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Capacity Building Mileage Programme
Empowerment of women is one of the three priority areas of work of the Women's Commission (WoC), which considers capacity building an important women empowerment process.
An essential aspect of capacity building among women is the provision of adequate and relevant education and training programmes. Concerns have been expressed to the WoC that existing education/training programmes in town are mainly offering vocational related training/retraining for women. These programmes may not fully address the needs or interests of women, i.e. in terms of location, timing of classes, pre-requisite academic requirements, and choice of subjects, etc. WoC feels that women should be encouraged to develop an interest in learning and a desire for self-development and improvement, so that they can be better equipped to face life's challenges and to deal with adverse circumstances.
In this connection, WoC has developed in partnership with the Open University of Hong Kong
(OUHK) and Commercial Radio (CR) a Capacity Building Mileage Programme (CBMP) to encourage
women to improve their all round ability as individuals; encourage/facilitate them to widen
their perspectives and to develop/realise their potential; encourage them to develop their
learning interest and ability, and to help remove environmental barriers and provide
opportunities for women to build up their capacities. The Programme is intended to help equip
women with a positive mindset and enhance their inner strength so that they can cope with
different life challenges. It is different from existing vocational training courses in that
it seeks to facilitate women to change their perception, their attitude, visuality about
themselves and their environment. Qualities which are emphasised include creativity, curiosity,
personal judgement, self-reliance, self-confidence and sense of humour/optimism. The CBMP does
not, however, seek to improve women's vocational skills per se, and participation in the CBMP
has no direct relationship with getting employment, or more advanced academic learning.
The Programme has been designed with the following key features: (a) flexibility -
participants can take up courses at any time (multiple entry points) or to exit the programme
at any time (multiple exit points); (b) convenience - courses will mainly be broadcast
through radio and will be supplemented by optional activities, and classes are minimised; (c)
relevance - courses are related to the daily lives of women; (d) choice of assessment
- a combination of assessment methods (e.g. tests, course work, reflective writing) could be
allowed; (e) mileage - participants could accumulate points from their studies and to
advance to the next level of learning when they have accumulated sufficient number of "points";
(f) enrolment is optional - there would be no need to enrol in a course unless the
participant intends to take an assessment and to obtain "points" for their study; and (g)
affordability - the cost would be affordable.
The CBMP receives financial support from the Lotteries Fund and will be implemented on a
three-year pilot basis. It was launched on 8 March 2004.
Most of the courses of the CBMP will be broadcast on radio. The courses include managing health,
personal finance, human relationship and communication skills, and practical issues in daily
lives. There will be three semesters each year, beginning in March, July and November. The first
semester commenced on 8 March 2004, with radio broadcast from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. , on CR
Channel I.
Over 70 women's groups and service agencies have been invited to organise supplementary
learning activities, such as tutorial classes and peer group activities, in the first
semester. More are expected to join later.
Enrolment has already started. More information about the CBMP can be obtained from the
programme's website, or by calling
the hotline at 2915 2380, or from various
collaborating women's
groups and service agencies.
Capacity
Building Mileage Programme (TV Announcement)
The First Graduation Ceremony
The Second Graduation Ceremony
The Third Graduation Ceremony
The Fourth Graduation Ceremony
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