Which Young adults?

Which Young adults?

Young people living in poverty work to survive: collecting rubbish, carrying bags of cement, cleaning out vats: dangerous work … and yet 3 out of every 5 young workers are unpaid.

As in most developing countries the problem is not so much work, as decent work, i.e. that which enables the worker to live above the poverty threshold.

But certain categories of young people are particularly at risk:

•Young disabled: they are considered abnormal and hidden by their families and are thus not sent to school.

•Young homeless: often rejected by their parents or without a family, they find refuge in gangs that offer a sort of mutual aid against the hostility of the city, leading then to delinquency, drug abuse, prostitution… Branded with the tattoos of their gang they will find the work market impossible to enter.

•Out-of-School Youth: school is often located far from their homes and keeps them from earning money or carrying out chores. An estimated 5 million Philippinos (where? Total number? ) have left school after elementary level or slightly later but before acquiring a High School Diploma, their ticket to entering the working world.

These abandoned young people, victims of violence and poverty, have the capacity to become successful entrepreneurs – just so long as someone, somewhere, helps them to rebuild.

In the Philippines, beginning in 2009, and taking into account legislation and the maturity of the young people we encountered, we decided to work with young people aged 17-24.

Together We Can

cIt all begins with a “discovery week”, to determine whether the Young adult will be accepted into the program or one of the Life Project Centers (LPCs). To be accepted they need to show serious motivation and confirm their application in writing.

During the program, the Young adult attends training sessions from 8am to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays, alternating between “Working”, “Studying” and “Personal development”. Each Young adult receives a small allowance (which increases as they advance in the program) that allowing them to cover their needs. Learning to live in a community with others as well as managing their budget (a share for oneself: lodging, food, transport, clothing, hygiene; a share for family emergencies; a share for savings) is integral to the Young adult’s development.

The development of each Young adult’s own Life Project lies at the core of the LP4Y experience.

For Young adults who until now have lived day by day in an attempt just to survive, this discovery of a world of projects, where you can plan for a future and choose your goals may be hard to take in at first. But they soon adjust and are proud to join in. They receive an LP4Y diary as a tangible symbol of this new life, and are taught to use it every day.

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