City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development / Calendar / Latest Events

TRAINING FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT:MEETING AGRICULTURAL AND ENTERPRISE TRAINING NEEDS OF WOMEN SMALLHOLDERS

Taiye Aro — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:29:41 GMT

Dear Colleague,

The City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development (CSD) are delighted to invite you to a seminar event to mark the launch of its report entitled [b]TRAINING FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT: MEETING AGRICULTURAL AND ENTERPRISE TRAINING NEEDS OF WOMEN SMALLHOLDERS[/b].

The event will be held on Wednesday 20 January, 16:00 – 18.00 at the Royal Commonwealth Club, 25 Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5AP.

Agriculture is the cornerstone of most developing countries’ economies. In many countries, small subsistence farmers dominate agricultural employment – and women now constitute the majority of those smallholders. Yet, there is evidence that there is a lack of appropriate skills training for women smallholders – and this is a major constraint.

Drawing on international project reviews and fieldwork conducted in Ghana and India, CSD has recently completed an international research project which explores the role that training can play in helping women to overcome the challenges they face, the type of training support required and how such training interacts with other factors such as technology and access to credit.

The event seeks to explore the report’s findings and recommendations and discuss the implications of the findings for policy and practice. The event will be of relevance to those with an interest in sustainable agricultural and rural livelihoods development and training for rural development.
CSD have invited three key speakers:

[b]Kathleen Collett, Research Manager, City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development[/b]
[b]Jonathan Mitchell, Director of Programmes, Overseas Development Institute[/b]
[b]Edward Watkiss, Programme Operations Manager, FARM-Africa[/b]

The discussion will be chaired by Kate Shoesmith, Senior Manager - Policy and Practice, City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development.

If you would like to attend, please contact Taiye Aro on +44(0)207 294 4191 or email taiye.aro@skillsdevelopment.org
Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

For information about this project, please go to [url]http://www.skillsdevelopment.org/default.aspx?page=1004[/url]

Regards,

Taiye

EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: WHY IS SOUTH AFRICA STILL STRUGGLING?

Taiye Aro — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:09:36 GMT

Dear Colleague,

We are delighted to invite you to our seminar event entitled EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: WHY IS SOUTH AFRICA STILL STRUGGLING?

The event will be held on Monday 21st September, 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm at the Royal Commonwealth Society, 25 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5AP.

We have invited two key speakers, Judith O’Connell, Manager, National Business Initiative and Professor Brian O’Connor, Vice Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape to explore the issues and challenges of skills development in South Africa. The discussion will be chaired by Professor Simon McGrath, International Education and Development, University of Nottingham. Answers will be sought to questions such as:

[b]*[/b] Is the Government right in placing such a heavy emphasis on skills development – is the balance right and are there other levers which should be more fully explored?

[b]*[/b] How might other levers complement skills development policy and interact?

[b]*[/b] Further education – a system fit for purpose?

Places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

If you would like to attend, please contact Taiye Aro on +44(0)207 294 4191 or email taiye.aro@skillsdevelopment.org

For information about CSD, please go to www.skillsdevelopment.org

The Mobile Workforce: From India To Canada

Taiye Aro — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:32:29 GMT

The City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development (CSD) has been invited to contribute to the GlobalSkills Marketplace seminar programme, part of the WorldSkills Calgary 2009 Competition. On Wednesday 2nd September 2009, CSD will hold two seminar events entitled: [b]The Mobile Workforce: From India To Canada[/b] at the Calgary Hyatt (700 Centre Street SE, Calgary, Alberta T2G 5P6, Canada). Seminar 1 will run from 09.00 – 10.15 am and Seminar 2 will run from 10.40 - 12.00 noon. Please find attached your invitation.

CSD has invited two eminent speakers, [b]The Right Honourable Hector Goudreau, Minister of Employment and Immigration for the Province of Alberta[/b] and [b]Professor Binod Khadria, Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi and Director of International Migration and Diaspora Studies for the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), Government of India[/b] to explore how labour migration is being used to plug skills gaps and shortages the oilfields of Alberta and how, at the other end of the spectrum in the sub continent of India, policymakers and individuals are responding to this demand by training locals so that they can emigrate to Canada. Presentations will be followed by a panel discussion facilitated by CSD.

These seminars are part of CSD’s efforts to promote cross country dialogue on key issues and challenges within skills development worldwide, and to understand the implications of evidence for policy formulation.

If you would like to attend, please contact Taiye Aro on +44(0)207 294 4191 or email taiye.aro@skillsdevelopment.org

We plan to promote the event within our wider networks, however, if you know of anyone else who plans to visit WorldSkills Calgary 2009 and would be keen to attend, please do let us know.

Rethinking employer engagement: UK/Swiss perspectives

Taiye Aro — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:40:03 GMT

The importance of employer engagement in delivering a highly skilled workforce is widely accepted. However, efforts to increase employer engagement in the UK face open questions:

* Is there any evidence for return on employer investment and what are the determining factors?
* What are the barriers to employer engagement and how can they be overcome?
* Should other approaches be adopted to encourage employer involvement?

Bringing together policy makers, employers, researchers and practitioners, this event will explore UK and Swiss experiences, discuss potential lessons to be learnt and identify good practice.

Panel speakers will include:

* Professor Stefan C. Wolter, Centre for Research in Economics of Education, University of Berne, Switzerland
* Nigel Whitehead, Group Managing Director, Programmes & Support, BAE Systems
* Sascha Schoenholzer, Head Apprentices Global IT, Swiss Re

Chair - Kate Shoesmith, Senior Manager - Policy and Practice

When: Wednesday 1 July 2009 at 17.30 – 20.00

Venue: The Swiss Embassy, 16-18 Montagu Place, London, W1H 2BQ(Click to view map). There will an opportunity to network after the event (view flyer).

Contact: To reserve your place, please contact Taiye Aro on 0207 294 4191 or email taiye.aro@skillsdevelopment.org

Please note that places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.