(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries have launched the Center for Digital Education and Innovation (CEDI San Juan Bosco), a new training center, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, thanks to support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The center has individual areas for the use of technologies, a meeting room and a coworking room with interactive tablets that provide access to a self-learning platform. This environment will offer connectivity to learning and promote collaborative work to generate skills that facilitate youth employment.

Salesian missionaries provide vocational and technical training in Tegucigalpa to help ensure disadvantaged youth gain the social and trade skills needed for long-term employment. The majority of the youth who enter Salesian educational centers come from highly vulnerable areas where gangs and drug trafficking prevail. Most are at risk of social exclusion and vulnerable to exploitation and violence.

Close to 250 youth attend one Salesian vocational center in the city. They attend classes full-time for up to two years of technical and vocational training in key employment sectors. These sectors have been identified by companies that are working with the center to place students into work after they successfully complete their education. The center also has more than 1,000 students attending weekend courses in a variety of subjects, preparing for the workforce and improving upon skills while currently working.

“Through Salesian schools and vocational centers in Honduras, students are taking the first steps to rebuild their lives and their country,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Learning skills for employment, students are able to find jobs in high growth sectors that help them support themselves and their families. We appreciate USAID helping to launch this new Center for Digital Education and Innovation.”

The second largest country in Central America, Honduras is one of the poorest and most crime-ridden countries in the Western Hemisphere with 60 percent of its population living in poverty, according to the World Bank. Rough geographic terrain in the country has limited the development of transportation, keeping much of the rural population isolated. Poverty and food scarcity are severe in rural areas and one out of every four Hondurans struggles with chronic malnutrition. In addition, one out of every five Hondurans lacks access to adequate health care.

Salesian missionaries have been working in Honduras for more than 100 years operating schools, youth centers, and medical clinics to help support and educate poor youth and their families. In addition, thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life‐saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable, thousands of people in need, from infants to seniors, are receiving crucial medical aid and nutritious food through Salesian programs in Honduras.

###

Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Honduras – Inauguration of “San Juan Bosco” Center for Digital Education and Innovation (CEDI)

Salesian Missions – Honduras

World Bank – Honduras