(MissionNewswire) The Salesian EntreApp project has connected youth in Valdocco, a quarter in the city of Turin, Italy to youth in Salesian programs in Seville and Bilboa, Spain and in Versailles, France. The EntreApp project brought together students in Europe to help develop an app that promotes tourism in Seville. Each Salesian center had a well-defined role in the project.

Students at the vocational training center in Valdocco were responsible for the graphic design layout of the app along with printing the materials and the graphic interface. Students at the Colegio San Pedro of Seville have written the computer code to program the app and students in Bilbao translated the content into Spanish through audio-video contributions and QRCodes that will apply to every single point of interest for tourists. Finally, students at the professional technical high school in Versailles are translating the content into French.

With the app, tourists will be able to find points of interest and useful information to enhance their travel experience. This project enables students to apply some of the lessons they have learned in the classroom to real-life experience.

Professor Malacasa from the Salesian training center in Valdocco says, “We teachers designed the logo and its applications with the students in the multimedia graphic operator course, organizing them as if we were a communication company. Our laboratories are organized according to this modality which is that of the (customer) order, able to simulate production in the field of communication.”

In addition to connecting youth around Europe, the project has promoted inclusiveness. Professor Malacasa adds, “Within the project, our vocational training center was involved from graphic design to printing. The school also has a laboratory where we apply logos on clothing and gadgets. Here, students with disabilities, led by their trainer, Emanuele Mensa, contributed by setting up and printing the tee-shirts. We have achieved the goal of making the project known.”

In Italy, young people who are unemployed and not in school or training programs represent 20 percent of the population. Vocational training is as an educational path that serves as a highly effective bridge between school and work.

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.

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.

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.

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Sources:

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

ANS – Italy – Salesian students of Europe at work for a common project: “EntreApp”

UNICEF – Italy Poverty