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| the wonderful staff and trainers @ APHEDA in Cambodia |
The Khmer Rouge genocide which had caused the death of around two million Cambodians in the 1970s, had ended only six years before Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA started its work in Cambodia. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA and its partners determined that contributing to health training and re-skilling the workforce through vocational education was key to helping Cambodia to recover.
The APHEDA project allows me to continue my collaboration with the Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad (APHEDA) - the overseas humanitarian aid agency of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Cambodian team, and five key trainers and staff from the Cambodian rural women’s vocational education centres in Provincial Cambodia.
The key objective is designed to deliver formal trade training sessions to teachers within these centres; and include training on teaching methodology and lesson planning (delivered by the Phnom Penh APHEDA team). The specialised vocational training will be in Hairdressing skills as it is a very good employment skill in rural areas especially in the wedding season. APHEDA have wanted to include Hairdressing in their vocational education curriculum for some time but have been unable to support it due to lack of technical assistance. I have established initial training with APHEDA in 2009-10 and acknowledge the need for a more comprehensive approach. The key skill areas delivered will be both women's hair cutting, and bridal up styling. We will concentrate on teaching staff within the centres and trainers will transfer skills onto students. I have delivered hairdressing workshops with great success to women trainers at Mith Samlanh, a Friends International Vocational Education Centre in Phnom Penh from July until November, 2010 and I believe there is a need for similar training programs for women in rural areas of Cambodia.
Once in the training centre I will deliver scheduled practical trade skills along with theory & demonstration sessions to the hairdressing tutors with the help of translator Kim Song. Further, I will offer support with the training curriculum. We want our students to have the necessary skills required for employment.
a plan of activities:
I plan to travel to Cambodia to commence training with the five key Vocational Training Centres (Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, Thmar Kul, Mong Russey and O’Reang Ov) in the Provinces of Cambodia and with the APHEDA team in Cambodia, we will further develop each centres hairdressing skill areas.
A typical timetable incorporating teacher session planning (APHEDA - Sok San) and vocational skills training (Gail) would be as follows:
Women s haircutting workshop
Monday | “Haircutting Short Introduction, DVD and demonstration | Practical Workshop |
|---|---|---|
Tuesday | Lesson planning session | Visit or Practical Demonstration by industry hairdressers |
Wednesday | Lesson planning session | Industry- Salon visit |
Thursday | Haircutting DVD , demonstration and Practical Workshop | Practical Workshop |
Friday | Lesson planning session presentations | salon visit |
Saturday | Haircutting , demonstration and Practical Workshop | Practical Workshop final |
Resources:
- Manikin long hair + stand
- Scissors, thinners and comb
- Water spray and sectioning clips
- Towels
Women s bridal up-styles workshop
Monday | Short Introduction, DVD and demonstration | Practical Workshop |
|---|---|---|
Tuesday | Lesson planning session | Visit or Practical Demonstration by industry hairdressers |
Wednesday | Lesson planning session | Industry-Salon visit |
Thursday | demonstration and Practical Workshop | Practical Workshop |
Friday | Lesson planning session presentations | Salon visit |
aturday | demonstration and Practical Workshop | Practical Workshop final |
Resources:
- long hair manikin & clamp
- tail comb / brush
- blow dryer
- straightening irons
- large velcro rollers
Consumables:
- bobby pins / fringe pins
- hair padding – circle, crescent, oblong, cone, donut
- product – hairspray, pomade & other styling product
This approach delivers a blend of theory, demonstration and technical training suitable for women at all levels of training.
In 2009, I spent one month in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, helping homeless women and children get off the streets, volunteering for Friends International (FI), a non religious, non profit French Aid Organisation that provides medical care and education in HIV, drug prevention, hygiene and reproductive health, as well as food, shelter and VET job skills. I visited APHEDA to establish contact and familiarise myself with their training organisation. FI and APHEDA are both established and respected NGO's in Vocational Education Training in Cambodia.
In 2010, I returned to Phnom Penh for a further five month period to continue training hairdressing skills in the Mith Samlanh Vocational Education & Training Centre; this centre provides opportunities for women to gain skills to build sustainable employment, paramount to building their own futures. I also connected with APHEDA and together we delivered a successful training program with APHEDA partners. Barbara Fitzgerald, Country Co-ordinator, APHEDA Cambodia, invited training centre staff to travel from the provinces of Cambodia to attend an introduction to Hairdressing and teacher training program in Phnom Penh. It is in this capacity that I have successfully built pathways and positive relationships with both Friends International and APHEDA working within their existing training infrastructure to provide quality training in Hairdressing skills in Phnom Penh. This example of building relationships and working with others is evident in our success so far.
The model outlined of our training approach in Cambodia can be used for many groups within our student profile at CIT or within remote training centres in Australia and Cambodia; for example women enrolled in VET training programs,Youth at Risk, Indigenous, International and Migrant Women groups returning to work or on initial entry into training and ultimately the workforce. I have promoted education and training for marginalised women through my blog http://therussianmarket.blogspot.com/ . This is a useful tool that tracks “Volunteering Trade Skills in Cambodia”. It contains experiences, articles published and presentations:
- Presentation to CIT - T&HM Centre Teaching Staff - Off Shore Training Initiatives
- The APHEDA Blog
- CITs Website
- Collaboration with The Oaktree organisation
- Project presentation to Rotary Canberra monthly meeting
- ABC Radio – Drive Program with Melanie Tait
- The Canberra Times
- Staff meeting @ CIT Hair & Beauty (educational manager) :“Your commitment, passion and professionalism come across so clearly and it is this sort of action and publicity that is capable of raising the profile and demonstrating to the wider public the true value and capacity of both our industry and vocational education. You are a credit to CIT, the department and to the hairdressing industry.”
Jane Barrett, Education Manager - Hair, Beauty and RetailTourism and Hotel Management Centre, Canberra Institute of Technology
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