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Vocational Program
Following the success of the handicraft workshop, in 2007 we launched a vocational training program which aims to teach a younger age-bracket hand-weaving carpets. We devised this program as our research showed that Stabl Antar is young, with 63% of the population being under 25 years old. Hence targeting and investing in the youth is the window of opportunity for the whole region, equipping them with skills and improving their job opportunities is the only way out of the community’s sustained circle of poverty.
Number of people enrolled was 15 at the start of the program; this has now grown to 40. Ages of those enrolled range from 14-16 year old boys and girls who have dropped out of school and therefore haven’t completed their education. This makes it very hard to secure a respectable job and these children often end up as street kids, or become involved in illegal dealings not because they choose to but simply because there is no alternative.
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Why collaborate with a hand-weaving carpet factory?
To become proficient in hand-weaving carpets you need to start young which was an opportune way of keeping these children off the streets. The idea was that Stabl Antar Dream would invest in these youngsters, arrange for them to get trained up in a hand-weaving carpet factory, and hopefully by the end they could find work there and start earning good money. Those program participants who started in 2007 and have continued on until now have become very talented and are earning 60-70 L.E per week, which is expected to reach 200-250 L.E per week in three years time.
To encourage participation in the first place we provided some small monetary incentives and subsidised their transportation costs to the carpet factory. Similarly to the Community school we also provide them with one meal a day. These incentives are very important at first to encourage participation at least until they can financially support themselves. Depending on their age and skill level, this can take 3-5 years. In addition we provide these youngsters with 1.5 hour literacy class when they return home from the factory. Each person costs Stabl Antar Dream 260 L.E per month in transportation, incentives, meals and teaching costs.
Following the success of this program we are looking for other factories to collaborate with.
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