Posted on January 26, 2011

New Project Will Provide Job Training to Haitian Youth

The Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank has announced $4 million in funding to launch a job training project for nine thousand unemployed and out-of-school Haitians.

At an estimated cost of $9.3 million, the Haiti Youth Reconstruction Academy project will provide men and women between the ages of 15 and 24 with six months of intensive job training, mentoring, life skills development, and literacy and numeracy courses. Trainees also will receive a stipend for participating in community construction projects such as rebuilding houses, schools, or sanitary blocks. To promote financial responsibility and management skills, the project will award matching funds, on a 2:1 basis, in a savings account that the trainees can access upon graduation.

The four-year project will work to establish partnerships with local governments, businesses, and organizations to recruit mentors for its trainees and find internship and employment opportunities for graduates. In addition, the twelve community-based centers where the training will take place will receive funding to improve their facilities, equipment, and operations.

Massachusetts-based YouthBuild International, which has a track record of success in training unemployed young adults, will support the design and implementation of the project. The project itself will be managed by IDEJEN, a Haitian nongovernmental organization. Other partner organizations include the MasterCard Foundation, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Education Development Center, and Catholic Relief Services.