Youth Vocational Trainings in Damascus and its Rural Areas
The Service and Relief Department - Diakonia, at the Middle East Council of Churches, Syria office, implemented a vocational training program aiming at supporting youth to enter the labor market in Damascus and Rural Damascus. 50 young trainees aged 18 to 45 participated in the trainings.
The professions taught were men hairdressing, chef training and tailoring and lasted for more than two months.
After completing the theoretical and practical vocational trainings, all beneficiaries joined a business start-up course for five days. This training addressed the methodology of starting –up a small business. At the end of the program, they received tool kits including all the items needed to start working.
Many participants were able to start working thanks to the training benefiting from the knowledge gained and kits received. One of the participants in the chef training said,” The training included all the things we needed to know. We learned plates from the western and eastern kitchens in addition to a variety of sweets. In the business start-up course we learned how to deal with clients and organize the accounts”.
He added,” I started my private business in partnership with one of my friends benefiting from the tool kit that I received at the end of the program. His business prepares and provides food to parties and other occasions. My income has increased and I became capable of meeting the needs of my family with such difficult living circumstances and high prices”.
