Capacity building and educating aspiring social workers in the Social Development Sector has been one of the core responsibility of Caritas India. In this series, Caritas India has inaugurated its 49^th Development Dynamics Course (DDC) on July 16, 2018, at ISHOPANTHI Ashram, Puri.

The day began with the Inaugural mass celebrated by Most Rev John Barwa, Archbishop, Cuttack- Bhubaneshwar, concelebrated by Fr Jolly, Assistant Executive Director, Caritas India and Fr Baptist D’souza, Director, ISHOPANTHI Ashram.

Fr. Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India welcomed all the participants from the different part of the country gathered to learn about the social work.

Key to the social work is to have compassion with love towards the marginalised”, said Fr. Jolly to the participants. He emphasised on the formation of hearts for everyone. He was addressing the participants of DDC.

Fr Dibya Paricha, Director of Catholic Charities in his keynote address shared the historical background of Odisha followed by the incidence of Kandmaal riots and deaths associated with it. Archbishop John Barwa delivered the inaugural address emphasising on the role of social workers in the society and their mission built on compassion and love for the needy.

Tankadhar Bagarty, one of the participants from Seba Jagat, Maharashtra expressed is excited to learn skills of micro social analysis and micro economic analysis development to sustain and promote empowerment of the poor communities. He is also keen to learn more about project development.

Every year, Caritas India organizes its flagship programme, DDC imparting intensive theoretical and field-based training in the area of Social Development. It is a residential programme lasting over 25 – 30 days. The course attracts participation from mostly the new social work professionals /religious from the Church sector as well as lay people and has been well – attended in the last 31 years since inception. Over the years, DDCs have trained more than 2300 development professionals across India and abroad.

The 44 vibrant participants of the DDC come from all corners of our country namely Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Kolkata, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jaipur & Kerala. Each participant brings along the culture and variety of their region to make the group a great mixture.

The 25 days of the rigorous course will train participants on the emerging concept of social development and various approaches. The concepts of Catholic Social Teaching, Micro Social Analysis, Macro Economic Analysis, Community mobilization will be taught with practical experience. Caritas India will also orient participants on its core areas of Disaster Management, Integrated Natural Resource Management, Rights-based Approaches to Development, Peace and conflict resolution and Project Cycle Management.