BIS #2188 EXPOSURE AND DIALOGUE PROGRAM MEETING

Conrad Saldanha
KURLA, DECEMBER 20, 2010: On December 9, 2010 delegates from Germany under the auspices of Exposure- undDialogprogramme e.V. a non-profit association working towards overcoming poverty and exclusion in the world met with representatives of Indian Industry at Don Bosco Centre for Learning, Kurla, to dialogue on the following issues :

- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Skills Development in the Informal Sector
- Curriculum Development and Certification – ITI

The meeting was facilitated by Don Bosco Centre for Learning, Kurla.

Fr. Adolph Furtado, Rector, DBCL welcomed all the guests and thanked especially the representatives of the Indian Industry for taking time off their busy schedule to attend this meeting.
The President of the German Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Bernhard Steinrücke gave a brief but substantial overview of the activities of the German Chamber of Commerce in India.
A brief presentation was made by Mr. Conrad A. Saldanha, Principal Advisor, DBCL, on each of the issues mentioned above.

The Participants, then, based on their interests formed specific groups to discuss each of these issues.

The discussions were extremely engaging and lively. In fact the entire German delegation as well as the Indian Industry representatives expressed their total satisfaction for the entire program. Dr. Angelika Stauder, the coordinator of the entire program mentioned that “The dialogue on December 9 was very fruitful and it was a great pleasure to be involved in the preparation.” They felt a lot had been accomplished in a short time that was from. 3pm – 6pm.

The recurring themes which came up during the discussions and Plenary were as follows:

The pros and cons of a Government vs. Private partnership.
The need for increasing the interaction with industry
The structuring of the Course content which needs updation and a more practical orientation.
The need to have a certification at different levels which is accepted by industry and monitored.

Fr. Savio gave a vote of thanks to all those who were involved in the preparation of this meeting and dialogue.

The German delegation together with the Don Bosco team would be looking at how this Dialogue session could be followed up in a meaningful and constructive way.