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DONORS SPEAK

Naresh Malhan
Managing Director, Manpower India

HOPE foundation is truly a great organization. The team delivers their services with love, care, responsibility and attempts to touch the lives of the people. At Manpower Vocational Training Centre (MVTC), HOPE foundation team has not only helped Manpower set vocational training centers but in ensuring the achievement of the desired objectives of the program. We have been able to make some difference to lives of the people at Nagapattinam & Tharangambadi. My gratitude to everybody at HOPE foundation for their commitment, compassion and sense of responsibility towards their programs.

MVTC is an experience for me. The kind of work undertaken with a great spirit has truly affected the lives of people in Nagapattinam & Tharangambadi. Whenever I visit these places I am carried away by the energy, spirit and belief in life shown by families, individuals and society affected by the great devastation of Tsunami. I feel very touched seeing that our efforts have made some difference to the lives of people over there.

Sujatha Natrajan
CSR Manager, Manpower India

Partnering with HOPE foundation has been a very enriching experience bringing out the best from every stakeholder. The attitude of the team to always walk the extra mile is a great energizer. The team members are humble and do not care for any personal publicity and are extremely focused on fulfilling peoples aspirations. This gives them a great capacity to get maximum support from the community and local partners. People from the most challenging context now feel they have the strength to fight and win in life. Also every person touched by our program feels it’s their duty to reach out to more people in need. Hence it's a ripple effect increasing in reach with every move. This has made me believe that when you mean well there are great people to support and I found the greatest in the HOPE team.

Centre of HOPE - Nagapattinam

One of the largest initiatives in response to the Tsunami disaster was launched by HOPE foundation, in collaboration with Manpower Inc., USA at Nagapattinam, a district which witnessed three-quarters of the fatalities that occurred in Tamil Nadu. The collaboration has produced the establishment of two Vocational Training Centers at Tharangambadi and Nagapattinam with a focus on local requirements and developing the local economy.

The Manpower program is especially encouraging because it has a 15-year sustainability plan designed by Exec. Director Mark Templer in close consultation with the excellent Manpower team. Ian Coorea, Chief Development Officer, has worked hard to leverage additional partnerships to truly make this a team effort. Mark noted, "Manpower's leadership in the US and India really wants CSR to be part of the culture of their company. I have seen the deep sincerity of their people, from the CEO Jeff Joerres, Charles Bartels (Director of Global Social Responsibility and Knowledge Sharing, to all their great Indian team."

According to Manpower Executive Chairman, Soumen Basu, “What differentiates this project from others is its unique development model - long term focus and commitment (15 years), in order to make a sustainable impact with significant investment in infrastructure at sites (permanent buildings, computers, equipment) and the investment in the project will have a ripple effect on the local economy – net economic benefit could be 10 -15 times the total contribution. It is planned that nearly 10,000 students will graduate in the first 10 years. The plan also includes the creation of self-help groups and providing them with seed money to create at least 70 small businesses for women in Tharangambadi village.”

The two vocational training centres train young men and women in different professional courses, like computers, masonry, sewing, mobile repairing, electrical fittings and others.

Today, after four years of its initiation, 3567 people have been trained through these two centres in various job skills. Of these, 1997 have found jobs (56% of total trainees) Further, entrepreneurs were encouraged by providing seed money to create at least 700 small businesses.

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