54 Young People Celebrate Completing the 2011 Youth Career Initiative in Brazil

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) November 22, 2011 - In October, seven full service hotels celebrated the graduations of 54 young people who have completed the 2011 Youth Career Initiative Programme (YCI) in Brazil. YCI is a six-month education and employability programme for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. First implemented in Brazil in 2005, the initiative empowers young people to make informed career choices and realize the options available to them, improving their employability and enhancing their long-term social and economic opportunities.

At ceremonies held in São Paulo Rio de Janeiro in October, the graduates were congratulated by relatives, members of the participating hotels, local partners and organizations that are interested in getting involved with the initiative.   Since then, 73 per cent of the graduates have already secured employment whilst another nine per cent have decided to continue with their education and won scholarships to attend technical courses. Most of those who have entered the job market now work in hospitality (most of them at the hotels where they were trained), with about five per cent of them gaining employment in administrative or sales roles within other sectors such as retail. This is a tangible illustration of YCI’s positive impact in transforming young people’s lives. Most of the remaining graduates are competing for places at Brazilian universities to start classes in January 2012.   One young graduate, Laiz de Almeida Rodrigues, 20, who trained at the Renaissance hotel in São Paulo not only won a place on a Hospitality course, but also secured a job as a trainee Sales Officer at Atlântica Hotels office. She commented: “During the interview I mentioned that I spent six months training at the Renaissance hotel. This experience gave me an advantage over other candidates and I got the job! My plan is to build my career in Atlântica Hotels.”   In Rio de Janeiro, the graduation ceremony was held at Senac, the National Commercial Training Service, a professional education institution that fully supports YCI’s aims. The event was organized by the YCI Operations Committee, comprised of HR staff from the participating properties: Copacabana Palace, JW Marriott and Sheraton Barra.   At the graduation in São Paulo, held at the InterContinental hotel, Mr. Francisco Garcia, Operations Director of the InterContinental Hotels Group for Brazil and General Manager of the property, commented: “It is very gratifying to be part of this initiative, because through it, we are able to track the growth of each of these young people, and with the help of our staff, we can provide them with a chance to enter the labor market. The hospitality industry is very promising and we are confident that if they are willing, with our help at the start, these individuals will have all they need to become great professionals”   At the event, Ms Priscila Costa, YCI Coordinator, Latin America announced that Aldeias Infantis SOS Brasil, a member of SOS Children’s Villages, is the new local supporting partner of YCI in São Paulo. This will involve supporting the Grand Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott Airport and Renaissance hotels to deliver the 2012 programme. Aldeias Infantis SOS is a non-profit organization that promotes actions to protect the rights of children, adolescents and young people through social community development activities. As YCI’s local partner, Aldeias will identify suitable candidates and assist the selection process, develop value-adding partnerships (through its local network of partners) to support the programme locally and monitor participants during and after the programme.   Ms Anne Laurentino, a YCI graduate of Sheraton Barra Rio de Janeiro, also explained what taking part meant to her: “I am very emotional today, because YCI really changed our lives. The hotel staff has given us experiences and skills that we will take with us for the rest of our lives.”   The Youth Career Initiative is delivered as part of the regular, day-to-day operations of a full-service hotel, since it is built on existing training and development courses the hotels regularly offer to their staff, and it is supplemented with external courses. This year, Brazilian YCI participants also benefited from a free Computer Course offered by NURAP, the Nucleus for Professional Learning in São Paulo, and CDI, Center for Digital Inclusion, in Rio de Janeiro, both non-for-profit organizations.    From its beginnings in Thailand in 1995, YCI has grown to become a unique education development programme operating around the world.  Its global network of hotels, non-profit organisations and public agencies, provides focus for the development of business social responsibility and a partnership model within the hospitality sector. YCI programmes have been implemented in Mexico, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Jordan, Brazil, Australia, Romania, Poland, Vietnam, Egypt, and new programmes are being planned for Kenya and India.
  Notes to Editors

• The Youth Career Initiative (YCI) www.youthcareerinitiative.org is a six-month education programme delivered in partnership with the international hotel industry that provides disadvantaged young people with life and work skills. YCI aims to empower young participants to make informed career choices and realise the options available to them, enabling them to improve their employability and enhance their long-term social and economic opportunities. The initiative has been in operation since 1995 and provides a practical platform for governments, companies, and non-profit organisations to work collaboratively towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – in particular poverty alleviation.

• For further information, please contact: Priscila Costa, YCI Programme Coordinator, International Business Leaders Forum
  T: 55 11 2308 5691, C: 55 11 8251 0901, E: priscila.costa@iblf.org

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