Today, 64 million of the 1.8 billion young people in the world are unemployed; 24 million have no access to training, 145 million are poor and one in ten lives in conflict zones. The Salesians cannot ignore this reality and they face and deal with it every day with their instruments: the answer is a concrete effort to educating and training young people, so that they have the opportunities to emerge from poverty and become agents of development and social change.
For this reason, "Misiones Salesianas", the Salesian Mission Office of Madrid, together with the Salesian NGO "Jóvenes y Desarrollo" reaffirm their commitment to fostering youth employment. Over 200,000 young people are currently being trained in a Salesian formation center throughout the world. A quality education that allows 85% of them to find work after their studies, "without forgetting," notes Fr José Antonio San Martín, Director of "Misiones Salesianas, "that 65% of them continue to work even after four years."
"It is shown that a young person who receives quality formation obtains a better job and takes even less time to find it," adds Juan Linares, President of "Jóvenes y Desarrollo".
Both organizations work on projects designed to support young people in their education or vocational training, following the guidelines set by the Sustainable Development Goals regarding access to quality education (OSS4) and decent work (OSS8).
On World Youth Day, which is celebrated today, Monday 12 August, "Misiones Salesianas" and "Jóvenes y Desarrollo" want to highlight the fundamental role of young people and the need for them to find a job to live by; and for this they ask governments for a concrete commitment to this objective and their benefit.
