience.

CEMCA Director nominated by UGC on theHigh Powered Academic Advisory CouncilThe Chairman, University GrantsCommission (UGC), has nominated Dr.Shahid Rasool, Director CEMCA to be apart of the high powered AcademicAdvisory Council. The advisory councilshall consider and approve the MOOCcourse Coordinators and the proposalsrecommended by subject matter experts.The need for the committee arose asGovernment of India proposes to prepare

fresh MOOCs in the areas which arewidely in demand but for which enoughresources in terms of quality faculty arenot available in all universities. UGC hasinvited “Expression of Interest” from HEIsand academicians to develop MOOCs forthese courses and ensure production ofhigh quality MOOCs in areas comparableto international standards. The othermembers of the high power advisory

council, comprising academicians ofrepute, are Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao,Director, IIT Delhi; Prof. Sanjay GovindDhande, Former Member UGC & FormerDirector – IIT Kanpur; Prof. Pratap BhanuMehta, Vice-Chancellor, AshokaUniversity; Prof. Biman Bagchi, Dean,IISc Bangalore; Prof. Shruti SadolikarKatkar, Vice-Chancellor, BhatkhandeMusic Institute University; Prof. ShyamB. Menon, Vice-Chancellor, Bharat RatnaB. R. Ambedkar University; Prof. M. M.Pant, Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU& Former faculty of IIT Kanpur.

CEMCA’s HE interventions reach90,000 learners and benefit about1500 teachers and learnersCEMCA supported NSOU for the development of need-basedcourses (course materials Text and Multimedia) for threeprogrammes during 2016-17. All the three programmes are beingoffered through Blended learning approach. 495 ProspectiveTeachers enrolled in One year programme “Pre-Primary Teachers’Education-Montessori (Diploma)” in this year (2017). 493 learners

successfully completed 1st year (2016-17) of “Tailoring andDress Designing: Apparel and Textile Design (AdvanceDiploma)” and were promoted to 2nd year (2017-18). 500 learnersenrolled this year (2017) to Tailoring and Dress Designing:Apparel and Textile Design (Advance Diploma) 2yearprogramme. 87 Teachers enrolled this year (2017) for “InclusiveEducation” (Certificate) Course. The admissions are open till 15th

November 2017. More than 90,000 learners/academia/educationalleaders have access to the learning materials as OER throughthree institutional OER repository of BOU-Bangladesh, NSOU-Kolkata and OSOU-Odisha.

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Review meeting ofDST to progress ofSFWHNDST conducted a review meeting to takestock of the progress made by differentStakeholders including CEMCA for itsflagship programme aimed at improvingwomen’s health and nutrition. TheNCSTC, Department of Science andTechnology, GoI had assigned a project

titled “Science for Women’s Health andNutrition Project” to CEMCA, whichinvolves conducting baseline study aboutthe health seeking behaviour of women ofthe community through 14 CR Stationsfollowed by capacity building and contentcreation workshop. The review meetingtook place at Madurai and Dindigul (TamilNadu) in which CEMCA made itspresentation and briefed the members thatthrough the baseline study 14000 womenhave been surveyed, 280 women trainedin survey techniques and 140 women

trained in radio programming. Four socialscientists, 22 Community media expertsand 14 translators were involved asresource persons for the delivery of theproject. 140 members of 14 Advisorycommittee participated in analysing thebaseline survey and recommending theCR Station for further funding for contentcreation. 140 model episodes wereproduced with the help of CEMCA by the14 CR stations. The experts’ committeeconstituted by DST lauded the efforts putin by CEMCA.

Finalization of Research Tools forthe Impact Study on OER in ODLCommonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA)organized a day long workshop to finalize the draft research toolsfor the study titled ”Impact of OER Policy Implementation andOER Use in Open and Distance Learning System” on 29th

September 2017at New Delhi. The objective of the workshop wasto review the design of the OER implementation study with thedraft research tools. Dr. S. K. Pulist, IGNOU, New Delhi describedthe study process and explained the scope of the study. He alsodiscussed the research tools to be validated in details. Prof. A. P.Behera, Joint Director, CIET, NCERT, reflected that OER mustfollow some process i.e. creation, curation, practice, extension aswell as dissemination, and these points should be checked beforehand through the help of checklist. Furthermore, the questionnairefor teachers was discussed at length. Prof. Biswajit Das, JamiaMillia Islamia, highlighted that data collection approach should

focus on ‘Use, User, and Usage’. Documentary review of OERin the form of multimedia tools was also been suggested for in-depth study. After validating the questionnaire, the eContentRepository datasheet was reviewed which is to be collectedfrom the sample universities. Finally, Focus Group DiscussionSchedule was discussed among the experts.

CEMCA launched an IntegratedModel for Higher EducationAs per the strategic plan (2015-2021) of COL-CEMCA and itsmandate of Learning for Sustainable Development, the HigherEducation Initiative at CEMCA has developed an integratedmodel to address the challenges of higher education in thiscurrent dynamic environment and is moving towards working withpartners in a more in-depth approach. In this regard, CEMCAshared this idea with different Universities in Commonwealth Asiaviz. University of Hyderabad (UoH), B R Ambedkar OpenUniversity (BRAOU) Hyderabad, Netaji Subhas Open University(NSOU) Kolkata, Uttarakhand Open University (UoU) Haldwani,Central University Kerala (CUK), University of Jaffna (UoJ) SriLanka, Humdard University Bangladesh. All the universities areinterested to be a partner in this journey for next three to four year.

The following universities prepared their projects for next threeyears to address the issues viz. enrolment, learning outcome(course completion rate) and employability.

• University of Hyderabad, India (Proposal submitted toCEMCA)

• Netaji Subhas Open University, India (Projectimplemented and work started)

• Uttarakhand Open University, India (Projectimplemented and work started)

• Hamdard University, Bangladesh (Project proposaldevelopment stage)

• University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (Project proposaldevelopment stage)

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Community RadioAwareness Workshopat PuducherryMinistry of Information and Broadcasting(MIB), Government of India, collaboratedwith CEMCA to conduct a 3 – dayworkshop from Sep 24th to 26th, 2017; toincrease the awareness about the powerand role of Community Radio for thecommunities. More than 50 NGOs andCSOs participated in the workshop thatwas hosted at Sri Manakula Vinayagar

Engineering College (SMVEC). Thewelcome address was given by Prof. V.S.K. Venkatachalapathy, Director-cum-Principal, SMVEC followed by theFelicitation Address by Shri M.Dhanasekaran, Chairman and ManagingDirector, SMVEC. The opening remarkswere given by Dr. Shahid Rasool, DirectorCEMCA while Ms. Anju Nigam, JointSecretary, MIB gave the Inauguraladdress. The participants were introducedto CR Policy Guidelines and were takenthrough the Application Process in detailby the resource persons. There weretechnical sessions conducted by

Broadcast Engineering Consultants IndiaLimited (BECIL). At close of Day 1 theparticipants were taken for a Field visit tosee an Operational CR Station. On the 2nd

and 3rd day of the workshop theparticipants were told about fundmanagement, sustainability and contentgeneration. There was a special sessionto let participants know about variousprojects that various ministries implementthrough Community Radio Stations. The 3day workshop culminated into theparticipants creating their “Expression ofInterest” to set up their own CR Station.

NationalConsultation onCommunity Radio byYoung India &Community RadioBroadcasters of IndiaA group of Community Radios operatingin different states of the country metduring August 2nd and 3rd 2017 atNational Academy of Broadcasting &Multimedia (Govt. of India)

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CEMCA-ORMASToT ProcessstrengthenedThe CEMCA - ORMAS Training ofVocational Trainers was significantlystrengthened by conducting a mid-termevaluation of the intervention. This led toidentification of areas of improvement. Anew process was defined and workshopswere conducted for disseminating the newprocess among all team members. Newtemplates and forms were designed in linewith the new process. CEMCA alsoengaged a couple of consultants formentoring vocational trainers at field level.The consultants engaged, attended a 2days’ orientation workshop at New Delhiand will be closely monitored for their contribution inimproving the process for three months. The ABLE modelproven for its effect on engaging students was also integrated

Bhubaneswar for National LevelConsultation on Community Radio forfurthering rights, justice and developmentof marginalized communities. Dr. ShahidRasool, Director CEMCA, gave theinaugural address and emphasized on theneed for technology convergence andsaid that, “Community Radio should thinkbeyond Broadcasting”. He discussed theTCM (Temple, Church & Mosque) modelof sustainability with the CR Stations who

had gathered there for the consultation,urging them to be Community ServiceCentres and not just Radio Stations. TheCommunity Radio stations shared theirexperiences and built strong perspectivefor bringing social change throughreducing the vulnerabilities of people byhelping to assert their rights andentitlements. Best practices of CommunityRadios working in different states of Indiawas exhibited on the themes of “Role of

CR”, in the following, namely, response toDisaster & Conflict situation, ensuringjustice to marginalized communities,empowering women, building livelihoodand agriculture and future perspectives.As an outcome of all the experiencesharing, a book was published to capturethe best practices including the learningand experiences of the CommunityRadios.

into the ORMAS ToT intervention. A CEMCA-ORMAScertification process will now overlay the International Trainingand Certification provided by ASD Education Pvt. Ltd.

Community Radio forWomen EmpowermentCEMCA has partnered with UNESCO andAIMC for the 5th Edition of CommunityRadio Video Challenge (CRVC) which willbe based on the theme of “WomenEmpowerment”. Entries will be invited fromstudents below 26 years from alldisciplines from across the country.CEMCA has been conducting thiscompetition for the last 5 years with an

objective of connecting the youth to thegreat potential of Community Radio as atool for community development andempowerment. In this competitionstudents come up with films of 3 to 5 minduration on the given theme whichconnects to “Community Radios”. Thisyear the competition will be thrown openfrom Oct 15th onwards. Students will beexpected to make short films on sub-themes like Community Radio as a meansto strengthen women leadership, womenin business, women’s role in health andnutrition, women against domestic

violence, etc. A panel of distinguishedjury of film makers and developmentalcommunication experts will come togetherto choose the prize winners. The films willbe screened in UNESCO on the occasionof World Radio Day and InternationalWomen’s Day where the winners will befelicitated. The prize winners which willinclude first, second, third prizes and fivespecial recognition awards will be givenmentorship on film making fordevelopmental communication by expertsidentified by UNESCO, besides cashprizes from CEMCA.

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Building Resilience of Single women: Linkingof Disaster Preparedness plans to housing andother entitlements

- Action Aid

Case Study

Introduction:

With the recurring disasters in the state,ActionAid realised the need to work onresilience building of communitiesespecially vulnerable groups apart fromrelief and rehabilitation. Based on this need,post Phailin, ActionAid initiated womenleadership programme in Ganjam district.Objectives of this intervention was toreduce the impact of disaster on women andother vulnerable groups by building womenleadership on disaster prevention andmanagement so as to respond to any futuredisaster with better preparedness andresilience. During the process, it wasidentified that single women are among themost vulnerable groups. In our societywhich is guided by the value of patriarch,there is unequal power relation betweenmen and women. Structurally women arekept aside from major resources such asland and livelihood. Restriction on theirmobility leads to lack of livelihood optionsfor women. Further, in case of girls andwomen, resources are always linked withmarriage. Lack of access and control overresources makes women vulnerable. Amongwomen, single women (unmarried womenabove social age of marriage, i.e. 30 years asper government’s definition), widows,women staying separate from husband anddivorced women are more vulnerablebecause they are “single”. The vulnerabilityof single womenfurther gets intensifiedduring disasters. They do not getcompensation against the loss of house,

they do not access the benefits declaredby state and they do not access reliefmany times because of lack of mobility.Moreover, they face difficulties inmanaging livelihood.

ActionAid targeted resilience building ofsingle womenby ensuring their ownershipover assets such as homestead land,linking them to housing schemes so thatthey can build houses on the land withDRR components, linking them to socialsecurity schemes and enabling them toearn their own livelihood.

The intervention:

In order to achieve these objectives,ActionAid identified widows, women whoare staying separately from their husband,divorcee women and unmarried womenabove 30 years of age in each of thevillages. They were identified as singlewomen. A database was developed onstatus of their land ownership and statusof linkage to social security schemesandPhailin compensation. ActionAid thenliaised with the district administration forissue of homestead land to single womenwho did not have land in theirnameincluding release of compensationfor Phailin cyclone. At the same timeActionAid liaised with blockadministration for linking the singlewomenwith social security schemesespecially to Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)and housing under Odisha DisasterRehabilitation Project.

Leaders from single groups wereidentified and their capacity was built tolead community processes along withother women, to have dialogue withgovernment and PRIs for better access todifferent entitlements and built theirknowledge and capacity on disasterprevention, preparedness and response.They were imparted training on disasterresilient construction that is essential fortheir villages vulnerable to differentdisasters. ActionAid facilitatedemergence of single womencollectives/forums at block levels. 19 single womenforums are now active in Ganjam district.

ActionAid facilitated Community BasedDisaster Preparedness-CBDP processesin 21 villages that included preparingdisaster preparedness plan, approval ofplans by Gram Sabha, identification ofvulnerable persons/groups and preparingaction plan for reducing theirvulnerabilities, linking vulnerable groupsto government programmes, organisingmock drills, formation of village level taskforces and ensuring that women and girlsbecome the members of the task forcesand capacity building of task forcemembers. During the CBDP processes,single women were identified as mostvulnerable and women leaders negotiatedwith administration to link the identifiedsingle women with various social securityschemes.

Impact:

The most remarkable impact has beenlinking the single women to land andhousing. 2388 single women have beendistributed homestead land patta andhave been linked to the housing schemeunder Odisha Disaster RehabilitationProject. Now these single women areowner of homestead land and also ownerof houses. All of them have concrete roofon their head that has built theirresilience.

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36 single womenhave been linked to IAY,132 got Widow Pension, 36 women gotold age pension and 73 unmarried womenabove the age of 30 years have beenlinked to Madhubabu pension scheme (asper letter no-18067 dated 3/11/2014, WCD,Govt. of Odisha unmarried women above30 years of age of BPL families and whoseindividual income is not above Rs24000/-per annum are entitled to get MadhuBabu Pension). This pension will help toensure food security of single women

during disaster. They can purchase foodgrain with this pension money.

This has boosted the confidence ofwomen and now even after the withdrawalof the project; these women collectives/forums are running on their own andcarrying forward their work.

Lessons Learnt and Challenges

One of the major lessons learnt from thisintervention was dovetailing efforts with

that of government can generate hugebenefits for the most marginalisedcommunities. Neither the community northe government was recognising singlewomen as “vulnerable group”.ActionAid’s targeted intervention tobuild the resilience of single womenreshaped the context of “vulnerability”and drew the attention of all playersincluding government towards reducingvulnerability of single women.

the house. She has now completed the house in February2016after getting her last instalment.

Jayanti works in a cashew factory near the village and earnsRs120/- per day. In addition to that she gets Rs300/- aswidow pension. The project and women leaders have helpedher in accessing these entitlements and has built herresilience.

With New hope and house: Acase study of Jayanti

– Action Aid

Jayanti Das 32, widow lives in Tarinipali village of PoirasiPanchyat of Ganjam blockhas two kids, elder one is a boyand the younger one a girlchild. She lost her husband,the sole bread earner of thehouse before Phailin.

The project team identifiedher as a single woman andas such not linked to widowpension and other benefits.Her house also gotdamaged in Phailin. Theproject team and womenleaders of the village tookher to the Panchayat andblock office and initiateddialogue with the blockadministration. As a resultJayanti was linked to widowpension. She was givenRs75000/- under IndiraAwas Yojana. Initially shegot two instalments forconstruction of house-Rs15000/- and Rs35000/-with which she completedconstruction of the roof of

15

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CEMCA, a Regional Office of theCommonwealth of Learning (COL)Vancouver, Canada, is an international

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CEMCA’s mission is to promote the

meaningful, relevant and appropriate use of

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Skill Development Reforms through ShardaPrasad Committee: Key HighlightsThe government of India recently released the Sharda Prasad Committee report on skilldevelopment reforms. A discussion on the findings and steps for immediate coursecorrection to salvage the demographic dividend (only 20 years left) would be a welcome step.

The report is objective, data driven and made with over six months’ of exhaustiveconsultations with stakeholders in skill development. Some of its recommendations havebeen at the centre of public discussion like conflict of interests, NSDC functioning,Sector skill councils etc. It is however, important to highlight some key points which formthe foundation for many recommendations.

1. Unification of the entire vocational education systemWhat we have today are fragmented pillars, in which the left hand does not knowwhat the right hand is doing. The ITIs, NSDC’s training partners, vocationaleducation in schools, in-house industry training and the skill development done by17 different central ministries form the entire skill ecosystem. There is a lack ofsynergy amongst all these stakeholders. We can make Skill India impactful only whenall of them work together and learn from each other’s successes and failures

2. Ownership, responsibility and the skin in the gameThe private sector puts the onus of skilling on the government treating it as a welfareresponsibility and the government looks to the private sector since they are the endconsumers of the skills. We need a clear fix for this conundrum. The committee’srecommendation for a Reimbursable Industry Contribution(RIC) solves the perennialproblem of poaching and provides a common levelling field for the industry. Itensures reimbursements for those doing trainings and rewards industry for sharingand undertaking skilling until everyone in the company is skilledutilizing bothgovernment and private resources. This will lay the foundation of making ourcountry the skill capital of the world.

3. Focus on LLN trainingThere has to be concentrated effort towards strengthening the reading, writing andarithmetic skills referred to as Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN). No skilldevelopment effort can succeed when the majority of the workforce we have doesnot have the requisite foundation to pick up skills in a fast changing world.

4. Convergence of efforts and removal of overlapsCurrently there exists a lot of duplication of efforts between SSCs, institutions,ministries, etc. Skill funding in the country is well below required and spending thaton duplicate efforts is a cardinal waste of public money. The duplication of trainingnumbers, non standardized courses, not having a centralized credible nationalassessment and certification system has made skill development a goldmine forcrooks who receive public accolade for the public representation of their skilldevelopment efforts but in reality squander public money. The committee foundinstances after instances of abuse of power and dereliction of duty and faithentrusted on the sector skill councils to make India the Skill capital of the world

5. Motivation of institutions engaged in skillingAre institutions working because the government is supporting them or do they addreal value? The truth here is scary. NSDC, envisioned as a PPP, has today more than99% of government funding, its flagship scheme has less than 12% of placement, theNSQF framework has seen little adoption, and more than two thirds of the coursesmade have not trained even one student so far.

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Forthcoming Events

The 27th International Council forOpen and Distance Education(ICDE) World Conference.

Theme: Teaching in a Digital Age - Re-thinking Teaching and Learning.

Venue: The Sheraton Centre Hotel inToronto, Canada

Date: October 17-19, 2017

For More Information:

http://onlinelearning2017.ca/en/

1st International Conference willbe organised by Krishna KantaHandiqui State Open University,Guwahati, Assam, India

Theme: Developmental Interventionsand Open Learning forEmpowering and TransformingSociety

Venue: NEDFi Convention Centre,Dispur, Guwahati, Assam, India

Date: December 16-17, 2017

For more information:

http://conference.kkhsou.in/index.php

The National Higher EducationResearch Institute (IPPTN) andthe School of Humanities,Universiti Sains Malaysia incollaboration with SunwayUniversity and Han ChiangCollege will be organising aNational Conference.

Theme: Creativity in Education &Humanities 2017: EmpoweringPeople (NCC2017)

Venue: Chancellory 2, Universiti SainsMalaysia, Penang

Date: October 25 – 26, 2017

For more information:

http://ncc2017.usm.my/

CEMCA in collaboration with UNESCO and AIMClaunches 5th edition of Community Radio Video

Challenge (CRVC).

Theme : “Community Radio for Women Empowerment”

15th Oct 2017 : Launch of CRVC through Social Media10th Jan 2018 : Last day to submit shortfilms18th Jan 2018 : Jury Meeting25th Jan 2018 : CRVC Result Declaration.

The dates indicated above are tentative, the exact dates will be announced later.

For More Information:

http://www.cemca.org.in