(ANS – Berlin) – The Grohe-Jal-Academy (Jal for Water) at Don Bosco in Mumbai-Kurla/ India has been training young people as plumbers and specialists in water management since 2009. This has been made possible by the exemplary cooperation of the German sanitary company Grohe and the Don Bosco Mondo organization in Bonn. On November 26, 2012, both institutions received the innovation award of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ in Berlin. The local partner in Mumbai-Kurla is the Don Bosco Learning Center, chaired by Fr. Adolph Furtado SDB.

Gudrun Kopp, parliamentary state secretary,  decorated six award winners on November 26, 2012, at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ ceremony in Berlin. Managing director, Christian Osterhaus, on behalf of Don Bosco Mondo and Dr. Ulrike Heuser-Greipl, Senior Vice President Public & Investor Relations, on behalf of Grohe, gratefully accepted the award.

The jury chose projects which show innovation and successfully promote vocational training in so-called developing countries. Cooperation between companies and civil society organizations really does work. Both companies and NGOs benefit equally from the Grohe-Jal-Academy focus on technical training. The project offers a win-win situation: well-educated plumbers for a branded product and secure employment for young people from very poor backgrounds. Based on their vocational training, these young people have the opportunity to break out of the vicious circle of poverty and build a professional career.

In the end young people in India profit. Nearly all graduates find a job after their training, though not all as plumbers afterwards – an example is Trushant, who finished his training in 2011 and is currently studying engineering: “I never would have thought that this step was possible for me. But after the training at the Grohe-Jal-Academy at Don Bosco I have gained confidence in myself”.

Published 28/11/2012