Employee Training In addition to the cultural development activities offered to employees in the form of artistic courses or its weekly presentations, the SEKEM Holding takes care of the personal development of its employees. On the one hand, the employees participate in weekly meetings to discuss critical issues about their worklife, which are joined by the founder of the SEKEM Initiative Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish in order to portray, explain and forward the basic vision of holistic development. On the other hand, the employees are involved in constant development and specific trainings directly related to their work tasks and challenges. The Human Relations department works closely together with the Adult Training Center from the Heliopolis Academy for Sustainable Development to optimize appropriate means for the employee’s career development. The Heliopolis Academy offers trainings and personality development programs to those people who aim to learn, research and/or work within the framework of sustainable and holistic development. The Academy also works together with international partners; in 2010, the Heliopolis Academy for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with the NGO Management School in Switzerland, has established a professional training course titled “Project Cycle Management”. International participants from different countries such as Albania, Tajikistan and Iraq in addition to three employees from SEKEM attended the course, which emphasized case studies for humanitarian projects worldwide.
Training of employees in the Heliopolis Academy
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SEKEM Report on Sustainable Development 2010
Summer Courses 40 teachers from SEKEM School and the Vocational Training Center participated in a four week English language training (9 hours/week). Another ten teachers from SEKEM School participated in an eight week training (9 hours/week).
Fine Arts – Perceiving and Painting Colors have an immediate effect on a person’s soul and mood (either positive or negative); be it during perceiving an artist’s work or during painting oneself. In all SEKEM offices, along the corridors and in public areas of SEKEM we display fine arts from different artists, some of whom are our friends or employees. All colors have been carefully selected to enhance the dynamic quality of the buildings’ architecture. The pictures in their bright colors give each space an inspiring and exhilarating atmosphere. Regular exhibitions from different artists train the perception for colors. The eyes learn to admire the colors and through that the beauty in nature and the environment. Apart from the regular painting classes for SEKEM School students, there was also a painting training for teachers with some 20 participants. As we do every year, SEKEM welcomed some international artists who produced 50 new paintings to fill and beautify SEKEM’s new buildings and remix the existing ones.
Heliopolis Academy building