Inclusion for Youth at Risk

Teach a profession to youth in situations of social risk and, in doing so, offer them new prospects for personal development and social inclusion. With this in mind, the Ceiba Group Association has developed a project providing professional training, technical and labor advice and job market inclusion for 225 youth – male and female alike – from the district of El Limón and other neighborhoods from Zone 18 of Guatemala City, in Central America.

The project receives the support of the Kellogg Foundation.

The aim of the project is to put them to work in the formal market as operators in the call centers of companies that service and repair computers, and also in the manufacture of informatics components and telemarketing.

“The increase in the family income of socially excluded youth has reduced the risk of their becoming involved with drugs or street gangs by up to 75%,” explained Marco Castillo, general director of the Ceiba Group.

Another youth project of the Ceiba Group Association – Prevention of the Drug and Street Gang Phenomenon in Marginalized Urban and Rural Areas – came third in the Experiences in Social Innovation Award, 2004-2005 Cycle, organized by ECLAC with the support of the Kellogg Foundation.

07/26/2006

Published in Interaction nº 17