Faced with this gloomy economic outlook, Salesian missionaries in the region want to ensure that services remain robust and best meet the needs of youth and the local economies. In response, VIA Don Bosco, located in San Salvador, El Salvador held a collaborative meeting in early 2016, bringing together missionaries and teachers from Salesian vocational and technical schools from El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

“The meeting served to share best practices and new initiatives to addressing common problems,” says Anabella Burgos, job coordinator of the Salesian-run Ricaldone Technical Institute in San Salvador, El Salvador. “We wanted to share the most significant achievements in each of the countries. After all, we want to work together, since we are all from Salesian environments and we work for youth in need.”

The meeting aimed to strengthen the services offered by the Salesian centers and focused on management capabilities and best practice, both with regard to effective strategies for employment and self-employment. The goal is to learn from programs that are working successfully and to work together to address ongoing challenges.

For example, in El Salvador close to 35 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. Youth in El Salvador are confronted not only with poverty, but with instability, high levels of violence and inadequate access to educational opportunities. Despite ranking high for economic indicators, the need for practical education in the country is more important than ever with 12 percent of youth ages 15-24 unemployed and 41 percent underemployed.

El Salvador is also one of the most violent countries in Central America, along with Honduras and Guatemala. The murder rate in El Salvador rose more than 44 percent in the beginning months of 2014 when compared to the same time last year. Gang violence is a leading cause of violence in the country and it’s estimated that some 60,000 young people have gang affiliation. Gang involvement often offers a sense of family and belonging that counters the lack of education and employment opportunities offered in the country.

Within the country, Salesian missionaries operate primary and secondary schools as well as vocational, technical and university education. Don Bosco University, located in San Salvador, is working to provide opportunities for advanced education and employment for disadvantaged youth in El Salvador. Approximately 6,000 students are enrolled at the University which maintains a strong link to the local employment sector through research, technology transfer programs, continuing education courses and consultancy services. Degree programs are offered in engineering, social sciences, humanities, economics, technology and aeronautics, among others. Don Bosco University was the first university accredited at a national level that is part of the worldwide Salesian University Network.

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PHOTO: ANS

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Sources:

Salesian Missions

ANS – Youth Employment – some concrete responses

International Labour Organization – Unemployment rate in Latin America and the Caribbean could rise 0.2 percentage point

The post EL SALVADOR: Salesian Missionaries Meet to Discuss Education to Combat Growing Youth Unemployment in Latin America first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The Center provides a soup kitchen, food pantry and educational programming for youth and adults. It also offers services to new immigrants and Port Chester’s long-time residents who have lived near or in poverty for years. Services are open to all adult men and women including parents in need, the elderly, the unemployed, the working poor, the immigrant and day laborers as well as the homeless.

“The primary goal of all our programs is to facilitate integration, increase self-sufficiency and decrease community tension while promoting the healthy development of youth, families and immigrants in Port Chester,” said Father Richard Alejunas, the executive director of the Don Bosco Community Center.

Since 2005, Salesian Missions has made substantial contributions to Don Bosco Community Center youth outreach programs by providing funding for building improvements and most recently, scholarship and financial aid assistance for its youth summer day camp.

Specifically for youth, the Don Bosco Community Center provides a Boys and Girls Club during the school year which offers a hot meal program to its members after school and on weekends. During the summer, the Community Center runs a youth recreational camp that operates from late June into August.

While camp costs roughly $700 per camper, past funding from Salesian Missions provided enough scholarships to enable 150 youth to attend camp free of charge. There, youth are able to participate in team sports, socialize with their peers and engage in skill-building activities. In addition, campers are provided breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks. For working parents, both before care and after care are available.

“The entire Village of Port Chester benefits from this project as well as all of the Community Center’s activities,” said Fr. Alejunas. “Our local community is becoming younger and poorer at the same time. Anything we can do to alleviate poverty and increase the quality of life of the young and our neighbors is not a luxury or an extravagance, but essential to building civic society.”

Most recently, the Don Bosco Boys and Girls Club launched Café Alma, a new culinary arts training program at the Community Center. The new program is part of a $2 million expansion aimed at enhancing the quality of life and providing future career prospects to the more than 1,000 youth that utilize the center each year. In June, a culinary educational pilot program for teens ages 13 to 19 began in the existing kitchen at Don Bosco. The hope is that the program will move into its new home when the building addition is constructed in 2013.

The expansion has drawn the attention of numerous Port Chester restauranteurs including Chef Rafael Palomino (owner of Sonora), Sasa Mahr-Batuz and Andy Pforzheimer (owners of Bartaco) and Chef Andy Nusser (co-owner of Tarry Lodge). Local chefs will help develop the curriculum for the new culinary program and Chef Palomino has pledged his support to outfit the new culinary arts training center with state-of-the-art equipment.

“Our kids have big aspirations from owning restaurants to running their own businesses,” said Fr. Alejunas. “The expansion and this educational initiative will provide them the resources they need to achieve these goals.”

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Sources:

Don Bosco Community Center Port Chester, NY – Website

The post UNITED STATES: Salesians Support Local Youth through Don Bosco Community Center in Port Chester, NY first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The Culinary Arts program started in 2010 and is one of many technical and professional courses offered at the Tuloy Foundation. The program operates out of a newly constructed two story culinary arts building on the Foundation’s school campus. The school offers poor youth the opportunity to change the course of their lives through education.

More than one quarter, just over 25 percent, of the population lives in poverty in the Philippines according to UNICEF. There are more than 11 million out-of-school youth with drop-out rates doubling as children reach secondary school.

The Tuloy Foundation provides a chance for at-risk youth to succeed in school. Street children are able to take part in alternative learning modules. Youth progress from first grade through high school. Older youth pursue vocational training in a variety of programs including automotive, electrical, welding, woodworking and most recently, culinary arts. Most students come to this course without any prior culinary knowledge.

“Various kinds of tastes and meals are quite foreign to them,” says Chef Migné of his students. “They eat when there is food (and often only when) and sleep as a way to forget about eating (when there is nothing to eat).”

The course focuses primarily on Filipino and other Asian cuisines while also teaching about cuisine from other parts of the world. There are classes in food technology, nutrition, food storage and preservation and hygiene. To offer the broadest possible education, the students are taught skills which go hand in hand with cooking such as waiting tables and bartending. In this way, employment opportunities can be broadened after graduation.

So far, the students have been engaged in the coursework and happy to learn new skills.

“We have been surprised to discover that we should have been using various kinds of knives and cutting boards, pots and pans for different kinds of plates,” says one of the most recent students. “And that’s to say nothing of the various herbs, spices and other ingredients. There’s just so many and different – and very costly items.”

The students in the class are also taught the importance of leadership skills, math skills (for weights and proportions) and the study of various food properties.

“If a student makes a mistake he doesn’t say he’s sorry but corrects the mistake and doesn’t make it again,” says Chef Migné. “The students also learn that in the workplace teamwork and respect for one’s colleagues is important, which is a useful life lesson.”

While attending the course the students stay at the Tuloy Foundation to avoid possible absences and transportation costs. When they have finished, they have the opportunity to gain work experience in prestigious restaurants and hotels thanks to Chef Migné’s contacts.

Students that have already graduated from the program have gained employment both in the Philippines and abroad demonstrating that the culinary coursework is a path to employment and a way to break the cycle of poverty for these former street children.

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Sources:

ANS – Philippines – Educating young people: from street kid to aspiring chef

Tuloy Foundation

Salesian Missions – Philippines

UNICEF – Philippines

The post PHILIPPINES: Salesian Culinary Program Helps Teach Trade Skills to Street Children in the Philippines first appeared on MissionNewswire.

“We decided to open one-year-courses in computer, English, art and tailoring at the Vocational Center in Kep because many students from the nearby provinces are unable to join our Don Bosco schools in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh,” says Father Albeiro Rodas, who is in charge of Don Bosco Vocational Center Kep.

The students returned to find many of the construction projects almost completed including the Banteay Srei Women’s Hostel, Angkor Borei Center – a male student’s residence, Don Bosco Kep Radio Station and the Don Bosco Kep Farm.

The Banteay Srei Women’s Hostel, a house for female students and teachers, is almost completed. The gate and gathering place for the students is still under construction but on Sept. 29, 2012, the new residents moved into the house. The official opening of the Hostel is slated for Nov. 6, 2012.

While the facility is built, the students are in need of furniture.

“The first students are sleeping on mats,” says Fr. Rodas. “While we did receive a donation of some furniture from the Sawasdee Foundation, the public request for donations of beds and other items has not yielded any donations yet. Beds especially are needed for our students.”

The Angkor Borei Center is already a main feature on the school campus. The three story building’s main structure is finished and is slated to be fully operational beginning in December or January. The Salesians are in the process of working to acquire a license to operate the new radio station, which will be utilized as a method of education and cultural promotion.

Another significant new project of the Salesians in Cambodia is the Don Bosco Kep Farm. The farm itself is ready with the main farm house in place and the land for crops becoming more viable each day.

“Both the structures to grow animals and the pond to grow fish are still under construction,” reports Fr. Rodas. “But students are helping on the farm when they can. Most of the students come from rural areas and have a background that benefits the farm. What is grown on the farm will be used to feed the personnel and students at the school.”

The Salesians have a long history of teaching job skills to youth in Cambodia. Through the United Nations, they began providing technical vocational education to Cambodian refugees living in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in the late 1980s. In 1993, at the invitation of the government of Cambodia, the technical School in Phnom Penh was established to republish, translate, and write books and educational documents that were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime. It contained the only working printing press in the country—and served as a model of hope through education.

“As more and more programs for youth are developed in Cambodia, donations are needed to help make the programs and facilities fully operational,” explains Fr. Rodas. “We are still in need of furniture for both our male and females residences, audiovisual and other radio equipment for our radio station as well as updated water and electrical systems at the facility.”

For more information, go to www.donboscokep.org.

The Salesians are widely regarded as the world’s largest provider of private vocational and technical training. To learn more, go to www.SalesianMissions.org.

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See related article: CAMBODIA: U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Provides Assistance, Expertise to Salesian Trade School

Sources:

Salesian Missions – Work in Cambodia

Photo courtesy Don Bosco Vocational Center Kep

The post CAMBODIA: Construction Continues, Donations Needed at Don Bosco Vocational Center Kep first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Timana visited several Salesian-run sites in anticipation of the Department of State official visit, and had the opportunity to tour Domingo Savio Salesian School in Guayaquil, Ecuador and Kennedy Salesian School located in Quito, Ecuador.  In Panama City, Panama, Timana visited Tecnico Don Bosco.

Timana went to tour the Salesian-run programs ahead of the site visits to ensure all program requirements were being met.  These program requirements include flexible class schedules where classes are offered at night and on the weekends to accommodate the working schedule of Colombian refugees. Further, Timana was able to verify that the equipment and maintenance repairs being done in the programs fit within the framework and guidelines of the funding. During the site visit, Population, Refugee, and Migration officials were happy to note that some of the maintenance funds were utilized fix more than two dozen sewing machines that students utilize for classes.

Touring the schools, Timana was also able to take in the schools’ infrastructure, classes and students in the programs. These programs provide valuable education and training opportunities to Colombian refugees and other vulnerable populations. Timana’s most memorable part of the trip was meeting the Colombian refugees and listening to their stories of how much the technical training they receive is benefiting their lives. Timana found that many of them have plans to start their own businesses and have made lasting connections with teachers and faculty.

“In Guayaquil, Ecuador, I met a mother of three children who was attending Salesian training sessions and she explained that while her children play in the Salesian school field, she attends class in the same school,” explained Timana. “These programs are really providing an opportunity for people to improve their lives.”

During this same trip, Timana also visited Panama for a meeting held with other Salesian representatives from Panama, Costa Rica and the Salesian Central American Province.

“The work the Salesians are doing around the globe is crucial for the economic development of many developing countries,” added Timana. “The Salesian order focuses on providing education to youth at risk and vulnerable populations which saves many of these students from poverty.”

Salesian Missions is the U.S. development arm of the international Salesians of Don Bosco—specializing in programs and services for at-risk youth in more than 130 countries. The Salesians are widely considered the world’s largest private provider of vocational and technical education.

For more information, go to www.SalesianMissions.org.

The post ECUADOR: Salesian Missions Office for International Programs, State Department Visit “New Beginnings” Program Site first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The World Day calls for:

• Universal ratification of the ILO’s Conventions on child labor (and of all ILO core Conventions)
• National policies and programs to ensure effective progress in the elimination of child labor
• Action to build the worldwide movement against child labor

As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has stressed, “The exploitation of children anywhere should be a concern to people everywhere.” Children in situations of exploitative child labor are deprived education, and lack the opportunities to rise to their full potential and lift themselves, their families and their communities out of a cycle of poverty.

This year, the World Day Against Child Labor provided a spotlight on the right of all children to be protected from child labor and from other violations of fundamental human rights. Children enjoy the same human rights accorded to all people. But lacking the knowledge, experience or physical development of adults and the power to defend their own interests in an adult world, they also have distinct rights to protection by virtue of their age.

• In 2010, the international community adopted a Roadmap for achieving the elimination of the worst forms of child labor by 2016.
• Some 215 million children across the world are still trapped in child labor and it is estimated that 5 million children are in forced labor.
• In Asia and the Pacific, child labor is declining but the region has the most child laborers ages 5-17 (113.6 million, more than 48 million of them in hazardous work.
• There continues to be a need for specific future actions: strengthening workplace safety and health for all workers with specific safeguards for children between the minimum age for admission to employment and the age of 18.

The awareness day was recognized by countries and leaders around the world, many of which stated that education is the key to ending child labor and protecting youth.

“Education is a critical response to child labor and youth employment issues in Indonesia,” said Angela Kearney, UNICEF Representative in Indonesia. “If the number of children in work is to be reduced and their prospects when they do enter the workforce in later years are to be improved, investment in education at every level – from pre-school programs to vocational training—is essential.”

Salesian programs in more than 130 countries around the globe—including Indonesia—are providing such education and vocational training. Widely considered the world’s largest private provider of vocational and technical education, the Salesians focus on changing the course of a young person’s future by providing opportunity.

“Ending child labor will be the work of those providing better opportunities,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “And those better opportunities come from access to education.”

Learn more about the educational opportunities the Salesians provide around the globe at SalesianMissions.org >

Learn more about how the Salesians are giving brighter futures for child laborers in India (and how you can help) >

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The post WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILDHOOD LABOR: Salesians Provide Education Key to Tackling Child Labor first appeared on MissionNewswire.

What began as a pilot program to give poor youth an opportunity for education and training in an area of employment that is growing and has available jobs, is now responsible for training more than 200 students. The most recent graduating class of 34 students had a 100 percent employment rate upon graduation. According to an article in The Hindu, most of the graduates find careers in multinational companies such as Tata Yazaki, Kirloskar, Pizza Hut and the Taj Hotel, Mothi Mahal.

“Through this technical skills training program youth are able to find not just jobs but careers which helps ensure a bright future and the potential for life-time stability,” said Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. fundraising arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Fr. Hyde, who recently returned from India where he visited Salesian programs throughout the country, added “Jobs in the hospitality industry are available in India and around the world. But the skills our students learn are applicable to many different careers.”

The hospitality industry requires more from its employees than simple pleasantries. The work requires good organizational skills and a high level of competence. Don Bosco’s Hospitality Management Program requires much of its students but gives a lot in return. Students are required to have the right blend of attitude, soft skills, grooming and competence in hospitality technical skills in order to graduate and be placed into employment.

This program is a true collaboration between the Don Bosco Technical Institute and hotel executives from Taj Group in Kerala, who are actively involved in student training. Students must successfully complete three months of classroom training before being placed into another three months of hands-on job training in hotels. At the end of the full six month program, students are ready for employment and are placed in front-line positions in the hospitality industry. Through the combination of classroom and hands-on experience students learn valuable soft skills, lessons in communication, personality development, and hospitality theory.

In order to help disadvantaged youth from socially and economically challenged backgrounds develop life-long employable skills, the training is offered free of charge. The program helps participants become stable, independent and able to give back to their families and communities.

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Sources:

ANS (Salesian Info Agency)

The Hindu Business Line

The Hindu

The post INDIA: Economically Disadvantaged Youth Find Careers in Hospitality Industry first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The three-year program will focus on Colombian refugees living Ecuador, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Panama due to ongoing internal conflict in Colombia, which has resulted in the displacement of more than four million Colombians in the last two decades.

According to 2011 data from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) more than 90% of the 454,088 known Colombian refugees and asylum seekers now live in the neighboring countries of Ecuador (167,189), Venezuela (215,685), Panama (17,714), and Costa Rica (19,703).

“Many of the Colombian refugees have no marketable skills. They can’t find jobs and the lack of training makes it difficult to start their own business or join with others to form cooperatives. Without jobs, it is hard to find stability for their families and build new lives. For example, younger children may not attend school and the cycle of poverty continues,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Through the “New Beginnings” program, Colombian refugees will receive training and technical skills that will enable them to find gainful employment. In addition, the recipients will receive human development workshops developed through a grant with the WK Kellogg Foundation, as well as job placement services.

According to Fr. Hyde, job placement specialists in each target country will consult with local employers and existing ministry of labor contacts to ensure the job training programs meet the needs of the marketplace.

In addition to the estimated 5,100 students who will receive job training, Salesian Missions expects the program to indirectly benefit 26,520 family members. The program will reach refugees in 18 different regions throughout Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, and Costa Rica.

“Many of these refugees live in rural villages where access to technical training is often difficult to attain,” explains Edson Timana, a program officer with the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs. Timana is currently traveling to all program sites throughout the four countries to prepare them to implement the programs prior to the arrival of the refugees.

The program will also ensure that the Colombian refugees are formalizing their status as registered refugees. It is estimated that only around 22% of Colombian refugees are registered and accounted for.

“If a refugee is not counted – or is considered ‘vanished’ – it makes it that much more difficult to provide long-term solutions for them,” says Fr. Hyde. “For example, in the four countries we’ve targeted, only registered refugees can legally work, making the registration component critically important. Our goal is to have one hundred percent of students enrolled in the program formalizing their status as registered refugees and then they can begin to build a new life in their new country.”

Fr. Hyde adds that cultural understanding is another aspect of ensuring refugees long-term achievement in their new country.

“We’ve seen that Colombian refugees face high levels of discrimination because of harmful stereotypes. Discrimination affects the refugees’ ability to find jobs, housing and even basic services. The stereotypes also affect the refugees’ sense of self. That’s why we’re including spaces for positive exchanges, as well as conflict mitigation, between Colombian refugees and members of the local host community in the program,” says Fr. Hyde. This includes integrating refugee students with host country students in courses and workshops, vocational training fairs and sports and cultural activities to promote social interaction.

The “New Beginnings” program is designed to meet the goals of the UNHCR/International Organization for Migration/Ministers Foreign Affairs; Colombia, Ecuador Assistance Plan for Colombian Refugees (December 2010), which seeks to support priorities and pilot programs which will advance the sustainable reintegration of Colombians who decide to return home while improving the living conditions of those Colombians who continue to stay abroad by, “promoting their socio-economic inclusion in society with proper access to employment, basic health services, education and housing.”

The most recent Salesian Missions’ “New Beginnings” commenced at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. The first 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.

The Salesians are widely considered the world’s largest provider of technical and vocational training. 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.

The post CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA: “New Beginnings” Program Expands to Assist Colombian Refugees in Four Countries first appeared on MissionNewswire.