Opening Ceremony of Training Course on National Level Carpentry and Masonry
September 5, 2016
Yangon. Opening Ceremony on “2nd National Level Carpenter Training and 1st National Level Mason Training” took place this morning under DFID funded BRACED project at Ministry of Construction Training Center, Thuwanna, Yangon Region. BRACED (Building Resilience and Adaptation for Climate Extremes and Disasters) is a 3 year DFID funded project implemented by 6 partners in Myanmar.
The trainings are jointly organized by the Ministry of Construction, Myanmar Engineering Society, National Skills Standard Authority and UN-Habitat, in order to sustain and institutionalize skill enhancement on DRR through promoting the safer construction practices and building resilience.
In his opening remarks U Kyi Thwin Oo, Director/Headmaster of Training Center (Thuwanna) stressed that the trainings are organized as part of disaster risk reduction programs to promote safer construction practices to address the structural vulnerability to natural hazards. Since most construction labor in villages are semi or skilled with or without adequate formal training, the focus of trainings are to enhance the capacity of local carpenters and masons.
Vice Chairman U Ko Ko Gyi, Myanmar Engineering Socity, delivered remarks, in which he encouraged the training participants to learn and practice during the course and disseminate knowledge – after completion training – in their community.
Mr. Shashank Mishra, DRR Programme Manager from UN-Habitat, in his opening remarks mentioned that Masons and Carpenters bear a major responsibility to ensure safe housing especially in rural communities where they live and work as construction of household structures in these areas generally lack of engineering design and supervision. Upgrading their skills through trainings and certification by NSSA will bring more work opportunity and better lives for them.
60 training participants, from Kyineton, Mawlamyine, Hpa-an, Labutta, Dagon Seikkan, Meiltila, Kyauk Phyu, and Taungu townships located in Shan, Mon, Kayin, Ayarwady, Yangon, Magway, Rakhine and Mandalay regions, will be trained for this batch. Over the last years, training center has trained around 557 carpenters and 27 masons, with the support from ECHO and USAID/OFDA, and among them 177 carpenters and 27 masons achieved National Skills Standard Authority (NSSA) certificate.
