JYOTI Vocational Training Centre  

In partnership with CWSN

 

JYOTI means ‘Blaze of Brightness' in Nepalese.  Our JYOTI Vocational Training Centre aims to give the most disadvantaged young people a second chance in life, by giving them the skills and confidence to find a job and live independently.   

Please click on the links below to find out more...   

• What do young people learn?
• What support do trainees receive?
• How are trainees involved?
• How do trainees re-integrate into the community?
• Lalit's story
• Manu's story
• Future plans

Who has a place at JYOTI?

The trainees are referred from our partners in the ‘Consortium for Working Children', and also by other organisations across Nepal working with the poorest and most marginalized young people in society.  They include young people aged 15-20 who are living on the streets, child labourers, bonded domestic workers, drug addicts, and those trafficked into the sex trade.  There are 30-40 places available each year for 300 applicants, so we select the young people who are most in need, and who have the motivation to learn new skills and change their lives.

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What do young people learn?

The courses have been designed to train young people to meet identified gaps in the labour market in Nepal.  Currently four trades are offered - care worker, electrician, plumber and computer secretarial.  Trainees do not necessarily need to have attended school or achieved an entry qualification, but do need to be well motivated.  They are taught basic skills such as Nepalese, English and Maths, but the emphasis is on practical and fun classes to reach a high level of skill in their chosen trade.  At the beginning of their time in JYOTI, the young people try out each skill area before they choose one they will specialise in.

About half the training for each course takes place on-the-job, through placements with local employers.  The vocational training centre also has it's own ‘Mobile Technical Service' which gives trainees the chance to practice their electrical and plumbing skills.  Local people and organisations call the service if they need a plumber or electrician, and trainees respond to these calls with supervision from a skilled field trainer.  Income generated from this service is re-invested in the training centre.  Some trainees are able to go to morning classes at a government school to gain their school leaving certificate, with help from Sathi Nepal's education programme.  However, they also have to continue their vocational training during the day, so this option is only possible for the most talented trainees. 

 

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What support do trainees receive?

Social support

Because of the level of disadvantage and often trauma that the young people have experienced, they receive a high level of support.  They are constantly guided by Social Workers and Counsellors who help them to tackle their personal problems like insecurity and low self esteem, using both individual and group sessions.  Their training includes social classes and they discuss relevant topics such as hygiene, sex education, cultural issues, managing money and other life skills.  The trainees themselves have reported that the project as a whole makes a significant contribution to increases in their self-confidence, self esteem, motivation and social skills.

Medical care

An Asha Youth Health worker is based at the centre, providing clinical and emotional support to the students.  Please see Asha Health Care for further information.

Accommodation

The trainees mostly live in hostels close to the vocational training centre, and are supported by ‘hostel parents', as they have no relatives locally or no family connections at all.  Living with their fellow students helps to prepare them for a return to society. 

At the hostels, trainees can take part in many other activities which help improve their social skills and give them motivation:

• - Sport
• - Drama
• - Journalism club
• - Days out
• - Evening activities

They also have the freedom to spend their free time in the nearby town of Pokhara if they wish.

Citizenship

The courses are accredited by the National Government Body overseeing technical and vocational education, and the trainees sit skills tests set by this organisation.  However, to sit these tests they need citizenship, and this is a basic human right that many trainees do not have.  During their time at JYOTI, huge efforts are made to secure citizenship for each trainee.  This involves proving their birth, in a country where birth registration is rare, especially in rural areas, and traditionally has only been a father's right.  

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How are trainees involved?

Trainees are encouraged to participate fully in the management of the training centre, through a youth forum.  They discuss, for example, the rules of the centre, social activities, and suggested changes to the curriculum.  Ideas and suggestions from this forum are fed back to the overall management committee for the centre, through 2 trainee representatives who are part of the management committee.  There is also 1 trainee representative on the CWSN board.  On a day to day basis, the trainees help with the maintenance of the centre, through cleaning, gardening and cooking.  They also play an active role in promoting child rights and other advocacy projects, together with the JYOTI Street Project.      

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How do trainees re-integrate into the community? 

Employment and Business support

In their third year at the vocational training centre, trainees spend 3 months in a supported work placement.  They attend Job Counselling classes before starting their placement, which focus on increasing self awareness, understanding work ethics, and how to deal with problems at work.  A Job Counsellor offers regular counselling and help for graduate trainees to find employment, and many trainees also leave the centre early to take up permanent jobs with their work placement employers.  Some trainees move into jobs within CWS or its partners, for example a young man who has lived on the street may be trained to work as a peer educator with street children.  A few trainees have decided to set up their own business, with the help of start up grants from the Children's Development Bank, and advice from our staff.      

Accommodation

Wherever possible, graduate trainees are helped to move back to live with their families and communities.  They are viewed with a new found respect having gained skills and an education, giving them the potential to contribute to family income. 

Graduate trainees without a family to return to, are offered a place in one of our Midway Houses in the short term.  These rented houses provide accommodation in Pokhara, where trainees can learn to live independently with their peers and work to support themselves, whilst receiving support from a social worker to help them manage the move to self-sufficiency.  When they are ready, they move on to find their own independent accommodation, making space for other graduate trainees who need a place to stay.

The percentage of trainees re-integrating successfully is very high (80%), especially considering that trainees face many barriers to learning, often come from difficult or traumatic backgrounds, and live in a country of high unemployment.

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Lalit's story

Lalit is an orphan, who had to drop out of school at grade 2.  When he first started as an electrical trainee he could not read and write properly.  After a year at the centre, he has made remarkable progress and his level of achievement, particularly in mathematics, is very high.  Lalit himself explains his progress:

"I was very happy to come to this organisation and learn a vocational skill.  I was also equally worried for I had to study together with other students who were fast learners and had higher levels of education.  My mathematics teacher impressed me and encouraged me to study and work sincerely.  Then I started to labour hard.  Besides learning in the classes, I also used to ask for my friends who were in better studies and got help from them.  I never ignored and forgot to do the home-works and other assignments given by the teachers.  Slowly I improved my lesson.  I could learn and make progress in a short time especially in mathematics because I like the way math teacher teaches us.  She always starts lesson from the very basic level and take unit tests after each unit.   After the test, she revises the things that we could not do well.  This teaching strategy also supported me to learn fast."

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Manu's story

Manu came to the vocational training centre, following treatment and rehabilitation in hospital.  Her legs are paralysed, meaning she has to use crutches or a wheelchair, so she was afraid she would not be able to build up an independent and dignified life.  She worked extremely hard during her computer secretarial training, and with the support of teachers, social workers and a psycho social counsellor, she found new hope for her future.  After a very successful internship period in CWSN's Asha Clinic, she was offered a job (through a competitive recruitment procedure).  Manu is now doing fantastic work as a receptionist and administrator in the clinic, is a great colleague, and she is very proud and happy!

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Future plans

In November we are undertaking research to determine the longer term impact of the vocational training on our ex-trainees.  This will involve contacting ex-trainees and interviewing them about their experiences since graduating at the training centre.  We will also review the training courses and update the curriculum of each, and continue to improve the facilities at the centre.

We are fully committed to these young people, and we hope that by demonstrating their success, this project can be replicated elsewhere, creating a multiplier effect. We are more than willing to provide advice, expertise and technical support to others who want to achieve the same goals.