Trichy :

The certificates for the six-month course on NGO management, on Friday, was distributed to 16 people, including 12 women at the Holy Cross College in Trichy, one of the oldest colleges for women in South India.

Receiving the certificate from Sr Stella, president of Assisi Aid Projects India, in the presence of Holy Cross principal Dr (Sr) Jeusin Francis, Jaya Mani, a 50-year-old widow said she used to wonder whether she would ever have a chance to even enter the Holy Cross premises, let alone getting enrolled for a programme, whenever she passed through the college at Teppakulam. “Then I continued to dream of getting my two daughters enrolled in the college, but in vain,” said Jaya Mani. “Now, I cannot even dream of getting my two grandchildren enrolled in the college, because they are males,” she quipped.

But Jaya Mani was all the more happy as she was getting a certificate with the Holy Cross College emblem at its very premises. But it was all thanks to the efforts of Antony Stephen, a faculty member of the department of social, who with the support from Sr Jeusin Francis, got the 60 hours three-credit course approved by the HCC board of studies. Three subjects were taught: Introduction to NGO management, project planning management, and project cycle management (PCM).

In the past, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development ( NABARD) used to train the workers of the NGO for duration of five days, when as a visiting resource person Stephen found out that the workers lacked the knowledge for auditing procedures, its legal requirements and liaising with funding agencies. Thus, the unique course was born. The minimum requirement was eight years of schooling, and age was no bar.

For the first time, two batches of 16 people were awarded certificates. One of them a 62-year-old man, K Chandrasekhar, was previously a bonded laborer, and now runs a NGO called DEW (Development Education for Workers). Stephen said the new certificate course would become a permanent feature of the autonomous college.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy> South India / TNN / January 11th, 2014