SENAC of Brazil: growing with quality

A retrospective analysis of the performance of the SENAC of Brazil shows the beginning of a new and important phase in the recent history of that Service.

Upon embarking in 1999 on a bold innovative period, the SENAC reaffirmed its image as a reference body in the area of Vocational Education for commerce and services.

As regards output, it promoted the training of 1,889,892 professionals through an education network made up by 663 schools and 50 mobile units, distributed throughout the country. By percentile tuition and distance education, SENAC activities reached out into 2,067 Brazilian municipalities.

Besides the above methods, the SENAC has deployed a comprehensive strategy to get vocational training and civic education topics to the population at large, in all corners of Brazil. Trough television programmes, such as the one broadcast every week by the Rio de Janeiro University Channel (UTV), which is retransmitted by Channel 16 of the NET, occupational techniques and experiences in different areas are divulged.

Complementary to this, the radio programme "SENAC Space" has proved that talking on the air about vocational education and matters of interest to citizens can be a great success.

Produced by the National Office of SENAC, the programme is broadcast weekly over a network of more than 600 radio stations throughout Brazil. These figures show the growing interest of broadcasters and listeners in general for the subjects presented. This acceptance is due not only to the quality of the programmes but to the constant effort made by the Institute to identify its target audience, work in consonance with it and gauge the degree of satisfaction of its members.

One of the great challenges of "SENAC Space" has been to broach subjects that may be of interest to listeners in all parts of the country. The solution was to deal with matters affecting the population in general, such as education, health, the labour market, defence of the consumer, the environment, etc.

To detect listeners’ needs and correct the programme’s approach, "SENAC Hour" asks questions in the form of a quiz with prizes and rewards.

Apart from offering listener participation, the programme tries to find out the opinion of the radio stations that put it on the air, by means of evaluation cards.

The answers to these questionnaires have unveiled positive facts and very favourable opinions about this SENAC initiative. Stations are interested in continuing to broadcast the programme, due to the quality of the production and the importance of the topics discussed.

All these recent activities that the SENAC has undertaken show that it is possible to grow with quality.

The INTECAP of Guatemala is modernised

Towards the end of 1998, the Board of Directors of the INTECAP appointed a committee to modernise its structures. In March 1999, that committee submitted a Plan for the Modernisation of the Institute, which comprised the following:

• guidelines for a modernisation of INTECAP.
• guidelines for organisational restructuring: schedules at Unit, Division and Department level,
• chronological table for implementing modernisation.

The following aspects were taken into account in the project:

1. Changes that have occurred in the training process, both in values and support.
2. Redefining of concepts of mission, vision and values.
3. Redesigning of technical and administrative procedures.
4. Underlining the importance of orienting the Institution towards total quality
5. Putting in place a horizontal organisational structure

The timetable for implementing modernisation included 7 subprocesses:

Subprocess Nº 1

Consisted of: Appointment of Heads of Division, Unit and Department, as well as other officers that, pursuant to the Organic Law, must be designated by the Board of Directors.

Purpose: to have the human resources required for comprehensive institutional processes.

Subprocess N°2

Consisted of: Preparing for the adoption of a total quality culture.

Purpose: Developing an organisational culture that may promote occupational patterns leading to an overall vision of identification with the Institute and generating values and attitudes towards work that may allow INTECAP to achieve total quality management, and constant improvement.

Subprocess Nº 3

Consisted of: Redesigning main institutional procedures.

Purpose: that those who will be in charge of institutional procedures may – with the support of the various Heads involved and the counselling of reengineering experts – analyse the status of institutional procedures, and propose that the Heads of the INTECAP Planning Division and Technical Co-operation Unit, respectively, be in charge of consolidating such procedures.

Subprocess Nº 4

Consisted of: Redefining the organisational structure of the Institute and outlining a pilot plan for implementing it.

Purpose: Arranging for a final organisational structure of INTECAP in keeping with the new procedures to be implemented and allowing for teamwork in order to improve the quality of services and to meet the needs of users.

Subprocess Nº 5

Consisted of: Managing human resources.

Purpose: Having appropriate human resources for the posts which, in accordance with the Organic Law and the Agreement on Labour Conditions, are to be filled by the Management; defining job profiles and wages policies in line with the new organisational structure.

Subprocess Nº 6

Consisted of: regionalisation.

Purpose: Division of the national territory into different regions, taking into account geographic, demographic, economic, social and infrastructure factors, with a view to the decentralisation and delegation of institutional activities.

Subprocess Nº 7

Consisted of: Consolidating the institutional image.

Purpose: Laying down the groundwork for INTECAP to build its institutional image vis-à-vis its users and the population at large.

The main achievements of this institutional modernisation process have been:

• Determination of a strategic management for INTECAP.
• Adoption of a more adequate regionalisation.
• Redesign of technical and administrative procedures.
• Creation of a more dynamic organisational structure.

The governing role of INFOTEP in the development of a National Vocational Training System for Productive Work in the Dominican Republic

Based on the tripartite system as a model of collegiate management, INFOTEP has made remarkable progress in developing a National Training System for Productive Work. Different integration and participation mechanisms have been devised involving important elements in the System itself and its environment, as well as various areas of the Institution.

Noteworthy among such mechanisms are those for the integration of productive sectors (Consulting Committees, Technical Commissions, Planning and Evaluation Groups, etc.); the ones for integrating together the System’s components and providing inter-institutional co-ordination (Centres with independent management, Joint Management Centre, joint development schemes with international organisations and agencies); mechanisms supporting operation of the system and the Institute itself (Control Committee, Budget Committee, Revenues Committee, etc. ); and provisions for regional strategic alliances through agreements and arrangements (Co-operation Agreement among Vocational Training Institutions of the Central American Isthmus and the Dominican Republic, Agreement with the CONOCER of Mexico, etc.)

Such mechanisms have made it possible to expand and supplement the tripartite management model by multiplying levels of co-ordination and participation of social and economic sectors. It has improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the institution by making full use of the installed capacity of collaborating centres, incorporating new training strategies and methodologies in order to meet the demand of productive sectors that are faced with a new social and economic scenario, characterised by high competitiveness.