ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched here Thursday the YouthWorks PH, a PHP1.7-billion five-year youth training and employment project.
PBEd Executive Director Love Basillote led the launch and was joined by Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar and other partner agencies and stakeholders.
“This launch brings together our partners from Zamboanga City who will work with us in ensuring a productive future for youth not in education, employment or training (NEET),” Basillote said.
“Education institutions and companies in Zamboanga City will be offering training programs to youth NEET to prepare them for eventual work,” she added.
Basillote noted that this city is one of the project’s pilot sites for its first year of implementation because of the growth of its sectors in agriculture, construction, hospitality and tourism, and manufacturing.
She said two local educational institutions offering technical-vocational training — the Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology and Asia’s Latin Institute — have so far identified training slots for the in-school training component of the project.
The Garden Orchid Hotel and Permex Producer and Exporter Corp. have also identified slots for the project’s in-company training component.
YouthWorks PH aims to reach out at least 8,500 youth NEET in this city in the next five years.
Young people aged 18 to 24 years, and who finished at least high school, are eligible to apply for the training programs offered by YouthWorks PH partners.
Karol Mark Yee, YouthWorks PH chief of party, said they will hold a career caravan in this city next year where they will, together with their partners, offer an array of training programs to youth NEET.
“We are inviting more training institutions and companies to invest in the future of Zamboanga City, and we hope that together, we can help them lead productive lives,” Yee said.
YouthWorks PH is PBEd’s five-year, PHP1.7-billion workforce development project funded by the USAID. It aims to make education and training more responsive to the needs of the economy by working with the government, industry and academe to provide opportunities to youth in NEET.
