My Experiences in Afghanistan -Part 3

I am writing this in continuation to my previous articles, viz; Skill Development:  Lessons from Afghanistan (1) and Skill Development:  Lessons from Afghanistan (2) in case you missed them earlier:

Read on further…. Another learning from the past.

The India Skills centre was approved to be setup on 28 Aug 2005 through a joint statement of the two heads of the States.

The entire team was overjoyed imagining what it would be like.

The team made several visits to Kabul in quick succession, essentially to establish liaison with the concerned people in the Afghanistan Government, visit the training centres set up by other countries like South Korea, Japan and Iraq, visit several construction sites to understand the live issues and skill needs. These visits gave us good perspective of what must be done and what should be avoided and why.

The final go ahead from the Government was received after a detailed process of budgeting and re-budgeting and responding to queries of multiple central govt ministries and departments. At one stage one of the ministries contested the very concept of competency based short term training, which as per our team was the very backbone of the entire skilling intervention.  

The next challenge was to put together a team of experts who would physically not only set up the centre but also run and manage it in Kabul. This was an experience. The name of the location, Kabul, turned out be a deterrent. A lot of people came forward but did not show up after the first meeting. The team continued relentlessly to pursue the task at hand. It was then we met a very senior retired Colonel from the Corps of Engineers who accepted the challenge. Slowly, a team of experts was put together to set up, run and manage the training centre at Kabul. They all came with diverse background experiences. The only common thing which helped in binding them as team was their willingness to go to Kabul and make it happen. The average age of this team was 65+. Many people had different opinions about the configuration of this team, however, it was their determination and dedication that proved everyone wrong.

Several visits were made to Afghanistan essentially to identify the location for the centre. The Afghan Govt representative showed numerous empty buildings, workshop facilities in the local University, facilities of Red Crescent and many more. We finally settled for a building designed and build to be used as a training centre.  This was towards the west of the main town in the middle of a residential area.

All this took us to May 2008. Almost 2 and a half years from the date of signing the joint declaration between the two heads of the States. Finally, the training team arrived at Kabul and settled down in a homely hotel managed by Indian staff.

 The first action was to repair the broken boundary wall to make the centre safer. The work commenced. Next morning the team found that the wall had been pulled down, probably by the residents. After a few more similar attempts, some members of the training team and the masons working on the wall were beaten up, only to be saved by the intervention of the representative of the Afghan Labour Ministry. A quick meeting was organised with the residents to understand their issues. They seemed to be threatened by the presence of foreigners so close to their living area. There was no option but to practice the strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the locals. It worked.  

The centre came up as planned. The boundary wall now intact with an understanding that after the training hours, the campus can be used a playground for the children.

The centre was now ready to take on batches for welding, masonry, tiling, plumbing, bar bending, carpentry and dress making.  A doctor with a small medical room also joined in at the campus. The armed security guards were keeping a constant vigil in trying to keep the centre and its occupants safe.

The mobilisation for construction skills was a big hit. The first batch was oversubscribed in no time. The dress making remained a challenge. One of the elders of the nearby residential area educated us that ladies will not be allowed to join in unless a clear partition and a separate entry / exit is identified. This problem was quickly addressed. Not only the first batch but the next three batches were fully subscribed.

The collective experience of the training team paid dividends. The trainers and trainees of the masonry, carpentry, tiling, bar bending, plumbing, and welding worked in tandem and created two additional training sheds in the campus using the raw material meant for training. This gave the trainees enough hands-on practice to be picked by the local and foreign construction contractors straight from the campus.  The employment and self-employment percentage remained high at above 90% throughout.

A casual chat with the locals revealed that a genuine effort to win their hearts and mind, respect for their feelings and culture and focus on training their children was collectively responsible for the success the Indian Skill Centre. The good news soon started spreading.

The training team had their share of bad luck as well when the centre was threatened by the militant organisation. The hotel, where the team was staying came under a full-blown attack. Its double iron gates blown off. Each room sprayed with bullets. Thankfully, no life was lost.

After a brief pause, the centre came back to life again.

Soon the centre made international news. The UN agency UNAMA joined hands to support the centre with additional funding support.

The final certification and closing ceremony were a grand affair. All the renowned dignitaries attend.  The residents from the neighbourhood came out in numbers.

The centre was then successfully handed over to the Afghan Govt bring the curtains down for the project.

About three months later at about 7 pm I received a call. I did not recognise the number but the ISD code was +93. The caller identified himself to be one of the trainees who had been trained in the India Skills Centre and wanted to know when we would be back in Kabul. He also wanted me to speak to his wife, which I did reluctantly, not knowing whether she would understand my mix of Hindi and broken Urdu. She spoke for a minute or two and gave the phone back to her husband. I told him that I could not understand. His response was simple – “Brather, understand the feelings not the words. She just blessed you for having changed her family’s life”. There could not have been a better appreciation for the hard work put in by the entire team.