2012/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/17

Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2012

Youth and skills: Putting education to work

Technical Training, Curriculum Support & Education Initiatives - An Assessment of India’s

Overseas Aid in Skills Development

Subhash Agrawal

2012

This paper was commissioned by the Education for All Global Monitoring Report as background information to assist in drafting the 2012 report. It has not been edited by the team. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the EFA Global Monitoring Report or to UNESCO. The papers can be cited with the following reference: “Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2012, Youth and skills: Putting education to work” For further information, please contact efareport@unesco.org

Technical Training, Curriculum Support & Education Initiatives An Assessment of India’s Overseas Aid in Skills Development

By

Subhash Agrawal Editor, India Focus

For

Education for All Global Monitoring Report UNESCO

August 12, 2011

Executive Summary • Precise official figures on India’s overseas aid in skills development are

notoriously elusive or unavailable due to the sheer multiplicity of agencies involves and confusing nomenclature in official account-keeping, but it can be said with a fair degree of confidence that, over the last 8 years, Indian aid in this area has witnessed roughly 50 percent increase, from approximately US $ 225 million in 2003, to US $ 435 million in 2011. However, as a component of total official aid abroad, skills and education has stayed at a relatively constant level (30 percent of the total aid budget).

• Regional focus of Indian aid in skills development has seen some major

shifts, with Africa in particular getting increasing attention and aid money. In the most current year (2011), roughly 70 percent of Indian aid to Africa is to be spent on education, skills and vocational training projects. The money involved is still small, but Indian officials believe that this strategy is contributing at many intangible levels in making African officials and decision-makers view India positively. In contrast to its aid in Africa, the bulk of India’s foreign aid to Bhutan and Nepal, the oldest and biggest recipient of Indian aid (together they receive almost two-thirds of India’s total overseas aid) is spent on infrastructure projects.

• The Ministry of External Affairs coordinates and funds all development and

education projects of the Government of India, but it is rarely involved in the actual delivery of aid, which is left either to specialized government agencies (such as the National Small Industries Cooperation) or lately even to India’s private and non-governmental sectors. Leading educational companies like NIIT and Aptech have been mandated in recent years to set training centres in Latin America and Africa, while major NGOs like SEWA and HHA have been asked to run courses in Afghanistan.

• There has been a marked shift in India’s aid architecture from top-heavy

government-to-government ties to an increased involvement of the Indian private sectors. This is seen most noticeably in Africa wherein the government of India plays the role of a facilitator for Indian companies. The Indian government often plays what can be called an “enabling role” for the private sector, which consequently plays an important role in achieving development goals. The success of current projects point to greater involvement of Indian NGOs and private companies in the future.

• The main obstacle to India’s overseas aid program in skills development is

the confusing/overlapping lines of control that do not allow any senior person in the government to really become a “champion” of any specific aid project. There seems to be perpetual conflict between the technical cooperation division and different regional divisions of the MEA over final responsibility of aid projects.

Abbreviations used in this report ASEAN Association of South East Asia Nations AU African Union BAPA Buenos Aires Plan of Action BRICS Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa Alliance CARICOM Caribbean Community DAC Development Assistance Committee DCF Development Cooperation Forum E & SA East and South Africa EAC East African Community ECA Economic Commission for Africa ECDC Economical Cooperation among Developing Countries ECE Economic Commission for Europe ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States G-77 Group of 77 GSSD Global South-South Development HLC High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation IBSA India, Brazil, South Africa Alliance ICT Information and Communication Technology IIM Indian Institute of Management ITC International Trade Centre ITEC Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation LAC Latin American and the Caribbean MEA Ministry of External Affairs MGC Mekong Ganga Cooperation DIT Department of Information Technology NAM Non-Aligned Movement NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development ODA Official Development Assistance OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development SCAAP Special Commonwealth Assistance Programme SSC South-South Cooperation SU/SSC Special Unit for South-South Cooperation TC Technical Cooperation (Division at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs) TCDC Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries UNDP United Nations Development Programme

Introduction Over the last decade, India has emerged as a growing economic power on the world stage, largely as a consequence of economic reforms that were initiated in 1991 and which have created a large, growing and vibrant middle-class. India’s newly-acquired economic status has triggered many shifts in its traditional outlook on various economic and geo-political issues, including a rather rapid transformation from India being a large aid recipient nation to becoming a significant aid donor country in its own right. Despite still beset with many internal problems of its own, India is now seeking a larger role abroad as a donor country and as a source of low-cost technology that is relevant to the particular constraints of developing societies. In contrast to established donors, or perhaps even China, India is beginning to re-focus a very sizable portion of its overseas aid program, especially in Africa, not so much on infrastructure projects but on education, technical assistance and skills development. These include training people in information technology, public sector management, government systems, agriculture or vocational crafts – all areas where India has developed a large network of experts, agencies and institutions to meet its own vast needs. Thus, Indian overseas aid in skills development attempts to draw on its own experience with development issues. Also, this allows India to avoid committing large resources abroad and yet create political goodwill and economic linkages with other developing countries. This paper examines trends, methods and problems associated with India’s overseas assistance in education and skills development, and takes a closer look at a few high-profile or emblematic projects that India has started in recent years, such as in Afghanistan and in some African nations.

Overview of India’s Aid in Skills, Education & Training India is often classified in international development discourse as a ‘new’ or emerging donor. The misclassification takes place primarily because the assistance and development cooperation that India has provided has fallen under the radar of traditional aid frameworks. Its aid program started soon after independence in 1947 but primarily focused on its immediate neighbourhood; for example, the budget speech of 1958 referred to INR100 million in multiyear grants to Nepal, and an INR200 million loan to Myanmar, now Burma. The term ‘emerging donor’ is taken to signify in the vocabulary of the development world not the novelty of the economy, but the growing significance and relevance of the assistance originating from developing economies, as a ‘complement, and in some cases a substitute to aid from traditional donors’. (Chanana, 2010)1 India identifies itself as a part of ‘South-South Cooperation’ providers, along with other non-traditional donors players like Mexico, Thailand and other members of the BRIC2. Typically, it is hesitant to describe its cooperation with other countries using the nomenclature of as ‘aid’ and ‘donor’, and is selective in its engagement with the Overseas Economic Cooperation Department and the Development Assistance Council. An understanding of the elements of South- South cooperation can be reached by an examination of two defining international events: the Bandung conference in 1955, which brought in the Non-Aligned Movement, and the TCDC at Buenos Aires which was adopted by UN General Assembly in 1978. These two agreements function as base documents for SSC providers, and define the mode which the assistance usually takes: a large role played by the exchange of technical skills, no policy conditions being attached to the cooperation, and how commercial considerations can play important part of financial cooperation, when these are entered into.3 India’s position is also influenced by its own experiences of its colonial heritage, and development. Having been in the position of a recipient of aid over the last 60 years India recognizes that conditional or bilateral aid could be potentially degrading to the recipient4, and consequently it has gone out of its way to define the foreign assistance it provides as being “demand-driven” and “unconditional,” even though there are clear commercial motivations that exist in many instances, as will be discussed later.

1 Dweep Chanana (2010)

2 Commonly used grouping of Brazil – Russia- India and China, first used by the consultancy McKinsey to describe the

rising significance of the four economies

3 “Beyond the DAC”: OECD publication DAC issues brief May 2010

4 Diversity in Donorship, Lin Cotterrell and Adele Harmer accessed at

http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/304.pdf

On the whole, India’s focus is on small projects (rather than those of overwhelming size and impact) aimed at encouraging local capacity-building of recipient nations and fostering long-term linkages. Developing human resources and mutual capacity building are an essential component of almost every economic agreement that India signs with other countries, especially with other emerging economies like Africa, South and Central Asia, and Central and East Europe. India’s aid is disbursed through the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA budget has primarily been a non-plan budget, but since 1995-1996 a ‘plan’ head was introduced, which initially primarily included large development projects in Bhutan, under the Government of India’s “Aid to Bhutan” programme. Notable projects have been the Kurichu Hydroelectric Project and the Dungsum Cement Plan project, both in Bhutan. 5 The range of projects undertaken with an examination of the Annual Budget of the MEA- Technical and Economic Cooperation comprises a substantial amount, in this case close to 30.72 percent. A closer look at the budget gives us an idea of what this is spent on: the amount spent on the ITEC and SCAAP programmes is only USD 24.44 million, while most of the rest goes in larger development projects, and smaller bilateral projects which support institutional building. For example, in 2010-2011 the main projects undertaken were setting up institutions and vocational training centres, sharing technology like coastal regulation centres,

5 MEA Annual Report 2003-2004

Areas of expertise In choosing areas to focus on India learns in a great way from its own development narrative. With a deep understanding of the types of problems which other developing economies face, the programmes which India provides share its learning in best practices that it has evolved. Over the last decade India has reached a significant position as a leader in information technology. Another vital part of India’s economic growth has been a growing support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). India consequently provides assistance in the form of training and institutional support in these sectors: IT and SME promotion, and Entrepreneurship Development Centres, like those in South Asian Countries. India is acutely aware of the need to leverage on what is commonly called its ‘demographic dividend’ by ensuring its youth is trained with ‘industry relevant’ skills. To this end it promotes English language training courses and ICT skills, and utilized the successes of Indian companies, like Aptech and NIIT that operate in this field.6 Through the 1960’s and 1980’s Indian policy makers jumpstarted the ‘green’ and ‘white’ revolutions, which focused on boosting agriculture and dairy produce respectively. India is now the foremost milk producer in the world, and the Indian dairy industry has consequently become a focus of interest under its South-South Cooperation programme. India has also been increasingly been asked for assistance in the agricultural field. There is also a focus on capacity building in governance and administration. The ITEC programme has historically been an avenue open to government officials. A few examples are the special courses for capacity building in the WTO for African diplomats and officials, on SMEs for equity fund and private managers, and for African cotton exporters.

6 Primrose Sharma, (May 2007) On South-South Cooperation For Development

Channels of assistance The primary agency in India’s assistance strategy is the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which also handles India’s foreign policy and relations. There is no centralized agency that solely deals with India’s aid strategy. Emblematic of the importance of technical cooperation is the existence of a specialized division for global ‘technical cooperation’ (TC) within the MEA. However, this division is not the sole entity responsible for education and training projects with other countries. The training and education components of India’s foreign aid are coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs, through two main avenues: a bulk of the training courses come under the India Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scheme, and its corollary for African countries, the Special Commonwealth Assistance Programme, both of which are overseen by the TC division. The territorial divisions within the MEA coordinate other area-specific projects.

Funding Oversees projects in education and training are funded through the budget of the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA budget is composed largely of non-planned expenditure, although over the years the ‘plan component’ has increased to factor a growing number of projects in neighbouring countries. There has also been a significant expansion in the ITEC budget, and in the 2010-11 MEA budget nearly 31% of the overall budget pertains to technical and economic cooperation with other countries. While the amount spent on the ITEC and SCAAP are released by the government, it is difficult to determine the exact amounts spent on training from the total aid figures.

Head Expenditure (USD Million) MEA Secretariat 52.01 Embassies and Missions 290.55 Passport and Emigration 85.06 Special Diplomatic Expenditure 266.66 Technical & Economic Cooperation 435.32 Contributions to International Organisations 54.92 Grant to Institutions 36.44 Loans and Advances to Foreign Governments 84.08 Others 28.25 Capital Outlay 83.33 Total 1416.66

Figure 4: MEA Annual Budget for 2010- 2011 (source www.indiabudget.nic.in)

Forms of Assistance India’s overseas assistance in education and training can be examined under two heads: those offered within India, and Indian efforts in target countries.

Trainings and Courses within India: These are usually more traditional modes of assistance in education and training through well established channels. Increasingly, there is specialized training provided on a need-basis upon requests received from various countries, and these are more difficult to map out or predict.

1. Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation/ SCAAP The ITEC (and its corollary for Africa, SCAAP) is the primary technical assistance scheme of the Government of India; since 1964 it has been run under the Technical Cooperation division within the Ministry of External Affairs. It caters to over 5000 participants from developing countries, who receiving training annually in India in over 40 institutions in training programmes every year. These are primarily short-term courses run in India, whose average duration ranges from 10 days to 5 weeks. ITEC was initially targeted at only government and defense officials but has now expanded to include academic, teachers, and other nominated individuals from the private sector. It covers a wide range of areas from the technology intensive IT, Science and Technology, and pharmaceuticals to agriculture, rural development and the promotion of SMEs. The ITEC programme is moving towards being ‘demand-driven’ and ‘response-oriented’.7

2. Foreign Services Institute The foreign services institute was set up in 1986 to cater to the professional training needs of the Indian Foreign Service of the MEA. It also offers courses and programmes to foreign diplomats. These are meant to serve as an introduction to the principles and practice of diplomacy, current and emerging issues in international relations, as well as the salient features of India's history and culture for a greater understanding of its foreign policy. More than 1600 foreign diplomats from over 100 countries have attended programmes at FSI. The main programme offered to foreign diplomats is the month long “Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats” (PCFD), launched in 1992. FSI also conducts special courses on a need basis, like the advanced Course on Asia for Foreign Diplomats (ACAFD) in 2003 and a Diplomacy and Foreign Policy Programme for Foreign Diplomats (DFPPFD) in 2005. Specifically diplomats from Afghanistan, Canada, Iraq, Laos, Norway, Palestine, Sudan, Vietnam, and Maldives have been targeted. There is also now an annual Special Courses for Diplomats from ASEAN Countries which was launched in 2006.

7 The modalities of ITEC are discussed in greater detail further on in this paper.

3. Various Fellowships and Scholarships Over 6000 participants from developing countries receive training annually in India on scholarships, in over 250 institutions and universities. India’s graduate and post-graduate education has developed into a formidable force, and it is keen to share the expertise gained. The scholarships offered by the Government of India target students from developing countries, aimed at promoting academic linkages between countries and focused on the areas of information technology, agriculture, business development.

• General Cultural Scholarship Scheme (GCSS) Scholarships are awarded under this scheme (GCSS) annually to international students belonging to certain Asian, African and Latin American countries8 for the undergraduate, postgraduate degrees and for research at Indian universities.

• Commonwealth Fellowship Plan Scholarships and fellowships are offered annually under this scheme to candidates from Commonwealth countries mainly for postgraduate studies.

• Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan Administered on behalf of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of External Affairs, this is meant for students who are nationals of Asian countries. Scholarships are awarded to the candidates of: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, South Korea, and Thailand. There are two categories: the first offering mid career short or medium term courses to officers, and the second short, medium or long-term courses targeting post-graduate and undergraduate students and trainees.

• SAARC Fellowship Scheme This is aimed at promoting interactions among students, scholars, and academicians from SAARC countries. Six fellowships and twelve scholarships are offered annually to the nationals of member countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). Specifically, the Government of India offers courses for which no adequate facilities exist in the member countries.

• Apasaheb Pant Scholarship Scheme Under this scheme one scholarship is offered to a Kenyan national to pursue studies at the postgraduate level, preferably in the field of Economics or International Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University. .

• Indian Council for Cultural Relations Scholarship Scheme The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India offers ICCR scholarships to the students all over the world. ICCR covers 60 scholarships under its umbrella, offered for undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in Performing and Visual Arts. Subjects include Indian Classical Music, Dance, Painting and Sculpture.

8 Afghanistan, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica,

Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lesotho, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Palestine, Russia, Saudi

Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Republic of Ireland, Sri Lanka, Syria, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand,

Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uzbekistan, UAE, Vietnam, Yemen, Zaire, Zambia. Zimbabwe are targeted.

• Craft Instructors Scheme Under this scheme 10 bursaries are offered annually to nationals of Commonwealth countries for training as craft instructors.

• Scholarship Scheme for Sri Lanka and Mauritius Seventy-seven scholarships are offered annually, (47 for Sri Lanka and 30 for Mauritius). These are for under-graduate and post-graduate degrees and for Ph.D. research. Sri Lankan nationals can also study specialised subjects such as Agriculture, Engineering and Pharmacy.9

• CV Raman International Fellowship for African Researchers Under this, India offers 85 African researchers an opportunity to work at Indian Institutions under short term fully funded scholarships.

4. Special Training Programmes Additionally, special training programmes are provided upon request from countries.

Overseas Efforts

1. Deputation of experts under ITEC by MEA Indian experts are deputed to ‘friendly’ countries when requested, to assist in developmental activities. The fields covered are varied: ranging from areas of expertise like IT, telecommunications and agricultural research to the creative arts, pest management, military training, audit, various disciplines of medicine, English language teaching. Indian experiences and expertise in the fields of small and medium scale industries, agriculture and financial management are particularly relevant to the developing countries. Experts are requested through the high commissions for short-term deputations.

2. Institutions set up abroad To build institutional capacity in specific areas of expertise, the MEA funds the setting up and development of institutes in developing countries. These are built with collaboration from the local government, which provides the land and usually the building. These projects operate on a strict timeline, and Indian master trainers train locals to take over the running and teaching at the institution. Both governmental agencies and private companies are approached for these: pertinent examples are the Information Technology Centres, which have been set up in Latin America by the Indian education company NIIT. Of late there has been a huge interest in Africa and many institutions are slated to be opened across the African Union.

3. Small Development Projects Most seen in Afghanistan, these are “small-scale, quick-impact projects” in sectors like agriculture, rural development, education, health, vocational training, with budgets of less than US$1 million. These projects are based on what the local people want and often executed by local contractors. India funds them and provides technical assistance. These are viewed as small-scale ways through which the employability and skill capacity of local populace can be enhanced. 9 Accessed at http://india.gov.in/overseas/study_india/scholarships_international.php

Major Aid Agency: ITEC The Technical Cooperation Division at the MEA was founded in 1964 to facilitate trainings of civilian and defence personnel of other countries within India. It offers training programmes and other forms of assistance to 158 partner countries under two schemes: 1. Indian Technical Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC), and 2. Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme (SCAAP) ITEC uses a slot system to allocate aid. Slots may then be exchanged into five different forms, namely: (1) training of personnel in India; (2) project aid; (3) technical assistance; (4) study trips; and (5) humanitarian assistance. The slots are allocated to cooperating partners in an opaque manner, but usually reflect the economic and/or political importance India gives each country. These are adjusted on a yearly basis and recently a number of African countries (to a large degree coinciding with the TEAM-9 countries, see below) have had their ITEC slots increased. Over the last 50 years, a total of USD$1 billion has been transferred from India to other developing countries via this programme.10 The sister programme, the SCAAP operates in much the same way as ITEC but only targets African countries in the Commonwealth (19 in all). It is significant that not all African Commonwealth countries are targeted with the same degree of eagerness and offered the same conditions. Rather, SCAAP units, which can be exchanged with any of the five aid modalities, are allocated according to the perceived importance of the recipient country for India (just like the ITEC slots). Hence, countries like Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda (with large Indian diasporas and/or economic importance) receive a relatively large number of slots, while countries with hardly any Indian Diaspora, no natural resources and no economic influence receive only a tiny amount of slots. The ITEC has grown considerably over the last few decades from its relatively modest beginnings, and over the last ten years has shown approximately a 61% increase in its scope: over 2009- 2010 it provided training to 5000 civilians, as compared to the 1959 civilians reached in 1999-2000. And over the last ten years its budgetary allocation has grown from roughly US $8 million to US $420 million in 2009 – 2010.

10Accessed on Jun 20 2011 at

http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano_eng/Content?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zo

nas_in/ari10-2010

Courses Offered under ITEC & SCAAP

It essentially a bilateral cooperation programme. It provides fully funded civilian and defence trainings through courses across 42 empanelled institutions within India, and the specialized military training institutes like the National Defence College (NDC), and the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Ooty. It also provides for project aid and technical assistance, which includes deputations of experts, study trips and humanitarian assistance particularly for disaster relief. The Civilian courses offered build a wide and diverse range of skills across disciplines. According its own estimates, the most sought after courses are in the field of Information Technology and English language skills. Training is also imparted to Government officials in areas such as finance & accounts, audit, banking, education, planning & administration, parliamentary studies, crime records. Technical/specialized courses such as textiles, rural electrification, tool design and ophthalmologic equipment are also offered, while there are also general courses pertaining to rural development, Small and Medium Enterprises and entrepreneurship development. ITEC prides itself on being demand-driven and highly adaptive to currents needs. The special courses that were conducted during 2009 -2010 are indicative of this. Many of these were constituted as a follow up to the India-Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi in 2008, and in response to requests received from partner countries. They ranged from special Training and English Proficiency Courses for Sri Lankan Teachers, a course for Afghanistan on the ‘International Programme on Rural Development and Management & Good Governance’. Courses for Africa were on mineral exploration and on Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing, geographic information system, narcotics dog training

(Ghana), solar energy technology and applications, an orientation course for geologists. Over the recent years, the scope of ITEC/SCAAP has increased to beyond bilateral ties, and there has been an increasing involvement with regional and multilateral organizations. These include the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN), G-15, Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC), African Union (AU), Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO), Pan African Parliament, Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Commonwealth and World Trade Organisation (WTO). 11 These courses have become highly successful and are in high demand amongst high level government officials. The MEA likes to point that they have acquired the status of ‘brand names’, and point out outcomes is clear in the high demand for allocation in existing courses and in the constant requests for new courses in different areas of specialization. They are seen as generating goodwill for India and establishing its status as a global leader in providing high standards of training. According to Mr. Suman12, Director at Technical Cooperation Division, MEA there is also an increasing willingness to engage in triangular cooperation models. It is envisioned that developed economies keen to provide trainings can avail of the Indian expertise in training, and the cost advantage locating such training within India. “Although nothing concrete has been entered into so far, such a model would be a win-win-win situation for all the countries involved.”

Institute of Government Accounts and Finance (INGAF)

Run under the ITEC, INGAF is a good example of the format traditionally used by India’s to provide international training, said to impact the professional skills of hundreds across the world. Started in 1992, it focuses on disseminating global best practices to top civil servants and university faculty from around the world. Its faculty is drawn from a committed team of experienced professionals, and blends leading edge practices with rigorous academic analysis. It has also fostered partnerships with institutes of eminence for joint initiatives at curriculum development, academic research and training like the Management Development Institute, IIM and IIA Florida. The impact on the individual is immense, and is expected to spill over into the inter-country relations, as participants who develop extremely close bonds with India during the duration of the course are top level administrators and policy makers and stand poised to take over key decision making positions in their home countries.

11 MEA Annual Report 2009-10

12 In an interview held in New Delhi June 2011

NIIT: Emerging as a global talent development leader

The MEA has been increasingly contracting Indian companies as implementing agencies for its education and training operations abroad. One important example of this is the “Centers of Excellence” which have been established across five Latin American countries- Nicaragua, Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica. NIIT is a leading “Global Talent Development Corporation”, which provides training to build a skilled manpower pool to meet global industry requirements. The company was set up in India in 1981 to help the nascent IT industry overcome its human resource challenges, and today operates in over 41 countries. NIIT has been contracted by the MEA to establish and run Information and Communication Technology centres across Latin America over a period of five years. The aim is to increase the skill set of the participating country, and to enable it to meet industry requirements. The project is wholly funded by the MEA. The centres are positioned to ‘uplift the skill level’ of the participating countries. A key reason is to foster closer relationships with the participating countries, and, as expressed by Mr. Ajai Lal, Director of International Relations at NIIT, to ‘extend to these countries the Indian IT experience’. The target countries were picked by the MEA, and were tasked with providing infrastructural support for the CoEs. The implementing agency, NIIT, was left with absolute freedom in content and curriculum. This was customized it to meet the specific needs and industry standards of the participating countries. With an eye on the sustainability of the project, an important part of the project was the implementing agency assisting the participating country to ‘transition’ to self-sufficiency in these skills. Within a specified timeline of a few years in each location, after setting up and operating the centers, NIIT was also to help the participating country transition to increase its capabilities. A process followed is by training local trainers in participating countries, to enable them to run these centres once the period of the contract expires. Five thousand students have been trained by NIIT over the last five years the COEs have been operating. A near-unanimous request for extensions of the timelines in all the countries was quoted by Mr. Ajai Lal, as a clear example of the success of the CoEs. NIIT has also entered into and MoU with the Royal Government of Bhutan for its “Total Solutions” ICT and e-governance project.

Major Aid Agency: Indira Gandhi National Open University The Indira Gandhi National Open University was set up in 1987 to “build an inclusive knowledge society” aiming to out to all kinds of students. Over the last 24 years 2.3 million students across India and other countries have studied at it. IGNOU presently has more than 35,848 foreign students studying at 67 overseas partner institutions. These students are from 40 different countries, making it the Indian university with the largest number of foreign students. The international division was initially set up as a cell in 1997 and later extended to a division in 2004. Both bilateral and multilateral alliances are entered into with several countries, especially across Asia and Africa. The international division’s concentration is on four concurrent strategies:

- Offering its international programmes in collaboration with established higher education institutes of repute

- Sharing IGNOU’s academic resources through licensing of course materials for adoption and adaptation to local education environs

- Building capacity of overseas distance learning (ODL) institutions by conducting trainings and workshops

- Building other ODL institutes by sharing IGNOU’s experiences Bilateral collaborations have been entered into with other institutions. Although there is a preference for government institutions, according to Kusum Verma Director, International Division, IGNOU, where necessary, collaborations are entered into with reputed private institutes.13 The course material used for the international programmes are currently the same as that which was developed for national students, but there has been a move towards tailoring the courses according to the needs of specific countries, all the while leveraging on the technical skills of information technology, that India excels at. IGNOU’s multilateral collaborations in the realm of assistance include funding of programmes by international agencies like the Canada based Commonwealth of Learning, WHO, SADC, and UNESCO. There are also Rajiv Gandhi Fellowships available for African countries to build their capacity to develop their own distance education programmes. In collaboration with Commonwealth of Learning and South African Development Community, IGNOU offers COL-IGNOU Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship to offer PGDDE and MADE programmes in Malawi, Jamaica, Samoa, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Nigeria, Botswana, Zambia, Lesotho and Ivory Coast. The MEA advises IGNOU on initiating projects and provides funding for specific projects. This is the model that will be followed in the recently initiated Indo-African Virtual University, which was proposed at the recent Indo-African Summit in Addis Ababa. It is to follow the success of the e-network service, 13 Private Collaborations have been entered into in the UAE, Kuwait, Doha, Bahrain, Singapore, Kenya, Mauritius, Nepal

and Afghanistan where higher education is in the hands of private players.

which provided trainings through a two-way communication link between students in the African Union and the studio at IGNOU. The network also handled an e-medicine service that created similar linkages with Indian medical experts. According to Kusum Sharma, Director of the International Division, there is an expectation that the International Development division will play a bigger role in the future by being a global leader in providing leadership skills to other developing nations, through programmes in the areas of management which leverage on executive and managerial positions. The expectation is that the linkages made with individual students would carry over into goodwill for the country.

Indo-Africa Virtual University

The Indo-Africa Virtual University will operate in Africa under the Indira Gandhi National Open University, with its headquarters in either Ethiopia or Kenya. It’s an initial cost will be borne by India, estimated at USD 33.33 million, and with an annual cost of approximately USD 22.22 million. It is meant to operate on a broad timeline of six months to a year, during which time it will be based out of the IGNOU campus in New Delhi. The proposal was initiated by IGNOU in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry for Human Resource Development, and followed the lines of the successfully executed Pan- African E-learning Network set up and managed by IGNOU, funded by the MEA and with technology and technical support from the state owned Telecom Communication Services. The mission of the IAVU, according to Vice Chancellor Prof. Pillai, is to create conditions that foster Indo- African relations by establishing an education link. The curriculum will include Africa- oriented programmes with a special focus on health sciences, vocational education, food and nutritional security and gender empowerment. It is also expected to fuel demand in Africa for higher studies in Indian institutions. The form of the proposed university builds on the strengths of the previous experience with the Pan African E-Learning System.

Target Areas Geographically, very little specific data is available on India’s aid in training and education. However, the country’s overall annual budgets for different regions may offer a proxy indication of the quantum of assistance provided. (Table 2) It should be noted that since 2005-2006, the amounts include technical and economic cooperation, and loans and advancements to foreign governments. (The latter was measured separately only after the 2005-06 MEA Annual Report)

Figure 3: India’s Assistance to other Countries: 2005 to 2011 (Source:

www.indiabudget.nic.in)

India’s focus on its immediate neighbours has been one of the key characteristic of its aid program over the years. Over the years, India has given many soft loans, outright grants and technical assistance for many infrastructure building projects in Nepal and Bhutan, its two largest aid recipients, and has also provided training in areas like information technology, education, health care and the development of small and medium enterprises. In the area of skills and education, Bhutan has been a far bigger (and also more welcoming) aid recipient than Nepal.

In skills and education, India-Bhutan have regular and detailed exchanges on the kind of assistance Bhutan requires, especially to decide India’s role at the beginning of every 5-Year Plan. Though the bulk of India’s aid to Bhutan over the years has been in development projects, usually hydroelectric schemes, India has also been involved in educational support, such as the “Total Solutions” ICT and e-governance project, to be implemented by the Indian company NIIT, which plans for the incorporation of IT solutions for Bhutan’s governance and education14. The Indian government is also involved in various educational projects, including a reformation of the Bhutanese education system, but information of that was not easy to come by as per the wishes of the government of Bhutan.15 Beyond Nepal and Bhutan, its traditional aid recipients, India has expanded its aid footprint in the last decade to cover the Pacific Rim, Latin America and Africa, and of course Afghanistan (the last two are covered separately in this report). There is also growing cooperation between India and the Pacific Island Forum and the CARICOM countries. India’s “Regional Assistance Initiative” for Pacific Island Forum members, plans to implement a ‘wide-ranging package’ for Pacific Island countries, covering sustainable development, SME and capacity building through workshops and training courses, scholarships for higher studies. Cooperation with CARICOM countries ranges from provision of higher education in India, experts for flood forecasting/ disaster management, establishment of IT training centres and infrastructure. The initiative undertaken by Brazil, India and South Africa, the IBSA initiative, is another manifestation of our commitment to South-South Cooperation. IBSA has undertaken a project each in Africa and Latin America and more are in the pipeline.16 Infrastructure building remains a key priority of India’s aid program in its neighbourhood, while health and education are secondary targets. In contrast, its African program seems primarily focused either on 1) training and skills development, or 2) supporting the purchase of Indian products. The latter does suggest a not-so-hidden commercial motivation, but it is also true that many Indian engineering and household products, such as water pumps, trucks and diesel generators, are more suited for African operating conditions than their western counterparts, primarily because of the similarity of the rugged operating and after-sales conditions. A comparison between Indian aid to Africa and Bhutan is indicative of the contrast. (see tables 2 and 3)

14Accessed on Jul 25 2011 at http://www.indianembassythimphu.bt/MOUs.html

15 As discussed in meeting with ITEC official, and NIIT head Ajai Verma

16 Primrose Sharma , ITEC Joint Secretary’s address to the UN

Table 2 (Source: Outcome Budget MEA 2010-2011)

Table 3 (Source: MEA outcome budget 2011)

Geographical Focus: Afghanistan Overall, India is the fifth largest donor to Afghanistan, with commitments of over $1 billion in construction, medical, agriculture and other projects since 2001.17 India sees itself as a ‘development partner’ rather than a donor of aid, and is committed to building institutional capacity within Afghanistan, by promoting economic and livelihood opportunities. India-assisted programmes in Afghanistan have been initiated at the request of the Afghan government and civil society, and are carried out via both Indian governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations. India’s focus is on building a skill base in Afghanistan and increasing the war torn regions capacity to provide employment to its populace. The means employed have varied from providing training within India, assistance on building institutions, training skilled workers and master trainers and helping set up small development assistance programmes. We look at two initiatives, which the government has undertaken in Afghanistan, other than the ITEC and other scholarships.

Small Development Projects Small Development Projects, focus on developing human resources and provide the infrastructural support of building schools and hospitals, are a significant avenue through which India achieves its objectives in Afghanistan. These small-scale projects and quick impact projects have the advantage of being specifically tailored to meet the needs of the conflict-ridden state. They are primarily in the sectors of agriculture, rural development, education, vocational training and health and don’t exceed budgets of US$1 million. Being based on what the local people want and often executed by local contractors. India funds them and provides technical assistance. This means development initiatives are organic and villagers take ownership of both conception, and execution. For example, in Balkh, India is sharing its best practices in micro-finance though self-help groups, which is helping to mobilise rural people into common interest groups to promote savings and build entrepreneurship based on the experiences in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. At the end of the project period, over 75000 people will have been mobilised and 15,000 jobs created.

Deputation of experts Since 2007, Indian civil servants have been deputed to Afghan government departments to assist in capacity building of professional bureaucratic skills in public administration. They guide and develop training modules for Afghan administrators - they neither advise nor perform line functions - thereby maintaining India’s resolve that the development be Afghan-led and Afghan-

17 “India emerges as an aid donor” October 5 2010, accessed at

http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment/2010/10/india-emerges-as-an-aid-donor.php

owned. Indian experts are also deputed as part of UNDP’s National Institution Building Project in Afghanistan (NIBP).

Vocational training The involvement of Indian NGOs in the development assistance has been a landmark step for the functioning of India. Two projects of specific importance that were launched in the years 2008 – 2010 are 1) by Self Employed Women’s Association18 (SEWA), and 2) by Hand-in-Hand Afghanistan (HHA). The HHA project adapted for Afghanistan a self-help model for job creation first perfected in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was also run through Afghan trainers under the tutelage of an Indian professional, and carried out through the creation of various self help groups and encouraging the members to learn new skills, formulate business plans, get loans and start their own businesses from home. The project resulted in the creation of an estimated 10,000 jobs. In 2009- 2010, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) provided commercial training in tailoring and garment making to 216 Afghan women, of whom 188 qualified for certificates awarded by the City and Guilds London Institute. Training was also provided to 973 men in construction-related skills.

Assistance with existing Institutions Assistance with existing institutions includes rebuilding and helping institutionalize schools. The Habibia School was reconstructed in Kabul, for which India contributed assistance of over US $ 5 million, over 2003 – 2005. India also provides consultancy support, as will be required in the establishment of an Agricultural University from the Agricultural Dept at Kabul University19, and setting up of the Jawaharlal Nehru Chair of Indian Studies at Kabul University. This is all managed through the Central Asia territorial division at the MEA. Although an India-Afghanistan Partnership Council was announced to be set up in 2009, but nothing has come of it over the last few years.

18 The SEWA project is examined in closer detail as a case study.

192011 MEA Press release accessed at on Jun 20 2011

http://meaindia.nic.in/myprint.php?id=501017623&d=01&sz=c&m=&y=&pg=&flg=1&searchdata1=

Case Study: SEWA & Livelihood Generation in Afghanistan The Self-Employed Women‘s Association (SEWA) is a registered trade union that counts more than a million female workers as members. The workers are mainly employed in parts of India’s vibrant informal economy. Founded in 1972 by Ela Bhatt, a lawyer and union organizer, SEWA has grown to become a national union with members from nine states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, West Bengal and Uttarakhand. SEWA‘s main stated goals are to organize women workers for full employment and self-reliance. Full employment means employment whereby workers obtain work security, income security, food security and social security (at least health care, child care and shelter). SEWA organizes women to ensure that every family obtains full employment. SEWA defines self-reliance to mean that women should be autonomous, individually and collectively, both economically and in terms of their decision-making ability. Project in Afghanistan SEWA’s success in India led to it being invited (in 2006) by the Government of India to set up a training centre in Afghanistan. The centre was formally established as the Bagh-e-Zenana Vocational Training Centre in Kabul in 2008, and the government of India undertook to fund operations for a period of two years. According to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Kabul alone is home to nearly 1.5 million widows. The government was keen to provide these women with a source of employment and SEWA’s centre was primarily set up to train women for vocational employment. Most of the trainees (62%) were war widows, and the balance was made up of orphans and destitute, most of who were illiterate, had no special skills, and had never before contributed financially to their families’ welfare. Formation of self-help groups and setting up plans for production and livelihood through the development of marketing skills was part of the project design. The project was coordinated by the Ministry of Woman Affairs in Afghanistan which provided the premises at the garden in Kabul, and the women to take part as trainees. As part of the project, about 35 Afghan women were initially trained as ‘Master Trainers’ in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and other places within India. The duration of the courses ranged from thirty days to two and a half months, depending on the type of skill being provided. All the costs, including equipment, training fees and stipends- were borne by the Indian Government. These amounted to approximately US $ 1.23 million, and the Indian Government additionally paid for the construction of the centre at a cost of US $ 600,000. The courses for the women at the Bagh-e-Zenana centre each last around three months, and the fees for participants range between US$250 to US$330.20 These costs were also borne by the Government of India.

20Accessed on Jun 10 2011 http://www.instablogs.com/outer_permalink.php?p=to-afghanistan-with-love-from-sewa

Detailed data from 2008 showed that of the 570 participants in that year, 150 were trained as electricians and 85 women were trained in sewing and embroidery. A further 334 were given food-processing training. Upon the completion of its third year in 2010, the Bagh-e-Zenana centre had trained over 2,000 war-affected Afghan women. Of these 2,000, 27% were widows, 67% illiterate and 76% very poor. The idea underlying the whole project was to use vocational training to ensure livelihood support for the women, and further to explore and evolve methods that would harness community involvement to generate employment. Current role of SEWA SEWA contributes small rotating team of leaders from Ahmedabad. These were deployed to Kabul, along with technical hand-holding from the resource team. SEWA’s focus extends beyond skill training to facilitating self-sufficiency in livelihood, through encouraging participants to form their own groups. Since livelihood groups are a relatively novel concept in Afghanistan, SEWA provided a significant amount of support, which included negotiating with banks to allow participants to set up bank accounts with lower initial deposits. In certain cases, bank accounts were set up in the names of collectives. The result is that an association of the trainers and master trainers, called the Bagh-e-Khazana Sabah Federation (BKSF) has now been formed. It comprises a core executive committee of nine members. With the help of the South Asian Regional Council (SAARC), the BKSF has created a marketing network and trade facilitation centre, which helps the women take their products to the markets, as the aim is to create trade linkages between SAARC countries. There are also current plans to build a Community Business Resource Centre in the Bagh-e-Zenana. A new project, run by BKSF, which is largely an autonomous organization, with SEWA supporting the recurring costs of training, is being planned for May 2011. This project will reach 500 additional trainees at its centre in Bagh-e-Zenana. However, the government of India is not involved in this phase of the project. Twenty one master trainers will be involved in the new initiative. Impact on Participants SEWA’s 2008 annual report observed that most participating women are now engaged in different income generating activities, both as individuals and in other cases, as members of groups or collectives. Some of the participants have found employment elsewhere as trainers, with 10 going on to work at the Kabul centre. Course participants have found work at the few factories in the country, while some have made their own greenhouses, net houses and poly houses to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers. A few have also started their own shops.

Ten women trained at Bagh-e-Zenana have now become trainers at the India Training Centre run by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Kabul, while 40 women trained at Bagh-e-Zenana are now working at the training centre operated by the Wise Group in Kabul.21

21Accessed on May 28 2011 http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sewa-to-help-afghanistan-develop-centre-

for-vocational-training/280471/

Geographical Focus: Africa India’s ties with Africa date back to the post-independence efforts spearheaded by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. However after years of keeping a relatively low profile, India’s interest in the region has picked up over the last few years, primarily for economic and political reasons. The economic reasons are clear: like many other countries (including China) there is an eagerness to tap into the resource rich continent and the emerging markets. Politically also Africa’s UN votes are essential for India to have hopes of gaining a seat at an enlarged UN Security Council, assuming India’s bid to reform the UN system is successful. Consequently, India’s aid to Africa has grown at an annual growth rate of 22% over the past ten years. (see Figure 5)

Figure 5 (Source: MEA Annual Reports 2003 to 2011)

However India’s approach differs considerably from the resource-heavy and infrastructure oriented approach of others like China. India efforts in Africa can best be described as a ‘triad’, comprising skills transfer, capacity building and trade. 22 This is due to two chief reasons: the inability to invest a comparable amount of resources, and an ideological backing, which focuses on capacity building. Relations between the two tend to emphasize on the common colonial past and are coloured with a firm commitment to assist in the development process. The Indian approach rests enhancing skills and building capacities for incorporating new and efficient technology. India shares technology that is appropriate for the African context: which have the twin advantages of affordability and accessibility. India’s assistance is consequently aimed at fostering sustainable development and alleviating poverty. Even in the 1960’s, when India was not as favorably 22 http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/IndiaAfricatiesgetaboost_rberi_090611

positioned (as compared to its current position) to offer assistance, it made significant contributions to developing Africa’s skill base. Newly independent countries were provided educational support, via Indian teachers sent to Africa and scholarships offered to African students to study at Indian institutions.

Focus Areas India’s relations with Africa have been at both the sub-regional and at the continental levels. Both approaches have their advantages: while sub-regional level cooperation has the advantages of ‘economies of scale’, coordination at the continental level is important so as to avoid duplication of efforts and fragmentation of voices. India has had old ties with commonwealth countries in East (like Nigeria, Kenya) and South Africa. However over the last few years its sights have moved beyond these countries to mineral rich West Africa. The TEAM 9 framework, which first met in 2005, envisages special co-operations amongst the eight West African Countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, and India. The India-Africa Forum Summits marked a watershed in the relations between the two. The first India-Africa Forum Summit in April 2008 raised the bar when it came to cooperation with Africa. About 14 African countries and the African Union Commission adopted a Delhi Declaration and the Africa-India Framework for Cooperation to strengthen relationships in trade, economy, agriculture, education, science, technology, water management and human resource development. The Second India-Africa Summit that was held at Addis Ababa was another landmark in fostering ties with more concrete projects lined up, and acted as a panacea to the complaints of lack of high-level involvement with India. The goodwill offered to Africa by the Indian Prime Minister was comparable to initiatives undertaken in India. At the summit, India pledged to open 80 institutions across Africa, at the Pan-Africa, regional and bilateral levels. Both public and private sectors will be involved, and India has pledged an additional US $ 700 million to establish training programmes and institutions.

Pan-African Relations 1. Agriculture technology, skill and human resource development building for employability: India will set up institutions related to food processing, integrated textiles, weather forecasting, life and earth sciences and agricultural and rural development. 2. Administration, Resource Management and Information Technology Under a ‘Joint Action Plan’ the African Union and Government of India will set up the following institutions: India Africa Institute of Foreign Trade, India Africa Institute of Information Technology, India Africa Institute of Education Planning and Administration, and the India-Africa Diamond Institute. 3. Human Resource Development using distance learning like the India- Africa Virtual University. This aims to meet some of the African demand for higher

studies. The enrolment rate in universities in sub-Saharan Africa has been estimated to be 5%, way below the international average of 70% in developed countries. It is to be run by IGNOU and 10,000 new scholarships under the proposed university will be available for African students23.

Regional Relations Sharing best practices from the India’s green revolution, and building capacity for self-sustained infrastructure development. India will help establish laboratories to test soil, water and tissue, regional farm sciences centres, seed production and demonstration centres and material testing labs for highway development

Bilateral Relations Aimed at the individual: skill development in Information and Communication Technology, English language skills to increase employability. Under these heads, the Government of India and individual African countries will jointly establish institutes for English language training, information technology, entrepreneurship development and vocational training.

Implementing Partners Ministry of Information Technology (MIT) is a major implementing agency in setting up ICT projects across Africa. Divisions of the Ministry of Information Technology like the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and ERNET India, typically handle the projects. Notable projects include the Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence at Accra, Ghana which has trained over 2500 students since it began operations in 2003. The Cyber City Project at Ebene, Mauritius, is another successful technology intensive which was developed in 2005. These are poised to develop the skill set and increase the employability of these students. An important endeavor has been the ‘Hole-in-the-Wall’ projects, which are aimed at children in rural and urban slums. These are designed to improve elementary education and life skills of underprivileged children. These projects, funded by the Government of India have been undertaken in Namibia, Zambia, and Uganda. The AU will determine the location of the institutes, the host country will provide the land and construct the buildings and India will run the centres for three years, after which they are intended to be self-sustaining.

Responses Africa recognizes that the best way to leverage its wealth of natural resources is to develop its own human skill base and technology, and is appreciative of India’s emphasis on ‘co-development’ and increasing sustainability. India’s focus is on building African capabilities through technology-intensive programmes. Since 23 .IGNOU website at http://www.ignou.ac.in/ignou/bulletinboard/news/latest/detail/IGNOU_to_implement_India-

Africa_Virtual_University_project-193 )

India has gone through many of the same problems it is best poised to share its experiences with Africa. The challenge is now to follow through on the promises made. An important feature is the inclusion of the private sector, and efforts have to be made to synergize both efforts to ensure coordination and effective delivery. Within India too, diplomatic, academic and professional capacities need to be enhanced.24

Case Study: Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT The Indian government set up the Ghana-India Kofi Anan Centre for Excellence in ICT in collaboration with the government of Ghana. The project was handled by the Indian public enterprise, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing. C-DAC is India’s research and development institution for high powered computing, and IT solutions. It is operated under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Department of Information Technology, and was set up in 1988 primarily to build supercomputers. For the project at Accra, India provided computer hardware, software and other communication equipment as well as training for instructors and curriculum. Ghana provided the infrastructure as well as administrative and technical staff. The C-DAC created its core curriculum in 2003, which is still in use now, and deployed its signature supercomputer, the ‘8-node PARAM Padma” at the centre. Today it is important as an IT centre in the entire ECOWAS region, and other than its regular courses has emerged as a centre for IT and telecom business. It hosts Africa’s only supercomputer, and imparts ICT training to a wide range of students, from young graduates seeking to hone their ‘employability’ skills, to senior secondary school students and parliamentarians. The fees range from 726 USD for a 24 week diploma course to 168 USD for a 2 week course.

24 http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/IndiaAfricatiesgetaboost_rberi_090611

Impact and Future As Chanana (2011) points out, India’s foreign aid activities generate ‘a mix of confusion and frustration abroad and pride and criticism at home’. Realizing its own financial limitations and incapacity to compete with the means used by China, the aid India provides is important not for the amount it invests but on ‘how’ it is directed, and ‘what else’ it offers. Like other countries committed to South-South cooperation, India too views technical cooperation as a vital instrument of foreign policy. An essential objective is to promote inter-dependence, create stakes in the stability of the region and develop cross border infrastructure and other links. Consequently the education and training programmes initiated by India abroad stand poised to play a larger role in the future. Technical cooperation is a vital tool in its foreign policy as it meets many objectives at once: leveraging on India’s experiences, adding to its expertise, and by benefitting the target country, thus increasing goodwill. The emphasis on building capacity creates a relationship between India and the people of the host country, who view it is not seen as just a provider of infrastructure. This suits India because it is not cost-intensive, and also because it consolidates its ‘soft power’ approach. Recipients favourably receive these assistance programmes, as they contribute to their social and economic development by building capacity and through knowledge and technology transfers.

Strengths and opportunities India’s position is unique because of how it leverages on its skills. The type of training it excels in is specific to its gains in knowledge, particularly technological expertise gained in the field of information technology which has been a major contributor to India’s growth story. Another point is the cost advantage and ease with operating within constraints of low resources. This lends itself to being replicated in other emerging economies. Indian universities and education programmes, like those offered at IGNOU, provide a cost effective solution for participants from developing countries. As pointed out by Kusum Sharma, Director, International Division, India can provide a good alternative to western education by offering cost effective and qualitatively competitive programmes. India is also on the path of harnessing the much discussed demographic dividend to its advantage: this is done by promoting industry relevant ‘employability skills’ which range from basic communication and English language to technical skills. Indian companies like NIIT and Aptech which specially poised to deliver this, have a high rate of success in other countries have been employed to deliver comparable results in other developing countries.

The move towards including private organizations is a welcome move as it ensures the maximization of efficiency of financial outlays. There is also an openness to involve local companies in the beneficiary countries. In addition, exploring alternate delivery mechanisms, through the involvement of NGOs that have been explored in the assistance to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal ensure that projects can be tailored to meet the local needs and priorities. There has been no formal study of the outcomes of India’s programmes abroad other than the responses. The feedback from ITEC training programmes are is carefully monitored. Another way to measure this is in terms of the requests for participation and for specialized courses, which as mentioned before, are a high number.

Weaknesses It has been noted that India’s foreign ambitions are crippled by its lack of coordination and infrastructural lacunae. As noted, by Daniel Markey of the Council on Foreign Relations25. India’s foreign policy establishment ‘hinders the country from achieving great power status’, and is among other things ‘small, hobbled by its selection process and inadequate midcareer training, and tends not to make use of outside expertise’. As a result, India’s aid programme is limited by the resources available to administer it and marked by a lack of transparency and long-term strategic planning. Plans for a central aid-disbursing agency were scrapped in 2010, apparently due to conflict of budgeting between the different ministries. As India grows from being a recipient to a donor, there is a need for better administration and institutional scaling up. Challenges of scale are likely to be faced, which stem from the lack of coordination, as there is no centralized or specialized division, which specifically looks at providing training. There is consequently a pressing need for a centralized aid agency, and within that for a specialized division to deal with cooperation in technical assistance and training. On a policy level, there is a need to identify a clear approach which is “strategic not merely transactional”; and a need to focus on long-term goals rather than short-term gains.

25 Daniel Markey (2009), ‘Developing India’s Foreign Policy “Software”’, Asia Policy, nr 8, July.

Appendix Technical and Economic Cooperation with other Countries (US $ million)

Source: Ministry of External Affairs http://indiabudget.nic.in

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 Bangladesh 111.7 4.7 14.9 1.3 0.8 0.7 Bhutan 255.5 141.9 181.6 262.2 274.6 378.6 Nepal 14.9 49.7 24.8 24.6 31.6 33 Sri Lanka 5.6 6.6 7 6.5 16.9 19.8 Maldives 2.9 1.4 4.8 109.7 0.7 2.4 Myanmar 5 10.6 5 7.6 11.6 19.8 Aid to other developing countries 111.8 140 44.7 11.1 7.7 7.6 ITEC Programme - - 14.9 14.1 17.9 26.4

SAARC Programme - - - 4.3 4.6 1.8 SCAAP Programmes - - - 1.3 1.9 3.3 Aid to African Countries 13.8 4.7 12.4 20.7 26.4 33 Aid to Latin American Countries - - 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.9 Aid to Afghanistan - - 107.8 91 60.5 68.1 Mongolia - - - 26.4 0 - Eurasian Countries 2 4 5 4.1 4.2 6.6 Total Aid 523.2 363.6 423.3 585.3 459.8 602

Resources Dweep Chanana (23/7/2010) India’s Transition to Global Donor: Limitations and Prospects (ARI) Subhash Agrawal (2007), ‘Emerging Donors in International Development Assistance: The India Case’, IDRC, December Daniel Markey (2009), ‘Developing India’s Foreign Policy “Software”’, Asia Policy, Hardeep Singh Puri (February 04, 2010) Statement By Ambassador, Permanent Representative At The Sixteenth Session Of The High-Level Committee On South-South Cooperation Primrose Sharma (May 29, 2007) Statement By Joint Secretary[Technical Cooperation], On South-South Cooperation For Development At The Fifteenth Session Of The High-Level Committee On South-South Cooperation 29 May – 1 June 2007 Gareth Price (Sept 2005) Diversity in donorship: the changing landscape of official humanitarian aid: India’s official aid programme Gareth Price (May 2011) For the Global Good India’s Developing International Role A Chatham House Report Claudia Meier, C.S.R. Murthy (March 2011) India’s Growing Involvement in Humanitarian Assistance (2010) South-South Cooperation: A challenge to the aid system? The reality of Aid: Special Report on South-South Cooperation Background Study For The Development Cooperation Forum: Trends in South-South and triangular development cooperation (April 2008) Kimberly Smith, Talita Yamashiro Fordelone and Felix Zimmermann (May 2010) Beyond The DAC The Welcome Role Of Other Providers Of Development Co-Operation Nanavati (2011) Doosri Azadi accessed at http://www.india-seminar.com/2011/619/619_reema_nanavatyi.htm Jayant Prasad (2011) Peace Building in Afghanistan, Seminar SEWA Annual Report 2008 MEA Annual Report 2003- 2011

Interviews All interviews were held in New Delhi from May-August 2011 Kusum Sharma, Director IGNOU [email: kusumsharma@ignou.ac.in] Suman, Director, Technical Cooperation, Ministry of External Affairs [telephone: 011-24675823] Ajai Lal, Head of Global Operations, NIIT [contact person reema.bardhan@niit.com] Smita Purushottam, ex-FSI Dean [email: smitapurushottam@gmail.com] Sujata Prasad, Dean, INGAF [email: sujataprasad@hotmail.com] Alpana Dubey, Dep. Secretary, East and South Africa, Ministry of External Affairs [telephone: 011-23015029] Pratibha Pandiya, Afghanistan coordinator, SEWA [email: pratibhapandiya@sewa.org telephone: 09824095964]