ICTI CARE Foundation Asia Ltd. (ICFAL) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), a German development agency, held a kick off meeting at GTZ Beijing office on January 25th to launch a public private partnership project (PPP Project). A pilot train-the-trainer program for factory workers and managers will be jointly developed and delivered in eight factories and then subsequently rolled out to other factories in the ICTI CARE Process, over time. DVSI, the German Toy Association, will be GTZ's cooperation partner while ICFAL will be the implementing partner for the project in China.
 

Christian Ewert stated, we are very grateful for the support provided by GTZ for this initiative and look forward to collaborating with all of the project partners.  This PPP will allow the ICTI CARE Foundation to significantly advance its training and education objectives aimed at supporting the development of China’s toy industry and the capacity of its factory workers and managers to comply with health,  safety and labor standards

 
As part of the training program, support and coaching for in-factory training will be provided by ICFAL and its training partners, training videos will be developed, and confidential hotline services and worker information cards will be made available to factory workers.
 

Mr. Rolf Dietmar, Director of the Sino-German Corporate Social Responsibility Project, commented that the conceptual approach of the project includes crucial factors that will ensure its success and sustainability. Firstly, the project relies on the active participation and support of the China Toy Association; secondly the trainings are aimed at reaching both workers and managers of selected pilot factories.

During the kick-off meeting, experts from ICFAL and GTZ provided insights to further topics of importance for the toy industry, e.g. the safety and quality of products produced in China, harmonization and unification of standards in Europe and Asia, etc.

Some key participants present at the GTZ kick off meeting included: Christian Ewert, CEO of the ICTI CARE Foundation, Ms. Ban Lee, Director of Operations, ICFAL; Ms. Romina Laumann, PPP-Project Manager GTZ Germany; Mr. Rolf Dietmar, GTZ China, Sino-German Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Project; Mr. Joerg Binding, GTZ China, Sino-German Consumer Protection and Product Safety Program, Ms. Cui Zheng, China International Center for Economic & Technical Exchanges, and Ms. May Liang, Executive VP, China Toy Association.