Write-up on Kushal

Kushal is a partnership project between CREDAIPune Metro and NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation), Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India to help upgrade skills of construction workers in 6 trades of importance, which are shuttering, barbending, plumbing, tiling, masonry, and painting. The project target is to train 20, 000 workers in next 3 to 4 years. NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) is a not-for-profit company set up by the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India, under Section 25 of the Companies Act. NSDC is a first-of-its-kind Public Private Partnership (PPP) in India set up to facilitate the development and upgrading of the skills of the growing Indian workforce through skill training programs. A large part of the organizations efforts are directed at the private sector and towards developing the skills in the unorganized sector in India. A member association of CREDAI India, CREADI Pune Metro (formerly known as Promoters & Builders Association of Pune, PBAP) is an association of more than 350 Pune based developers. The association has been functioning since 1982 for the benefit of its members and to promote the real estate industry in Pune city. The association has more than 15 committees in the areas of finance, taxation, government liaison, labour welfare, city greening, property exhibition, etc. Kushal is the changing face of training and skill building scenario of construction workers in India as it addresses the issue of shortage of skilled workforce in the industry and resultant effects such as sub-standard work quality, material wastage, higher construction costs, delays, and unhappy customers through its unique on-the-job-on-the-site training model where a worker learns while he earns. Moreover, the impact of learning through this model is much higher as it is through learning by doing method. Initiated in April 2011, the project is a classic example of how the dream of few visionary people having unflinching social commitment and well rooted approach to the core needs of the industry can come true with self-belief and perseverance in efforts. Kushal is now appreciated on pan India basis for its unique training model which offers

training to construction workers in six trades, i.e., shuttering carpentry, bar-bending, masonry, plumbing, painting and tiling. The uniqueness lies in providing learning opportunities to poor construction workers on the job and on the site free of cost: workers learn while they earn. So far, we have already trained about 1500 workers at no less than 16 constructions sites in Pune and response to it has been amazing from the developers, contractors and the workers as well.

Training Content:
Kushal has a detailed course module for each worker trade prepared and vetted by construction industry experts. It also has trainer and trainee hand- books which are illustrative and in an easy-to-understand language. The training mode is 80% practical versus 20% classroom based. Quality 3rd party assessment and certification of the trainees by Builders Association of India (BAI), Pune is an integral part of the project Kushal. Pride Purple Group, Flagship Infrastructure Pvt Ltd., Nanded City Development Corporation Ltd, Goel Ganga, Naiknavare Pride Group, Namrata Group, DNV Group, Shri Balaji Developers, G K Developers, Saarrthi group, Rohit developers, Achalare Rachna Associates, Nandan-G Orbit Associates, Rama Group, Paranjape Schemes Construction Ltd. are the names of some of our partners where project Kushal has been or being implemented. Kushal has put in place a professional team of 50 members including 32 seasoned trainers to ensure quality delivery of the project objectives. The CREDAIs close involvement in the project through its members has been its unique strength. CREADI in fact has instituted an advisory committee to monitor and guide the progress of the project and a steering committee to help implement the project successfully. The members of the steering committee also act as site mentors for specific training sites assigned to them by making periodic visits to the training sites and guiding the project implementation team from the front. Some of the other important features of the project are given as under:

a) Evaluation Process: There is a 3 step evaluation process. I. II. III. Constant monitoring of the trainees progress by the trainers Intermediate evaluation of the trainees by Kushal supervisors. Final evaluation of the trainees by a third party consisting of oral and practical tests.

b) Certification: Certification is done by Builders Association of India (BAI), a technically competent organization. Since certification is done by an external agency, quality & fairness of certification is ensured. c) Delivery onsite- The objective is to impart training without disturbing onsite work. The model consists of 80% on site training and only 20% classroom based training making it more hands-on d) Wage Rise: One stand-alone measurable indicator of the project outcome is the trainees wages rise with the objective that skills are upgraded and appreciated by way of accrual of financial gains to the workers. A database helps track the pre and post training wages of the workers. e) Contractor feedback: Contractors who employ the workers are one of the most important stakeholders of the project. With correct counselling and sensitization they have started to appreciate the value addition that the project brings to the quality of work even though it makes certain demands in terms of some amount of time from their workers. f) Developer response: They are other most important stakeholder of the project as it is on their site that the project is organized and hence their pro-active involvement makes a lot of difference. Their response to the project has been overwhelming and requests for starting the training at their site has been pouring in in a large number.

g) Social Audit: Social audit of the project by a third party is a mandate of the project in order to ensure best utilization of the project resources

Training Process:
Kushal team introduces the project, its needs, and benefits to prospective developers and contractors The team does a skill requirement mapping with prospective developers and contractors to assess trades that the training is required in at their construction sites/projects A tripartite MoU is signed among CREDAI, the developer, and the contractors before the start of the training Kushal appoints trainers and provides training content for the training to begin at the site whereas the developers/contractors provide access to the trainees at their site Skill benchmark is made through a well-designed skill-mapping exercise before the training is started Training begins, a mid-term and final skill assessment of the trainees is done by a third party agency Certification is done and skill grade is assigned to all successful trainees based on the final outcome of the assessment Tracking of the trained workers is done for a period of 3 months after the training

Strategic partners:
In order to ensure a wide reach of the project and an equally wide participation of various industry players in it, Kushal has struck strategic partnership with the following agencies: BAI (Builders Association of India), Pune CQRA (Construction Quality Research Association), Pune PCERF (Pune Construction Engineering Research Foundation), Pune AESA (Architects, Engineers and Surveyors Association), Pune HBRC (Home Builders Registration Council), Pune SAMVIT School of Infrastructure Business

These have been actively involved in project monitoring and advisory roles and bring domain specific technical standards on board to further strengthen the project.

Way forward:
Kushal Training for the Construction Workers: Though the target of the project in its 3 year pilot phase is to train 20000 workers, the larger mandate in ten years time till 2022 is to train 100000 workers from the construction industry in the 6 mainstream activities on the construction sites in Pune. Training program for fresh candidates is also in the process of development. This will provide a tremendous boost to the construction industry by adding new skilled workforce, which is the need of the hour in India. As compared to other developed nations, India has a huge rural population which can be tapped. Candidates from Rural areas will be eligible to apply to the training program. These trained candidates will be immediately absorbed by the developers. Once this project becomes fully stable in Pune, it will be implemented across India through local CREDAI bodies. A program for construction site supervisors is also to be launched soon in business revenue mode. Add-ons: We are also in process of launching a short-term course for construction site supervisors and engineers by the name of Certificate Course in Practical Supervision for technical Staff which will again be for those personnel who are already in the job and require further training in practical aspects of their work domain. The course imparts precise Know-How of Indian Standard Guidelines with respect to the Quality Norms to be maintained during construction work for the benefit of the field Technical Staff. The course objective is to blend theory & practical knowledge to acquaint the participants with the construction practices followed on actual site. Self-sustainability: Though right now the project is done with NSDC grant, efforts are on to seek monetary contribution from the industry with the vision to make it self-sustainable. Already, developers are showing keen interest in shouldering some of the training costs by making monetary contributions towards expenses like training toolkit, preparation of training content in audio-video formats, purchase of Kushal Mobile training Vans, etc. Sponsors from tiling, pluming, masonry, cement, etc. industries are also being roped in to meet some of the training expenses in exchange of branding and marketing edge that they can derive from it. Scaling up of Kushal on Pan India basis: Kushal is now in a position to help scale-up the project on pan India basis by way of helping other state and district level CREDAI bodies to take up this project in their own regions where CREDAI Pune provides all necessary start-up support in a mutually beneficial way.

Project Management:
All that has been so far achieved is actually a dream come true if one can look at the short time span in which it happened and the way it has shaped out itself to be. This would not have been possible without a very well knit institutional structure in place to ensure success as shown in the diagrams below: . Diagram 1: Stakeholder Synergy

CREDAI Steering Committee

NSDC

Kushal

Program Partners

Advisory Committee CREDAI

1 2 3 4

Workers Developers Contractors Associates

Diagram 2: Institutional Structure

Kushal Advisory Committee: SN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Name Hemant Naiknavare Rohit Gera Nitin Nyati Shrikant Paranjape Suhas Merchant Atul Goel Kruti Jain Designation Vice President, CREDAI Pune Metro Vice President, CREDAI Pune Metro Hon. Secretary, CREDAI Pune Metro Hon. Treasurer, CREDAI Pune Metro State Task Force, CREDAI Pune Metro PCMC & R&D (Innovation, New Practices), CREDAI Pune Metro Bulletin, CREDAI Pune Metro

Kushal Steering Committee: SN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Name J P Shroff Ranjit Naiknavare Anuj Bhandari Abhijit Achalare Sameer Belwalkar Kapil Trimal Rupesh Banthiya Shrikant Nagarkar Atul Chordiya Ravi Shah Designation Chairman, KUSHAL Vice Chairman, KUSHAL Vice Chairman, KUSHAL Hon. Secretary, KUSHAL Hon. Secretary HR, Legal & Admin, KUSHAL Hon. Jt. Secretary, KUSHAL Hon. Treasurer , KUSHAL Member Member Member

Visit by Special Guests:

Many eminent visitors have so far paid visits to project Kushal to know about its success story in details and gain a firsthand knowledge of it. These include the following: SN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Name Mr. Shibu Baby John Mr. V. Suresh Mr. Rustom Dadabhoy Mr. Dilip Chenoy Mr. M. V. Subbiah Designation Labour Minister, Kerala Principal Operating Officer, HIRCO HIRCO MD & CEO, NSDC Chairman, NSDC; ex-Chairman Murugappa Group CREDAI nominated director, NSDC; Vice Chairman, CREDAI National CIDC, New Delhi COO, ILF&S BAI, Mumbai Labour Minister of Kerala Mr. Shibu Baby John on at Blue Ridge, 9th August 11

6. 7. 8. 9.

Mr. Shekhar Reddy Mr. Rajiv Jain Mr. Arunkumar Pillai BAI Panel from Mumbai

Mr.Dilip Chenoy, M.D. CEO NSDC, 11th July 2011

Award:
KUSHAL was given UKISF Award 2011 under the Best Skills Provider Government Funded category during the inaugural session of the FICCI Annual Global Skills Summit held on 15th and 16th Sept. 2011, at New Delhi, in the presence of 250 plus International and National delegates.

Credentials: What People have to say about Kushal