According to a 2005 report of the International Labour Organisation 88 million young people are unemployed. Those of us affected know what that means for a young person. The problem unites us as people coming from low-income countries and from "post-industrialised" countries. The consequences, including loss of self-esteem, poverty, forced migration and ill-health, can be devastating, not just for us as young people, but for our families, communities and indeed whole nations. For many it is literally a matter of life or death.
Such complex problems need a holistic approach. The YMCA wants to encourage young people, to improve their education facilities, to support the creation of new jobs and to care for those who are unable to find work.
Many YMCAs have programmes, which are responding in creative ways to the issue of youth unemployment. Below are some examples.
At international level the World Alliance of YMCAs is facilitating National YMCA Movements to influence national policies on youth employment through, for example, involvement in the Youth Employment Network (YEN), a collaboration between the UN, the International Labour Organisation and the World Bank.
In April 2007 the World Alliance submitted a written and oral statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the importance of non formal education as a creative, effective way of equipping young people for the job market.
Full statement on non formal education in English can be downloaded below in Pdf format.
The East Jerusalem YMCA began in a tent. And in this same place the YMCA started a Vocational Training Centre in Aqabat Jaber Refugee Camp, near Jericho, in 1952. The Centre offers vocational training to youth so that they can support themselves and their families.
The introduction by the YMCA of non-conventional vocational training in 1996 for young women was a quantum leap in the history of vocational training in Palestine, and at that time it was the only centre that embraced training for young women and men. Until then vocational training for women in Palestine had not been meeting the needs of women for non-conventional vocational training, and it did not take into consideration the future economic situation in Palestine.
The YMCA discovered, by studying market demand, that training in the electronics field is a very effective way to empower women because they can support themselves and their families and in this way become active in building a civil society.
Dina is married and has children. After graduating from the VTC with excellent grades, she decided to establish a technical workshop for the maintenance of telecommunications equipment in Jericho. She was the first woman to embark on such work. Dina says, "The YMCA VTC created an opportunity for me to be productive and enter the market with a vocation which was controlled and monopolised by men."
The YMCA centre focuses its work on marginalised and disadvantaged youth, both women and men. The East Jerusalem YMCA believes that vocational training is a culture. There should be a distinction between vocational training as a tool for acquiring skills and the comprehensive culture of vocational training. We believe in the comprehensive culture of vocational training, which includes acquiring skills, seeking improved models of skills development, training young people to be active members in their community, engaging them in policy-making and sharing in the building of a Palestinian civil society.
Therefore skills training is just one component of our courses. The other major component is civic education since our aim is to develop young women and men who are able to make a change in their society. We are working towards developing the future leadership of Palestine.
The job opportunities in the Palestinian market are monitored by the YMCA through feedback from graduates, vendors, owners of workshops, industries, other vocational training centres and schools, published information and outreach staff. The Centre has developed great expertise and a good reputation. As a result, a high percentage of our graduates find work in Palestine and many in other Arab countries.
However, the recent changes in the policies of international aid agencies mean that they have substantially limited their financial support for vocational training. This is coupled with the extremely difficult situation as a result of the measures imposed by the Israeli Occupation Forces: incursions, restriction on movement, demolishing of homes and properties, bulldozing and uprooting of land and trees, administrative detention and other dehumanising acts of violence. All the above have forced us to stop accepting new first year students and we have had to suspend 10 of our staff members.
As a result, around 200 marginalised Palestinian young women and men are deprived of the opportunity to gain vocational skills, civic education and other tools for building their future. This is just for the school years 2004/2005 and 2005/2006. Beyond that, the future is bleak.
This is a test case for all of us in the YMCA. At any point of time, our children might be in this situation of deprivation. Should we ignore such a situation until the problem is at our own doorsteps or should we get involved in resolving this problem?
For long term planning, I suggest that the World Alliance of YMCAs considers establishing a special task force for vocational training for the benefit of all YMCA Movements working in this field.
Judeh N. Majaj
Former General Secretary
The East Jerusalem YMCA
To top
There are lots of graduates in Senegal but not many jobs. To bridge this gap, two years ago a group of young people from the YMCA of Dakar attended the Ministry of Youth's entrepreneurship programme. Having done this they then began their own YMCA programme. The programme trains young people to start their own business, for example by writing project proposals and business plans, understanding the legal requirements of starting a business and conducting feasibility studies.
The intensive two week programme has proved very popular with young people who have gone on to start businesses ranging from a food store to a printing company, a business sewing sheets for hospitals and a rabbit breeding enterprise. Other organisations also send participants, for example the National Council for Disabled People and the Scout Movement. Participants are eligible for small loans of a maximum of USD 900 from the YMCA, Micro Lending Agency and other organisations which, when paid back, is put into a revolving fund to help more young people.
The YMCA continues to offer young people support once they have started their business. Trainers visit the young entrepreneurs on a monthly basis to check their records, to give advice on difficult issues and offer support when they want to expand or try a new product.
Ninety-eight percent of new businesses are successful, creating jobs for young people as well as providing a means for them to support their families and contributing to the economic development of the community. Young people report feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment and of being someone in their community. Antoine Assine, who now runs his own hair salon, says of the YMCA training, "It helped make my dreams become a reality. What I have learnt has helped me become a good manager, as regards my finances as well as human resources."
The YMCA is currently the only organisation to run an entrepreneurship scheme in Dakar. It now plans to start Centres for Excellence, offering longer courses of 10 months. The first one is planned to begin in November 2004 in Dakar with financial support from the YMCA of Toronto. Besides entrepreneurship training, the institute will run courses such as reproductive health and HIV and AIDS, conflict resolution, social marketing and human rights.
The programme is not without its challenges. Prospere Gandoul completed the training and now runs a gardening business. "The first difficulty is financial. Even though I have received seed money from the YMCA it is not enough. It's also difficult to get access to land and it's not easy at all to deal with employees," he says. But Prospere believes that "the YMCA needs to keep on training more young people because it's a real need that can help alleviate youth unemployment."
Simon Lazarre Badiane
National General Secretary
YMCA of Senegal
Nowadays many young people cannot find work. The latest figures in Switzerland confirm that the age group most affected by unemployment is 19-24 year olds. Yet about 50% of job-seekers have a professional diploma.
We can only begin to understand what unemployment means for these young people when we are confronted with individual cases. For some it is a heavy burden to feel that no-one needs you or your skills. Others begin to feel depressed that they are not given a chance to work. So YMCA Zurich launched YMCA Occupational Training in January this year and has had instant success.
"I joined the YMCA Occupational Training at the very beginning - 5 weeks ago. I've learned a lot since then, especially how to improve my letters of application and my CV, says Julia Kaeser, one of the programme participants. "YMCA Zurich organised a traineeship at a bank for me, which I started a week ago. The work there gives me an insight into the world of banking. This project has helped me to gain more self-confidence and I feel good that I can do some real work now."
Through the occupational training, young unemployed people with qualifications in commerce can work for 6 months for up to four days a week in a company - ranging from small firms to international companies, as well as non-profit organisations. It is expected that many trainees will go on to become permanent employees. On the fifth day of the week trainees attend a training course at the YMCA. Run by external experts and guest speakers, the training includes developing personal skills and teaching participants to improve their job application and interview techniques. We plan to extend the training to young people looking for work in other sectors soon.
The YMCA traineeship project has been launched in collaboration with the Department of the Economy and Employment of the Canton (region) of Zurich. Both local government and the business sector are taking the unemployment problem among young people seriously and are supporting the YMCA as we start to address this issue.
For more information visit www.ceviberufshilfe.ch
Patrick Venzin and Hannes Wey
Occupational Training Project
YMCA Zurich
To top
|
Home
Print Page
Top of page
