(ANS - Bogotá)- In Colombia, in the heart of one of the least safe districts of Bogotá, the Salesians for years have been welcoming  and training young people.  With the support of the Belgian NGO "Via Don Bosco" and the French Foundation "Saint Paul Apôtre" they have been able to start a project called "Pacto Motor".

The Juan Bosco Obrero centre is located in the heart of Ciudad Bolivar, one of the most populated, poorest and least safe areas of Bogota. In recent decades, Ciudad Bolívar has hosted many displaced families from across the country. They came here to escape from the armed struggle between different (para)military groups and revolutionaries.

It is here that, fifteen years ago, Fr Jaime García, SDB, began to realize his dream of building a Vocational Training Centre for the young people of the neighborhood. Many young people come into contact with the Salesian through weekly lessons of rap, salsa, capoeira and break dance, organized by the youth associations of the centre.

Every year, then, about 800 young people are accepted into professional training courses, to become electricians, carpenters and mechanics. But often it is not enough for them to be well trained to automatically gain access to the labour market, and even less to get a decent job.

In 2010, in the aftermath of a large job fair, it became painfully clear that dozens of companies in the automobile and transport sector were looking for staff, but young graduates from Ciudad Bolívar were being rejected in the selection process. This gap between the expectations of businesses, on the one hand, and the supply of young people looking for work, on the other hand, was what led to the birth of "Pacto Motor".

The idea behind Pacto Motor is that everyone benefits from a multilateral agreement for proper employment in a particular industry. The automotive sector gets well-trained technical staff, the companies are able to pursue a policy of responsible entrepreneurship, and the Salesians, as educators, are preparing young people for good employment, through high quality training programmes.

The pilot project was a great success. In 2013 over 150 young people found employment through Pacto Motor. That amounts to 98% of the graduates! This year, no fewer than 900 young people, victims of the armed conflict in Colombia,  are attending the Salesian centre where they receive free, high-quality training for the automobile and transport sector.

The model of the "Pact for decent work" has evoked such enthusiasm from the Colombian Ministry of Labour that they have already developed pilot projects for employment in other cities and areas. The tourism sector is high on the list of priorities.

More information about the project is available on the website: Don Bosco Aujourd’hui.

Published 18/12/2014