When a new leader comes in to run an organization, one of the first orders of business is frequently to study the place, ascertain its strengths and weaknesses and develop a strategic plan based on the findings of the study and the goals of the institution.
Father Camilo Bernal was sworn in as director of the National Training Service, or SENA, in January, and since then he has set in motion his plan, called Vision 2020, to decide how the institution will move forward, its main goals and strategies, its image in the country and in which projects it will participate.
Father Bernal is uniquely qualified to head the organization. He has a strong background in education, having been a rector at the Minuto de Dios University before moving to SENA. He helped start up Community Development Centers in the towns of Cartagena and el Carmen del Bolivar, and has a university degree in computer and systems engineering.
Father Bernal and the heads of different units of SENA have carried out a series of meetings to exchange ideas and suggestions for the strategic plan. The institution’s employees have been encouraged to contribute to the plan, to make sure SENA benefits from the full breadth of experience of its staff.
“I want us to build this strategic plan with the participation of many people here at SENA,” Father Bernal says. “From the different sections, from apprentices to instructors, unions and businesses, we should all think about the SENA that we want.”
SENA will be carrying out a massive consultation, at the national level, on the Internet. The institution expects to include tens of thousands of Colombians in various exercises to clarify, define and validate its vision and strategic plan. Nearly 1,000 invitees will participate in nationwide focus groups, more than 10,000 will participate in leading polls, and all Colombians will be invited to participate in a broad variety of polls on the Internet.
By the end of the process, work groups will have personally visited SENA offices in 10 or more of Colombia’s regions, and will have held videoconferences with at least another 18 regions. The goal is to get input from as many perspectives as possible.
After all of the meetings, the goal is to develop and define SENA’s strategic lines, the impact they hope to have, and how to support and carry out that mission to make the institution as efficient and effective as possible for all Colombians.
The Nano-Professor Nanoscience Education and Training Program
Promising new fields of economic activity are always of interest to SENA. Nanotechnology is an area that has the potential to be a source of innovation, jobs and profit for decades to come. Last year SENA invested in a U.S.-developed system to train high school and university students for careers in nanotechnology.
The system, called the NanoProfessor Nanoscience Education and Training Program, gives students the chance to learn about the uses of the developing technology and at the same time provides them with hands-on experience with the same up-to-date equipment used by researchers in the area.
Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing field and it will need a constantly growing force of trained and experienced workers and researchers. This is an area where SENA hopes to get in on the ground floor and provide some of the expertise needed in the areas of biotech, electronics, energy and medicine, among others
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