D.B Tech Regional Coordinators Meet - Operation under One Network

New Delhi, 3rd July 2008.The 10 Regional Coordinators of the Don Bosco Tech India met together at New Delhi Provincial House on 27th June 2008 for a five day workshop on the National Net work and Youth Survey.

It was a path breaking initiative when all Regional Coordinators of Don Bosco Tech India gathered from the ten provinces of the country to work as team to bring accessibility, quality, development and visibility to the Don Bosco skill training initiatives.

Fr. A.M Joseph Director of D.B Tech India addressing the regional heads emphasized and highlighted the need and importance of working under one network and the vision to take the project into a new height. He further discussed with the team the Operational Plan and emphasized the need of reaching to more and more marginalized and deprived youths through different skill training programmes and neighborhood programmes.

Ms. Anita Sharma, Technical Advisor, INVENT - GTZ, New Delhi, highlighted the present scenario and scope of vocational training in the country and world scenario and the relevance of Don Bosco Skill Training Institutes all over the country.

The National Net work for the Skill Training emphasized the need to create Centre of Excellence in every trade in order to fulfill the emerging demands of the market and provide quality training, placement and follow up. Fivefold operational plan consists of accessibility, curricula Development, resource Centre development, placement, capacity building of staffs, creating linkages with government and corporate were discussed in detail. The regional coordinators presented the action plan for this year.

Need Assessment: National Youth Survey
The three days training on Youth Survey for all the Regional Coordinators was organized after the workshop on National Network. This training workshop was organized by Mr. Cletus Zuzarte, Don Bosco Development Society, Mumbai.

Highlights of the Training were:

• Importance and process of Research
• Designing survey formats
• Basic interviewing skills
• How to conduct survey
• How to generate Report etc…

The input session were followed by field visits to have a clear and practical understanding of the survey process and generation of report. During this three days training, the coordinators were trained to train their field staffs of respective provinces for conducting the survey, entering the data and generating the report from the software.

Don Bosco Tech India Network - National Office inaugurated

The blessing and inauguration of the office of Don Bosco Tech India Network took place on 27th June at Don Bosco Provincial House, Okhla. Rev. Fr. Charles Lobo the Salesian Provincial of Delhi. Present were the representatives from all the Provincial Resource Centres. The group came together also for the operational planning of the national project (27th to 28th ) as well as training on the Youth Survey (30th June to 2nd July) to be taken up by the network at national level.





Fr. Charles Lobo addressed the group and he highlighted the following aspects.

He opined that the Network ‘Don Bosco Tech India’ is a Path breaking venture to network around a common interest of vocationalizing education in the Salesian context and style for the chosen target group that we opted for.

• It did not happen with the drawing board, rather, the scattered ventures in the Indian Salesian provinces and the pooling of felt needs, interests and concerns, more in the form of a multinational merger. In the era of globalization, we have to think globally and locally.
• Now that this venture is afoot and going, the group has had better visibility and representational power and linkage.
• I would strongly support the use of this position to enhance the existing vocational centers and courses. We can learn from the business and industrial setup. But we cannot be totally guided by their principles and praxis.
• I would place before you what I as a non professional in this line, still feel from contacts and exposure as needs to be addressed by a powerful group like yours. Optimizing our institutional setup and making them reach the maximum number of dropouts and marginalized
• Linking to the industries/corporate for relevance of courses, benefiting from their social commitment to the needy and for their expertise sharing and apprenticeship and eventually placement. Due caution being exercised that Corporate do not use our institutes as cheap resource.
• Seeking internal sustainability and income generation capacity of the institutes, in view of their continual updating and development
• As a word of caution he reminded the group that the first priority for us should be the Integral Development of the Young . He called the attention of the group to the origins when Don Bosco in Turin was truly concerned with their total development.

The Provincial also expressed gratitude to Fr. A M Jose and Fr. Noble George from the Development Office of Delhi who take painstaking efforts in coordination and organization of the office and the network. He also expressed gratitude to all the agencies who partner with their resources and funding to take the network activities forward.

BOSCO Joins Hands with Haryana Government in Mewat

New Delhi, Jun. 18. ``We have invited Don Bosco in a very special way to educate the young people of our area because of their specialization in training the youth and the wide network they have in the country and in the world`` said Mr.A.H. Ahalawat, CEO, in his inaugural speech.

Shri. A.H. Ahalawat. IAS, CEO of M.D.A. (Mewat Devlepmnet Agency) inaugurated the Don Bosco Centre for Training and career guidance in Nuh for the youth of the area. Mr. J.D.Sharma, MDA Satffs, Fr. A.M.Jose the Director of BOSCO, Fr. Noble George, the Asst. Director of BOSCO, were among the dignitaries who graced the occasion.

The government of Haryana, through His Excellency Dr. A.R. Kidwai , Governor of Haryana, had invited Don Bosco to establish a centre for youth development. The authorities have provided all those requirements requested by Don Bosco for the execution of the project.

The second half of the day was the interview for the students who wished to enroll in the centre for training. It was good to see over fifty students who turned up for the interview ``I feel happy that Don Bosco has come to help us , now I am sure of an earning after my training`` said Mr.Huassain Khan when asked about his feelings after the interview.

``Our dream is to reach out to as many youth as possible, and we hope with the support of the people around we would be able to work wonders in the lives of the young people, ``assured Fr. A M Jose Director of BOSCO.