The first ever Workforce Development Meeting was organized by Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA) Youth Empowerment Support (YES) of Department of Home. The meeting happened at the TCRC conference hall of T-building, Gankyi, Dharamshala on 11-12 May, 2018 and was funded by USAID. The event was attended by over a dozen educational and vocational training center representatives from across India and Nepal.
Participants for the meeting came from the Institute for Small Trade Learning (ISTL) – Bangalore, Tibetan Career Centre (TCC), Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development Cell, Department of Finance, CTA, Sherab Gatsel Lobling, Mundgod Doeguling Tibetan Cooperative Society, Dekyi Larsoe Tibetan Cooperative Society, Tibetan Handicraft Production cum Sale Cooperative Ind. Society, Miao Tibetan Cooperative Society, Dekyiling Handicraft, ITI Private TCV, Dehradun, Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie, SOS VTC Pokhra, Nepal, Empowering The Vision, ENVISION and Tibetan Women Center, Rajpur.
The meeting began with an opening speech from Kalon Sonam Topgyal Kholatsang, Department of Home. He mentioned that this event was inspired by CTA’s Five-Fifty Vision which aims to dissect and find a solution for ongoing Tibetan issues using the Middle Way Approach while simultaneously strengthening and maintaining Tibetans’ resilience, culture, and identity for Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet.
His speech was followed by Additional Secretary of Department of Home, Tsewang Dolma. She shared that the meeting’s purpose was to forge a partnership across all training sectors outside of Tibet to upgrade facilitates, training, and exposure for the beneficiaries. Ms. Dolma added that there must be new improvements in the future to provide essential opportunities for the younger generation.
The representatives were brought together to deliberate available resources and programs that provide training and employment opportunities for Tibetan youth. After, they were split into three groups in which they had to discuss their suggestions and thoughts. One representative of each group would present their ideas and they all voted on which idea to propose. They unanimously recommended the 17-point recommendation for future course of action.
