SOS Vocational Training Centres
The SOS Vocational Training Centres provide young adults from our youth centres, SOS villages and the surrounding community with the skills they will need to secure reliable employment. They provide realistic job opportunities for the future and an avenue to independence.
High unemployment, the changing demands of the job market, economic marginalization, and lack of training facilities - these are only a few of the difficulties confronting youths once they have finished school. SOS Vocational Training Centres is SOS’s way of providing youths with fair starting possibilities, empowering them to address the myriad social and economic demands the ‘real world’ places on them confidently and independently.
The economic imbalance between North and South, among other things, demands that training programs and methods of guidance vary by region. The diversification of the job market, national economic factors, regional job offers, the social background of each youth, the particulars of the location of the training centres - these are all aspects which have to be considered when constructing an SOS Vocational Training Centre.
The training provided at our vocational training centres is strongly orientated towards local and regional job prospects. Local relevance is the key criteria in our training centres. SOS youths and socially disadvantaged young people from the are given the opportunity of vocational qualifications and skills which will allow them to live an autonomous life as an adult.
Some of the SOS Vocational Training Centres offer temporary jobs where the youths can gain practical experience and sell the products and/or services. SOS Vocational Training Centres can take the form of either small workshops or large projects offering training in a variety of trades to hundreds of young people. Often the centres work together with local firms or other partners.
Our training programs are modeled to suit the norm for that country, following the same curriculum and offering the same practical experience. On completion, the youths are awarded a state-recognized diploma or certificate of apprenticeship. There are over 130 SOS Vocational Training Centres worldwide offering courses and apprenticeships in trades, industries and various service branches. Some examples include motor mechanics, metalwork, printing, plumbing and electrical engineering, carpentry, pottery, tailoring, traditional trades, home economics, office administration, cookery, agricultural courses in farming and breeding animals, computer training, etc.
