"For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home."
                                                                                                       - Simon Van Booy

Abdul believes that he is building a home. There are more than 30 million Abduls in this country. He is a construction worker, a mason, a contractual labour, a mazdoor. Abdul’s idea of an ideal city is different from yours or mine. But he is the one who will build your city, your neighborhood, your home.

The construction industry has changed and grown very rapidly in the past 10 years. India spent US $ 427 billion in construction in the year 2013 alone¹. However, little has changed for Abdul and 30 million other masons like him. India’s construction scenario not only suffers from low standards of construction but it is also plagued with issues such as:

• Absence of benchmarks and standards for skills of masons and artisans

• Severe shortage of skilled individuals

• Low understanding and less use of locally available construction materials

• Low awareness about existing formal training and certification agencies amongst masons and artisans

• Inefficient and ineffective learning as masons tend to learn in bits and parts

• Differential standards of seniors masons i.e. the quality of skills vary from one mason to another

• Informal learning methods have no benchmark set. The level and quality of skills learnt largely depend on the ‘master’ who imparts it and the ‘trainee’ who receives it.

Out of the 41 million people employed by the construction sector in 2011, only 13% were skilled individuals². Only a minority of masons undergo formal training and skills enhancement. While masons are aware about the existence of local Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), few masons know about the process of getting formal training and its benefits. Another reason that deters masons from generating interest in formal training is the information that flows through word-of-mouth. There are misconceptions on the duration, qualification, outputs, quality and cost of training. This leads to low interest and awareness about training and certification institutions. Moreover, apart from ITIs, there is no nation-wide agency to impart and assess construction skills. Multiple private and non-governmental organisations conduct trainings at various levels. While some of them are directed and focused on using certain kind of building materials, others tend to be basic or lacking a wholesome curriculum.

• Managed at the local or state level for better implementation

• Transparent and efficient

• Flexible i.e. requires minimum time with different learning options such as distance learning or on-site learning

• Easily replicable across various states

• Involves the community in management and development

• Requires a small amount of resources