ETC asks for Lm8.4m for three-year plan
by David Kelleher
The Employment and Training Corporation is requesting up to Lm8.4m over the next three years to fund existing programmes and to provide for new initiatives it has planned for the future.
The budgetary requests covers the period October 2000 to September 2003 and forms part of the ETC's business plan, a draft of which was launched yesterday.
The Corporation's request includes Lm2.4m for 2000/2001, Lm3m for 2001/2002 and Lm3m for 2002/2003.
The budget for the first year of the business plan has already been confirmed and is Lm1 more than that budgeted last year.
The remaining Lm6m will be granted depending on the success of the initiatives carried out during the first year.
The two requests for Lm3m in funds are based on projections for the last two years of the business plan.
Of these amounts, the ETC is planning to spend a total of Lm637,000, Lm1.334m and Lm1.243m over three years on developing a wide range of new initiatives that the ETC is proposing in its draft business plan.
The draft plan, which was approved by the board of directors on 31 July, will be discussed by the corporation's clients next month and will have to be approved by the government.
The ETC's chief executive, John Camilleri, in a forward to the business plan, emphasises on the value of social inclusion, a policy that is used to guide the corporation as it strives to provide "equal access to training opportunities and to quality employment", which are both central to social inclusion.
"The Employment and Training Corporation is government's instrument for promoting such access. We realise the growing necessity for lifelong learning and the centrality of work to the dignity of the human person, and wish to be of assistance to anyone requiring our services.
"We also realise the national significance of our role in seizing the opportunities that an evolving economy can offer.
"In this context, the Corporation contributes to national policy through providing government with useful labour market information and analysis," Mr Camilleri says.
Although this plan is not ETC's first attempt to develop strategy, he adds, "it is novel in that it is our first three-year business plan, with a vision and objectives based on wide consultation within and outside our organisation."
"In a spirit of subsidiarity, we are actively developing partnerships with other organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to achieve our objectives," Mr Camilleri says.
The business plan is also meant to increase the transparency of the ETC's operations and provide opportunity for feedback and dialogue.
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