Centre conducted a two day training for Government Officials from the Labor Department at Lahore. The purpose of the training was to enhance the understanding of the participants on Strategic Communications while orienting them to the Internationally Acclaimed Smart Chart Tool for Communications. The Smart Chart as the name indicates is a smart way for the approaching the world of communications for professionals from different sectors around the world. The purpose of Smart Chart is to build a systematic, step-by-step approach for the development of small scale communications campaigns. The proven technique of “Learn by Doing” remained the best driving force for all participants who came from different regions of Punjab and were working for improving labor standards in their respective regions.
The training was part of a bigger project in which Centre is assisting GIZ in promoting awareness regarding a unique concept called “Return on Prevention” which in reality is aimed at building the awareness of textile industry about the overall benefits of investing in safety standards of its workers and enhancing the working standards of their facilities. The core idea is to establish the correlation between safety standards and profitability. This in turn has a huge potential to convince the textile sector, which is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy to upgrade its labor standards in general and safety standards in particular. The established link based on research is poised to reposition labor standards as an investment opportunity for enhancing productivity rather than increasing expenses of operations.
The training comprised of two days, divided into 6 major sessions followed by group work. All sessions were integrated together and gave the participants a lot of confidence as they managed their group work from one session to another. Each session of the smart chart consisted of a detailed orientation about the key concept, which used to be followed by group work by participants on a selected topic of labor standards. Resultantly, over the course of 2 days, participants were able to develop two small campaigns on two distinct topics.
After the end of each topic certificates were distributed to the participants by the lead trainer, Dr. Atif Ikram Butt who also happens to be the Executive Director of Center.