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Building an Entrepreneurship Skills Training Centre for Girls in Yangon
This project supports the Salesian Sisters to build a vocational training centre for girls in Yangon. The Sisters have successfully developed vocational training schools in India, Cambodia and Timor-Leste, with an emphasis on hospitality, tailoring and secretary skills. The project aims to improve the employability of girls from remote villages across Myanmar who are at risk of being abused, leaving school, exploited for labour and victims of the civil unrest in the northern part of Myanmar.
The program addresses this issue by providing vocational training in ‘Food and Home Management’ – a comprehensive cooking and housekeeping course – which corresponds with current domestic labour demands in Myanmar. Recently there has been an increase in the hospitality industry, including hotels and restaurants.
The centre will provide 30 places annually to girls who experience poverty and are at increased risk of engaging in vulnerable work. At the end of the course, students will have completed job training experiences in a range of hospitality settings. Students also have the opportunity to receive extra lessons in Burmese language, English and Mathematics to increase their employability.
Catholic Mission’s project to construct a new building to host the vocational training centre will provide girls with a place to learn, study and live. This will replace the previous building, which was small and dilapidated, thus increasing the vocational centre’s capacity. The new building will provide a safe and high quality living and learning environment for the girls. The Salesian Sisters Generalite in Rome and their international congregation will support the ongoing costs of the program, including teaching costs, food and bills.
In Myanmar, women participate in the labour force at a significantly lower rate than men, and around two times as many women than men are out of work. Many girls in Myanmar are not able to pursue education beyond grade 11, being instead pushed into the labour market early due to poverty.
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