Re: 30,000 Rs for a HIV workshop?. Re Training: Improving Managerial Effectiveness in Community & Sexual Health

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

Sure, managerial Skills are not the preserve of business enterprises but it

looks like the workshop organizers want to match up to these business

houses/management schools even on how high they can go in charging these

workshop participants.

I am referring to the workshop fees of 30,000 for a workshop organized by

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM, Calcutta)

Am I alone in saying that this amount is ludicrously high?.

I may be cynical to pick this one up to voice my concern at the growing number

of HIV workshops that has hit the scene of late. I sincerely think that such

expensive workshops are not appropriate in an health field bereft of resources.

I remember being a participant in a workshop conducted a few years ago by a

'prestigious institution' who had then charged me a very high fee. The workshop

was also labeled as an international workshop deriving its 'international'

colour on the basis of a few government officials from countries like Myanmar,

Bangladesh.

Almost all the participants including me were sponsored by their employers a

fact which this agency exploited very well. For many, the workshop did not

achieve its objectives it had set out for.

Such a high fee did not bite our coffers because we were sponsored and money

didn't come from our 'pockets'. Nonetheless it was a waste of a useful

resources.

Through this letter, I do not intend to draw parallels between the two, but

would like use this opportunity to know what the forum members think of dare- I

-say inappropriate use of scarce resources.

While i agree that there is lot to be gained by enhancing the skills of the

managers ,but organizations implementing HIV programs can ill afford (in the

long run) sending their staff on such expensive courses and workshop.

This at a time when HIV programs have gained notoriety in recent years for

wasting away useful resources!!!

Thanks

Sreejit E M

Dr Sreejit E M

35 Pearson Road

Ipswich IP3 8NL, UK

+44-1473-438053

Mob: 07722015047

E-mail: emsree@...