(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries in Europe have launched the DB Wave educational project in response to a growing need for more skills training to help youth find and retain employment. In the long-term, the project is expected to impact close to 60,000 students and 7,000 vocational education teachers from the European Union, promoting quality of training and inclusion.

The initiative brings together seven national Salesian vocational training networks located in six countries including Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Hungary and France and will impact 250 centers in these countries.

As part of Erasmus+, the European Union’s program to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe, the DB Wave project began to take shape at the 8th meeting of European Projects, School and Vocational Training, organized by the Salesians in Nice, France, in November 2018. The project officially started in November 2019, and will run for two years, ending in October 2021. The first meeting DB Wave project meeting took place in Munich in November followed by another in Rome, in December, with a third in Brussels in 2020.

The development of a European network of vocational training centers began much earlier with coordination by the Salesian Youth Ministry Department, and recently, by Father Tarcizio Morais. Starting from a meeting in Rome in 2012, the network has continued to grow, not only in the number of participants and countries represented, but also in the number of projects among the Salesian partners.

Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, has close to 2 million children living in poverty, according to UNICEF. The poverty rate has risen in the wake of Europe’s economic crisis. Unemployment is at its highest level since the late 1970s with the overall jobless rate at 12.5 percent and youth unemployment as high as 41 percent.

According to UNICEF, a growing number of youth are living away from their families in temporary shelters and within government and charity programs because of inadequate support from or neglect by their families. Salesian programs work to combat these challenges by providing shelter, nutrition, education and workforce development services for youth in need.

Salesian programs across Italy help youth who are unable to attend school and others who drop out to work at the few jobs available to them. A growing number of children work as laborers on farms and others have turned to the sex trade to help support their families. Those in poverty often live without adequate shelter, hot water, regular meals and health care.

###

Sources:

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

ANS – RMG – “DB Wave” project: new impetus for Salesian Vocational Training in Europe

Salesian Missions – Italy