The Colombo Plan Staff College started the drafting of the new CPSC Strategic Plan 2023-2028 through the successful organization of the National Consultation Workshop (NCW). The program, which involved 10 Filipino TVET representatives, was held on September 14, 2022 at the CPSC Headquarters in Pasig City, Philippines.

The national consultation workshop is an initial phase to request stakeholders provide advice to CPSC about their needs, wants, and expectations. As it is the first level of the three-stage consultation, CPSC involved representatives from the host country, the Philippines. The participants are composed of representatives from senior executives of TVET institutions, industry associations and TVET practitioners.

The program was supervised by Prof. G.L.D. Wickramasinghe, CPSC Director General. Program coordination was supervised by Prof. Romulita Alto, Ed.D.,Program Coordinator and Visiting Faculty Consultant and was supported by Dr. Kesavan Ulaganathen, CPSC Governing Board-Engaged Faculty Consultant and Co-Coordinator of the Program. Lastly, facilitation of the program requirements was executed by Mr. Rae Emmanuel Echaveria, Research, Publications and Information (RPID) Officer of CPSC.

Prof. G.L.D. Wickramasinghe (front), the Director General and Program Supervisor, discusses the opportunities and challenges of the upcoming CPSC Strategic Plan 2023-2028.

For one day, the participants were able to come up with a draft vision, mission and goals statement for CPSC’s proposed Strategic Plan 2023-2028. These inputs were reconciled in CPSC’s internal strategic plan and was ratified by both NCW representatives and CPSC Management.

Prof. Raul F. Muyong, Ed.D., the President of the Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT-U), served as the chairperson of the proceedings. He was able to facilitate the generation of draft outputs from the participants and coordinated the discussions between group members.

Prior to that, presentations about the Overview of the Strategic Plan Process, CPSC Strategic Plan 2018-2023 Achievements and Challenges, and the Upcoming Trends and Needs of TVET in CPSC Member Countries, were presented to the delegates by Prof. Alto, Prof. Wickramasinghe and Mr. Echaveria, respectively.

The program ended with the ratification of a draft vision, mission and strategic goals by the NCW delegates to the future delegates of the Experts’ Meeting, tentatively scheduled to be held in November 2022.

The NCW delegates discussing their inputs in the workshop exercise (left) Prof. Raul Muyong the head of the NCW Delegates, consolidating the group inputs and facilitating discussions (right).