Helping people to help themselves – this concept has been put into action by the GROHE JAL Academy. The training workshop at the Don Bosco Learning Center qualifies young people from extremely poor backgrounds, many of whom have lived in the streets, to become professional plumbers. This gives them the opportunity to start a career as a skilled tradesman and to earn their own livelihood. The project has now won a first prize in the “Innovation competition for professional education projects in developing countries" launched by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

On November 26, the prizes were handed over to the winners by Parliamentary State Secretary Gudrun Kopp at the Berlin Representative Office of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. Among the winners were not only Grohe AG and its partner, Don Bosco Mondo e.V., but also three projects from the civil society sphere as well as another two projects from Germany’s economy sector. The prize ceremony was also attended by the 5-strong jury, which consists of German theatre and TV actor Dietmar Bär, Walter Scheurle, former member of the Management Board of Deutsche Post AG, Sabine Donner, in charge of the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI), Dr. Stephanie Odenwald, Head of Education and Further Training of Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (trade union for education and science) as well as Dr. Andreas König, Head of the competence centre for professional education and the labour market of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The jury singled out projects which support professional education in developing countries in an especially innovative and successful manner and particularly highlighted the creative model of the successful development cooperation between the corporate sector and society in the case of the GROHE JAL Academy of GROHE and Don Bosco Mondo.

Training in the field of water installation is a two-stage process, i.e. it comprises the basic plumbing training and subsequently the foreman training. According to Indian standards, the qualification measures take between three and twelve months. The degrees are private training certificates issued by the Don Bosco Learning Center. Referring to the GROHE JAL Academy opens up a lot of opportunities for the young graduates. Since 2012, the exams have been carried out in cooperation with Godrij Construction, a large Indian building corporation, which also hires graduates after their exams. The Learning Center has applied for official certification of the training course with India’s national certification authority, which is expected to be granted in early 2013.

“We are very happy that the GROHE JAL Academy project has met with such an excellent response,” says Michael Mager, Head of Human Resources at Grohe AG. “From the very beginning, we found it important to not just make a one-time donation to an aid organisation but to be personally involved. The special advantage of the project is that it not only benefits the young apprentices but that the growing pool of qualified installers will open up further growth opportunities for GROHE in India as well.”