Areas of Focus: Economic well-being

Economic well-being embraces the principles of access to decent, dignified, and safe work at fair wages, and knowledge and ability to make and implement decisions on financial and other resources. We support local organisations that enable young people to build assets and a range of knowledge-based, technical, practical, and social skills; and to have primary decision-making power over their economic resources.

Examples are:

  • workforce and career counselling, mentoring and coaching 
     
  • entrepreneurship skills training
     
  • employability training and job placement
     
  • non-traditional income generation for young women
     
  • financial literacy
     
  • financial services, resources, savings capability, and asset-building
     
  • critical thinking, communication, and other job-readiness skills
     

Our aims are to:

  • Enhance employability and job-readiness
     
  • Increase financial literacy
     
  • Help young people build assets, such as saving for the future or accessing microcredit where appropriate
     
  • Prepare youth to grow their potential through self-employment, entrepreneurship, or vocational skills
     
  • Open new horizons, such as training in nontraditional fields like construction work for young women
     
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Our Grantee Partners’ Work in Economic Well-Being

Know One, Teach One (KOTO), Vietnam

The number of children and youth on the streets in Vietnam, particularly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, is a pressing issue. Young people end up on the streets after escaping broken families, domestic abuse, or as a means of earning an income for their families. They are left without necessary care or support, and are often vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. An ‘invisible’ population, these young people are the hardest to reach.

Know One, Teach One (KOTO) seeks to empower street and at-risk youth in cities and rural communities to live a life of dignity and independence. KOTO encourages youth to join a 2-year residential training programme in hospitality, which combines vocational skills with personal development, and offers participants the opportunity to work in hotels and restaurants after completing the programme. Through their Social Enterprise, KOTO runs two restaurants and catering services that students can train and work at. Youth also gain financial literacy, education on sexuality, and English language skills.

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