For the first time in the company’s history, FedEx has donated a Boeing 727 aircraft to a university in Central America. The Salesian-run Don Bosco University in San Salvador, El Salvador, was selected as the recipient and the donation of the plane was coordinated with help from Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The Salesians are widely considered the world’s largest private provider of vocational training, including training in highly skilled trades such as aviation mechanics.

The plane will serve as a hands-on training tool for hundreds of aviation students in El Salvador. Students have the opportunity to take skills learned in the classroom and apply them while learning about the mechanical aspects of large aircraft.

“FedEx 727 freighters, once the backbone of FedEx’s domestic fleet, have been retired and replaced with Boeing 757s,” says David Sutton of FedEx Express Aircraft Acquisitions and Sales. “Donating these retired aircraft provides the critical hands-on training on large aircraft that is important to the skill set of the next generation of aircraft technicians.”

FedEx has donated 74 727s to aviation schools, colleges and local community airports and fire departments for training purposes. The donation to Don Bosco University is the company’s first in Central America and one of several donated internationally.

Sutton notes that over the next two decades the aviation industry estimates a need for more than 600,000 new aircraft maintenance technicians. The positions will provide attractive salaries to students wanting to pursue an aviation career and training tools, such as the 727, are essential to fostering interest in the aviation profession.

Practical education, like aviation mechanics, is more important now than ever for El Salvadoran youth. While the country ranks high for economic indicators, 12 percent of youth ages 15-24 are unemployed, and 41 percent are underemployed. A chronic lack of opportunity can cause frustration and disenchantment among young men and women who all too easily get involved in gangs and other damaging activities.

By teaching skills such as aircraft maintenance, mechanics, electronics and engineering, Don Bosco University offers advanced educational and employment opportunities for vulnerable youth, which in turn prepares students for participation in their country’s continued economic development. The newly donated FedEx plane will further support the university’s goal.

“Sooner or later, in the course of vocational education, students need to stop studying and get their hands dirty.” says Adam Rudin, director of the Salesian Lay Missioners program at Salesian Missions. Rudin traveled to El Salvador to represent Salesian Missions when the plane was delivered in late June. “Thanks to FedEx, hundreds of students at Don Bosco University now have the opportunity to practice what they have been taught.”

Don Bosco University was the first university accredited at a national level and is part of the worldwide Salesian University Network. It has a student body of approximately 6,000 students and maintains a strong link with the productive sector through technology transfer programs, continuous education courses, consultancy services for companies and research. Since 2005, Don Bosco University has been offering an aviation maintenance technician program which is a certificate program with international regulations that maintains strong linkages with enterprises and institutions like Aeroman and the Salvadoran Air Force.

“This aircraft will allow the development of specialized practices for our students in aviation maintenance and other areas, such as mechatronics, automation, electronics and mechanics,” says Federico Huguet, president of the University Don Bosco. “Access to this technology will contribute to the holistic development of our students, ensuring better technical preparation in their University training. With this donation, FedEx is transforming the teaching of aeronautics in El Salvador and certainly in Central America.”

###

Sources:

ANS – El Salvador – A Boeing 727 for the Don Bosco University

World Bank – El Salvador

The post EL SALVADOR: FedEx Donates 727 to Salesian University Where At-Risk Youth Learn Aviation Mechanics first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The Salesians are widely regarded as the largest single provider of technical vocational training in the world. Don Bosco – the founder of the Roman Catholic Religious order – opened the first Salesian vocational training school in Turin, Italy in 1845. Since then, the congregation’s network of vocational training schools has expanded to provide assistance to underserved populations in more than 100 countries on six continents. Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, NY, is the U.S.-based arm of the Salesians, which works to raise funds and develop international programs.

Working with Fordham’s International Political Economy and Development graduate program, the study examines the design and delivery of training programs compared to practices employed at non-Salesian vocational schools—with particular emphasis on student selection, skills taught, job-placement, and post-training support.

“Our partnership with Fordham University allows us to build on the Salesians’ decades of experience providing training services in these countries,” says Jaime Correa-Montalvo of the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, NY.

With support from professors, Fordham students review previous literature and academic research on vocational training and workforce development practices before traveling on summer assignments to the developing world to visit Salesian vocational schools. There, they conduct field-level surveys with school administrators, teachers, and current and former students.

In 2010, students traveled to countries throughout Asia and Africa. Similar fieldwork is planned for 2011 and beyond, with the eventual goal of publication in an academic journal and a “best practices” manual that will be shared with Salesian vocational schools throughout the world.

“By studying, documenting and building awareness of  best practices we hope to assist Salesians in providing assistance to those most in need,” Correa-Montalvo adds.

– ### –

PHOTO: Salesian vocational school in the Dominican Republic. Credit: MARTIN DIGGS/SALESIAN MISSIONS

The post GLOBAL: Salesian Missions, Fordham University Study to Identify Best Practices for Vocational Schools first appeared on MissionNewswire.

An innovative vocational education program targets refugee youth for job skills training to enhance their livelihoods and achieve self-sustainability. The Salesian Missions program, “New Beginnings,” is financed by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

“Refugee youth are some of the world’s most vulnerable youth,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions. “They often have survived incredible violence, struggled to find food and shelter in the refugee camps, and then find that there is little opportunity for education.  We are working to change that.”

This month, the “New Beginnings” program begins in Kenya, focusing on youth at the Kakuma Refugee Camp. Kenya is home to 340,000 refugees, and hosts the largest refugee population in eastern Africa. Kakuma Refugee Camp currently houses approximately 70,000 refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and several other countries in East Africa. Refugees continue to arrive without a sustainable income. The program will target 900 youth ages 15-30 with an emphasis on those who are the primary wage earners for their families. A particular goal is to recruit women, and empower them with the skills and confidence to enter the workforce.

“It is critical that students receive training where there is a demand for workers,” explains Fr. Hyde. He adds that training will include three month and 12-month certificate programs which will be offered in market-driven courses such as carpentry, computers, dress-making, electrical installation, auto mechanics and agriculture. English will be taught, as well as classes in gender-based violence awareness and prevention.

The program will assist students interested in starting small businesses or cooperatives after completing their courses. It will include support for business management questions, additional training if needed to keep up with the market, and assistance in the job placement process.

“We’ll provide micro-grants, or capital such as tools or equipment, to students who develop effective business plans,” says Fr. Hyde. “We believe that once a student, always a student.”

Salesian Missions’ first U.S. Department of State funded “New Beginnings” program was launched in 2005 in Colombia, with a focus on providing vocational training, job placement, and healthcare assistance to persons displaced by the country’s ongoing civil conflict. Last year an additional New Beginnings project commenced in Tamil Nadu, India, providing vocational skills, human development, and job placement assistance to Sri Lankan refugees. In both India and Colombia, students received and continue to receive training in skill areas ranging from video production to carpentry to wind turbine repair and maintenance.

Salesians around the world operate an extensive network of schools: more than 1,316 elementary; 1,400 intermediary and secondary; 32 colleges and universities; 300 industrial skills trade/vocational; 90 agricultural; 860 nurseries; 220 clinics and hospitals; and 1,670 social assistance centers and programs for orphans and street children.

###

Photo: Matija Kovac/Wikimedia Commons

Sources: International Labour Organization , UN International Year of the Youth

The post KENYA: Refugee Youth Find “New Beginnings” with Job Training first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Through the new Salesian University Network, hundreds of university students who have been unable to return to school following the Jan. 12, 2011, earthquake will have a chance to continue their education.

Thirteen computer labs or cybercafés are being established to help students stay up-to-date in their studies. Students will also have the opportunity improve their skills in computer science, English and Spanish, which are valuable skills for any professional career in Haiti. Just as importantly, the Salesian University Network provides an important means for students to connect with other students and form friendships.

“Taking part in the Salesian University Network is an important step for these youth. Many of them are facing uncertain futures and connecting with each other will help them regain their self confidence. It isn’t just a computer network, it is a network of relationships and communication established between students, their peers and the Salesian community,” says Fr. Mark Hyde, director, Salesian Missions.

Students come from different backgrounds and have varied skills and levels of training.  For some students, the Salesian University Network will offer an introduction to computer science and an opportunity to master the basic software. Students will also be able to conduct further research on their specific interest areas.

“It is important for Haiti to promote the growth of its human capital,” says Edson Timana, Haiti relief and reconstruction help desk officer, Salesian Missions. “The Salesian projects are making a difference by strategically providing aid where it is most needed—with a focus on education.  The ultimate goal is to make the investment in education so that these students can finish their studies and contribute to a better future for Haiti.”

According to a Jan. 31, 2010 article in University World News, “general estimates suggest only 1 percent of Haitians between the ages of 18 to 24 enter tertiary education. That rate is the lowest in the hemisphere.”

Installation of the computers is being coordinated by Edysson Yves-Antoine Thanis, a former Salesian student.

The computers will be installed at Salesian communities in 13 provincial towns, as well as the capital:

Fort-Liberté
Ouanaminthe
Cap-Haïtien
Gonaïves
Hinche
Jacmel
Cayes
Fleuriot
Pétion-Ville
Cite Militaire
Cité Soleil
Thorland
Gressier

The computers have been shipped to the locations and are in the process of being installed. Timana noted that in addition to computers, converters are being supplied to combat the vast electric fluctuations and constant blackouts in Haiti. The converters will ensure constant power through electricity, generators and a battery system.

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep students connected,” says Timana.

The students will be connected not only to their schools and the teachers and fellow students, but to all of the opportunities that education provides.

The post HAITI: Salesian University Network Creates Connection to Haiti’s Future first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Salesian Missions has been providing agricultural education in Muyurina for over fifty years, according to Matt Welsh, program officer with Salesian Missions. Although the school’s academic and technical programs had grown in size, scope and diversity, many of the original structures that were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s were in desperate need of repair.

When Salesian Missions approached USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program regarding the possibility of assisting with this project in 2006, Muyurina had grown by leaps and bounds since its early days of operation. Today,it is a school of nearly 800 students, offering a range of degree programs, including a post-secondary program that is recognized by the Catholic University of Bolivia.

The new Multi-Use Center provides meeting space for the school and is available for a fee for local clubs and community groups to hold events and retreats in the space.  The fee is used as infrastructure support and to subsidize tuition for students.

In addition, this project provided much needed renovation to the school’s electric and water systems and the purchase of agricultural equipment helps to provide a better educational experience for the youth in attendance.

“The agricultural school offers more than just agricultural training,” said Welsh. “This is part of a larger program that also offers traditional secondary education and other vocational training, in addition to feeding programs for area children.”

“Many of the children attending the school come from an agricultural background but often their families have never received formal agricultural education and training,” said Welsh.

“The academic preparation provided enables youth to implement farming methods that are more efficient, which increases crop yields and delivers a food supply more readily accessible to their families and communities.”

Salesian Missions currently operates more than 90 agricultural schools around the world and has been providing educational, vocational and health programs for youth in Bolivia for more than 100 years.

Salesian Missions provides not only educational opportunities in more than 130 countries around the globe, they address core needs.

“The core of our mission is to provide educational opportunities to the poorest of the poor. When the youth receive training, they stay and contribute to the local economy and the needs of their communities,” said Welsh. “This delivers benefits for years after they leave our institute.”

The post BOLIVIA: Muyurina Agricultural School, Multi-Use Center Opens first appeared on MissionNewswire.