Salesian Institue Youth Projects

Salesian Institute for Youth in Cape Town, where young people from the townships learn skills so that they can then independently finance their lives by on their own e.g. as cooks, bricklayers, hairdressers, car mechanics, app programmers.

South Africa's youth are in crisis!

Protecting and improving the lives of young people is an important task in South Africa. In the Western Cape province, where we work, 44% of the population are young people under the age of 25, almost a third of them live in poverty and one in five suffer from severe deprivation.

Recent studies shows, that around 500,000 youth and children live on the streets in South Africa, which stands for 120,000 of them in the Western Cape Province alone. And the trend is accelerating.

The Salesian Institute serves vulnerable children and youth without regard to religion, race, gender or nationality. They taught the skills they need to stay out of danger, find good jobs and live happily ever after. The youth in danger are transformed into successful citizens.

Every year this is done for the 1,600 young men and women in their programs with a mix of basic education, vocational training as well as social skills.

The programs include:

• Classes for children and young people who have left school or who do not have the skills to have passed their A-Level exam.
• Profession classes based on the market demand for more mature young adults is to skill such as tiling, masonry, woodwork, PC repair and metalwork.
• Life skills classes for at-risk youth to teach confidence and social skills as well as basic home skills such as personal budgeting, hygiene and relationships
• Job search and placement services

 Program to support young people with training and documents to enable them to find employment in the fisheries