INSEE and YouLead collaborate to improve skills of masons and concrete craftsmen
Youlead, the USAID funded youth employment and business startup programme recently inked a partnership with Siam City Cement (Lanka) Ltd., also known as INSEE Cement.
A pioneering island-wide skills development programme for masons and concrete craftsmen will be initiated under the partnership in collaboration with the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA) and the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA).
The programme aims to upskill and certify 1,000 young men and women across eight districts in Sri Lanka.
Youlead and INSEE will develop the pilot programme to focus on Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). RPL allows young people who have practical skills but partial or no formal certification to receive qualification through recognition of their competencies. The programme will assess skills learned on the job, determine gaps in each individual’s development and provide technical training. Successful applicants will receive a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Level 3 certification and opportunities to further improve their skills.
The motivation for the programme is not only to improve skills, particularly soft skills, but also to help professionalize the image of the occupation and encourage more youth to take up a career in construction. The construction industry currently employs about 600,000 directly
and indirectly and is projected to need another 200,000 employees in the next couple of years.
Charles Conconi, Project Director, Youlead said, ‘We are very happy with this partnership. The work that INSEE is doing with Sri Lanka’s construction industry is the reason why we chose to partner with them’.
Conconi elaborated that Youlead’s mandate was to build the employability of the country’s youth by providing them with the skills needed by industry. He pointed out that the construction industry was the largest potential employer in the country. Conconi said Youlead was very excited to be partnering with INSEE on the pilot.
Although 70 percent of training happens within the vocational training institutes, these have been unable to keep up with industry needs. 36.75 percent of the country’s youth are unemployed, almost nine times higher than the global average.
Jan Kunigk, Marketing and Sales Director and Executive Vice President at INSEE, stressed the importance of training and updating skills in the construction industry.
He said, ‘I think education is particularly useful for any emerging market. There is a problem with many specifications and standards in the industry being outdated’. Kunigk said INSEE had trained thousands of masons throughout the country over the past 13 months. He explained that basic techniques, basic project management, and knowledge on how to run a business were lacking in the rural areas.
Youlead is a US$ 12 million youth employment and business startup programme funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) - an organisation that has worked with hundreds of private enterprises in Sri Lanka since 1965.
The Youlead project aims to improve technical and vocational education and training, create a more skilled workforce and link youth to more productive careers by undertaking activities to support and strengthen students, teachers, institutions and entrepreneurs.
INSEE Cement is a member of the Siam City Cement Public Company Limited (SCCL), a leading cement manufacturer in Southeast Asia, founded in 1969 in Thailand. INSEE Cement manufactures INSEE branded - Sanstha, Mahaweli Marine, Mahaweli Marine Plus, INSEE Rapid Flow, INSEE Rapid Flow Plus and INSEE Extra cement. INSEE Cement is the first certified ‘Green Cement’ in Sri Lanka with the Green Labelling certification awarded by the Green Building Council.
SCCCL is the only fully integrated cement manufacturer in Sri Lanka. SCCCL has adopted and progressed to serve dynamic construction needs of the country. SCCCL, Sri Lanka’s sole cement manufacturer, it operates three key local facilities in Puttalam, Galle and Colombo. The Puttalam Cement plant is the only fully integrated cement manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka and the grinding plant is in Galle port offering fresh cement, with higher strength and consistent in quality to the market.