Global skills push

More children should receive skills training say campaigners

Young people are being urged to join a campaign to call for better training in vocational skills for children in developing countries.

A development agency in Britain has teamed up with Sweden on a project designed to galvanise school-aged children into campaigning for improvements in the education of children in the world's poorest countries.

Y Care International, which is the development arm of the YMCA movement, has joined up with the YMCA of Sweden in a project which has attracted funding from the European Union.

The organisation is hoping youth groups in its local branches will lobby the UK government - and the governments of developing countries - to put a higher priority on skills training in the third world.

Fight against poverty

Y Care's development education officer, Sarah Leonard, said vocational training was essential in the fight against poverty in developing countries.

"Basic education is vital of course, but it can't be the only thing. People have to find a way of earning a living," she said.

"We argue that there needs to be a higher programme that can give people independence."

The project has attracted £100,000 of funding per year for three years from the EU, and Y Care has also contributed funds.

One of the aims is to link youth groups in the UK to some in the developing world, so they can share campaign work and have exchange visits.

Developing world

The director of Y Care, Dr Chris Beer, said: "Young people in the developing world face huge challenges unknown to previous generations.

"There are families devastated by Aids, rising youth unemployment, and a mass exodus from rural to urban areas.

"When young people have had the chance to speak out, education, training and employment have emerged as their main concerns."

Under the programme, youth groups in YMCAs are being sent action packs designed to inform them about the lives of children in poor countries and information on how to mount campaigns.

A web-site on the project is also in the pipe-line.