India – Traditional Cluster Development Program: “Virasat - The Heritage”

18 December 2020

(ANS – New Delhi) – Lockdown of varying degrees is one reality due to the pandemic. But going beyond that to a learning process using available resources of mobile telephony was something new for the pineapple farmers and processors of Assam. The partnership between FICCI and Don Bosco Tech Society made it possible for them. It was surely different, useful and engaging and hopefully futuristic.

Don Bosco Tech Society has partnered with FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industries) and FISCI (Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative) in the Traditional Cluster Development Program for the pineapple growers and pineapple processors in the State of Assam through a short term online training and certification.

Virasat- The Heritage is an initiative by the Industry Chamber that gives a platform to the small and medium enterprises working at traditional cluster level to showcase their talents and to share with the world, their amazing journey. This programme also offers a platform to different traditional clusters from various states of the country to share best practices and explore synergies.

The objective of the training is to create sustainable linkages between the rural and urban economies. The training modules are Digital literacy, Financial Literacy, Supply Chain Management, Packaging, and Entrepreneurship. The additional topics included the value addition of pineapple and e-commerce websites. The online training aims to promote pineapple growers to fruit entrepreneurs and form Farmers Production Organizations at cluster level across the state.

In collaboration with FICCI, we have already trained and certified 111 participants in the state of Assam through two separate initiatives. The experience of the initial pilot programme and the interest generated in the same has led to improving on the content and delivery as well as planning a bigger reach. It was surely a different and new experience for most of the participants to attend training sessions on their mobiles using online platforms and interact with the trainers and others engaged in similar activity.

While addressing a needy segment of the society this programme has also proved that lockdown does not necessarily lock up everyone. Both these training programmes organised online for the individual involved in farming and processing pineapple gives courage and hope that more can be meaningfully reached.

Source: Don Bosco India

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