(MissionNewswire) The Rinaldi Foundation, the Salesian planning and development office in Haiti, is collaborating with Via Don Bosco, a Belgian Salesian organization, to ensure that youth in Haiti are able to access the best vocational and technical training needed to gain skills for employment. Through this project, the Rinaldi Foundation is offering assistance to three Salesian vocational training centers including the Diocesan Center of Arts and Trades (CDAM), Don Bosco Tech, and the National Center for Arts and Crafts.

The collaboration is also focused on the Salesian employment office in order to ensure that it is providing youth what they need to successfully enter into the workforce. Student learning is being improved by offering teacher training and adapting content, infrastructure and educational materials to the needs of today’s workforce.

In addition, the project is promoting collaboration among the Salesian training centers and other regional technical and vocational schools in order to facilitate the exchange of teaching best practices. The project is also strengthening the capacity of the Salesian centers to provide business and entrepreneurial skills to students. The centers assist graduates as they enter the workforce, ensuring that they have the support that they need to succeed.

Throughout the project, emphasis is placed on gender equality, human rights and the environment in order to promote an inclusive and quality education. Thanks to this partnership with Via Don Bosco, students are already reaping the benefits. They are more confident in their ability to enter the workforce and more capable of contributing to the development of Haiti.

“Access to marketable skills training is critical for youth’s success later in life,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “In order to provide those skills to youth, teachers must have access to quality training, use the most up-to-date materials in their industry and provide training in employment sectors that are hiring. This project will help ensure that Salesian centers in Haiti have what they need to provide the skills training that enables youth to go from school directly into the workforce.”

Salesian missionaries began working in Haiti in 1935 in response to the Haitian government’s request for a professional school. Since then, Salesian missionaries have expanded their work to include 10 main educational centers and more than 200 schools across the country.

The 10 main centers each include a number of primary and secondary schools, vocational training centers and other programs for street children and youth in need. Salesian programs are located throughout Haiti including in the cities of Port-au-Prince, Fort-Liberté, Cap-Haïtien, Les Cayes and Gressier. Today, Salesian missionaries in Haiti provide the largest source of education outside of the Haitian government and their programs serve more than 25,000 Haitian children.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas ranking 163 out of 188 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index. The country also faces the highest levels of severe food insecurity in the world, according to the World Food Programme. More than half of the country’s population was chronically undernourished during 2012 to 2014, representing a total of 5.3 million Haitians. Nearly 100,000 Haitian children under the age of 5 suffer from acute malnutrition, causing irreversible stunted growth for close to 30 percent of all children in the country.

###

Sources:

The Rinaldi Foundation – Ready for Work

World Food Programme – Haiti

Salesian Missions – Haiti