Community Centre Staff Training

During the first week of August 2004, FNF conducted an Initial Staff Training session in Kuala Lumpur for the staff of five new Community Centres in Taiping, Buntong of Ipoh, Semenyih, Rawang and Rasah Jaya in Seramban. The project now has a total of 9 Community Centres in Malaysia , with four out of five having been established and running since January of this year. (Buntong has sinced closed and is due to relocate)

Staff from the new Centres along with 2 from the current Centres attended the training session. They were briefed on the objectives of the project, their roles in helping encourage self-help within the communities, as well as practical administrative skills to run a Community Centre.

The Training session followed a participatory approach, with various opportunities for the staff to express their views and their understanding of the Project's objectives. It confirmed our previous findings, research and consultations on the graveness of the problems being faced by the people in the Communities. The most common ones cited were: single mothers with a large family to support; very limited source of employment; or that of violent and abusive husbands who were either away in jail for committing petty crimes, unemployed or have more than one wife they can not support.

We also had a bit of fun trying our hands and putting our brains to the task of working out numbers and accounts. The last half of the 3-day session was full of comments and questions about - "Oh that expense is not allowed", "Wait, we are exceeding the budget" or "The numbers don't tally, I'm missing RM1.50".

All in all, it was a productive session with an opportunity for the staff to interact and share ideas, while at the same time gaining knowledge and the skills to run and administer the Community Centres. Moreover, it allowed the staff to use their knowledge to work with the Community to achieve the goals of the Project.
We would like to welcome our new staff and at the same time take this opportunity to thank them as well as all our volunteers and core group members for their dedication and efforts in bringing about improvements to the situation of the Indian communities in Malaysia.

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