On 25 January 2010, the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI), CARE Foundation Asia Ltd (ICFAL) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) held a kick off meeting in Beijing to launch a 2-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) project - namely Factory Worker Education and Capacity Development for the Chinese Toy Industry. A pilot train-the-trainer program for factory workers and managers will be jointly developed and delivered in eight factories and then, over time, subsequently rolled out to other factories in the ICTI CARE Process. DVSI, the German Toy Association, will be GTZ's cooperation partner while ICFAL will be the implementing partner for the project in China. 

Some key participants present at the GTZ kick off meeting included: Mr. 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 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 Vice President, China Toy Association). 

During the kick-off meeting, Mr. Christian Ewert stated that this PPP will allow the ICTI CARE Foundation to significantly advance its training and education objectives which are 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. Mr. Rolf Dietmar 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 training is aimed at reaching both workers and managers in selected pilot factories.

Experts from ICFAL and GTZ also provided insight into further topics of importance for the toy industry during the meeting - for example the safety and quality of products produced in China, and harmonization and unification of standards in Europe and Asia.