(ANS - Mekanissa) - During the month of March, a project was launched in Ethiopia called "Print your future: development of graphic and typographic sector in Ethiopia." It will lead to the construction of the first school of its kind in the country. On 8 May last year a delegation from the Italian Embassy in Ethiopia visited the facilities of the Salesian School at Mekanissa. It included Dr Giuseppe Mistretta, Director of the Office of Cooperation, together with Fabio Melloni and other experts in the Local Technical Unit.  Workers will be trained at Mekanissa, and a new Department of Graphic Arts and Typography will be built there.

The project is being carried out by VIS, the NGO for  International Volunteers for Development, and VIDES, the International Voluntary Service for Women, in Education and Development, with the support of Cooperazione Italiana.

It was born out of a request from the Ministry of Education to promote vocational training in graphic design and typography,  to make up for the lack of formal structures of learning.

It provides not only the construction and equipment of the department, but also the introduction of formal and informal courses. Training will be given in preference to young people who are particularly vulnerable: casual workers in the sector, street children, and generally those who have been excluded from the formal education cycle.

The courses will help many small typography enterprises to improve the quality of their products and ensure better working conditions for the workers who receive training at the Salesian project.

Not only that, the project will also build a bridge between Ethiopia, Italy and India. Consultants from centres of excellence in Italy and India will come to Addis Ababa in order to offer their services in training local teachers, encouraging an exchange that will be enriching for all concerned.

The challenge is great: to build together a centre of excellence in the field of graphic typography, providing decent employment for vulnerable young people and promoting the transfer of new technologies and local development.

Published 29/05/2014