On 20 August, Fr George Tharaniyil, DBTA Executive Director, was among the webinar's main speakers, which featured 295 participants, coming from different parts of the African continent. In addition to Fr Tharaniyil, various other exponents of the African academic world also spoke, such as Johannes Muoka, Victor Gerhard Thien and Ayado Ewinyu.
In his presentation, Fr George Tharaniyil stressed the importance of the Salesian education system, stating that: "We must prepare young people for life and we must do so by earning their trust." During the meeting, the "quality manual", prepared by the DBTA and taken as a model for career guidance, entrepreneurship training, personal accompaniment and links with companies was presented.
After the pandemic, youth employment opportunities appear very confusing. Many areas, such as tourism and education, have been hit hard by Covid-19. Many people have lost their jobs and the climate of uncertainty is growing. At the same time, however, numerous opportunities have arisen in the agricultural, digital economy, medical equipment, e-learning, online services, e-commerce and renewable energy sectors. Most of these areas are quite new to the African market and there is a need to invest in infrastructure and human capital in order to prepare young people for these job opportunities.
The DBTA wants to give young people the means to approach this new reality and to do so it will field new approaches to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Offers will be enriched and, consequently, the aim will be to give young people more stable and sustainable jobs.
