AID agreement no. 674-0301-G-SS-7067-00 with Careers Center for the community outreach and leadership project

The grant will support the Careers Center"s existing in-house training program for unemployed secondary school graduates. Full-time classes, held three days per week, encompass both lifeskills and career guidance. The Center also has an outreach program that conducts: a Saturday enrichment project; workshops covering job searches, career choice, lifeskills, small business development, conflict management, and crisis interventions; and career counseling, information, study skills, and career correspondence services. Similar support will be provided for a new part-time program aimed at secondary school dropouts and unemployed youth without formal job qualifications. The program will aim to help these young people to analyze the causes and consequences of their situation, and will provide practical advice and some basic technical skills, which might enable them to seek employment or begin to engage in productive activities. Funds will also be provided to conduct research into the increasing incidence of street children to identify the causes of the problem and suggest some possible solutions. The research will involve interviews with street children and others involved in this area, as well as analysis of secondary data. Finally, the grant will support development and implementation of a pilot program of short-term courses covering technical skills as well as basic accounting, marketing, and general business and workplace skills.