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Life Quilt
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Health Fair 1

OMN UA

THE DOUGLAS COLLEGE NEWSLETTER ff DECEMBER 1996

 

Centre 2000 succeeds on
an international scale

On the road

 

During a break in her summer work
schedule, Janet Knowles checked out
some of Pakistan’s tourist attractions.

 

Janet Knowles,
Director of Community
and Contract Services for
Centre 2000, has had
another busy year.

As one of two
Women’s Employment
and Training Consultants
to Pakistan’s National
Vocational Training
Project, she’s already
spent three months
traveling to the cities of
Lahore, Karachi,
Peshawar, Islamabad and
Quetta. And she’s not
through yet.

Knowles and co-
consultant Caroline
Beatty, a career
development specialist
from Ontario’s Humber
College, will spend over
175 days each in
Pakistan, training women
to run women’s training
centres, find job
placements, and work
with employers to match labour market
supply with demand.

Knowles was chosen to work on this
Canadian International Development
Agency-funded project because of her
expertise in contract services and prior
experience with CIDA.

“Centre 2000 is already known
provincially and nationally for our
expertise in labour market adjustment and
development,” she explains. “The
Pakistan project pushes us to the edge of
the map.”

One of the project’s most interesting
challenges so far, says Knowles, has been
to acknowledge her own cultural biases.
“There is an intrinsic cohesion to their
system that’s difficult to evaluate
according to Western standards.”

In Pakistan, non-traditional work for
women involves anything outside the
home. It is Knowles’ task to help develop
approaches appropriate for the project’s
cultural context.

She sees most job opportunities
emerging in trades such as dress design,
beauty, office automation, architectural
design and small appliance repair. “These
fields are most aligned with cultural
expectations for women, and offer
opportunities for self-employment or
work within the joint-family system.”

Knowles is looking forward to leaving
for her next 60-day visit on December 15,
and not just because the work is
rewarding. It’s also a chance to bring the
work she does at Centre 2000 into a
global arena, which may mean more
opportunities for Douglas College to

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