Employability Program: building soft skills for life and work among Cambodian youth

Increasing the employability of Cambodian youth

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As many students have lost jobs and sources of income since the pandemic, JWOC has been putting a greater focus on preparing young people for an increasingly competitive job market by providing one-to-one support and through online career guidance curricula.

This commitment is part of:

Digital Skills for Decent Jobs for Youth

Entity

Journeys Within Our Community Youth organization, civil society, non-governmental, non-profit organization

Technical assistance, expertise and implementation

Sustainable Development Goals & targets

8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training
8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment

Achievement At Glance

Despite the great difficulty of the time, in December of 2020, 2021 and 2022 JWOC held graduation ceremonies for studnets in all our programs. These youths came out forecefully and confidently into an uncertain world and many of them have come out ahead of their peers because of the training and classes they experienced at JWOC. Studnets learned the skills and mindset to get ahead and most of them were able to find good work soon after completing our program.

The Expanded Employability Project has helped many of the most vulnerable students, the youths in our Better Futures post-High School program. In 2022, the project's pilot year, we found decent employment for 10 students. By the middle 2023, we seek to increase the number of employment opportunities to 60.

Key Highlight On Guiding Principle

JWOC is commited to the creation of decent jobs and improvement of work quality. We educate our students and partner employers about what the labor law says and what protections to provide and expect. Our graduates understand their value and know they should receive decent pay and conditions for their work, and we will only work with employers who can provide this. We have used our donations to expand our library collections, including several new computers and technical equipment. Our mission is to increase investment in youth capacity building and make JWOC the leading center for upskilling, personal and professional development in Siem Reap.

Similarly, in regards to gender equality, we promote the role of women in society and the workforce by pushing young women in our program to reach higher. Most years, we have between 60 and 75% female students enrolled in our programs. It is our duty to ensure these young women feel that the sky is the limit.

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JWOC invited alumni and representatives from partners across various sectors to support the program, with the goal of helping students develop skills in job-hunting, creating outstanding applications, identifying the key attributes based on the market demand, educating them about their employment rights, and building their confidence in the negotiation of wage and working conditions.

This program works predominantly with young people who have not engaged in JWOC programs. The networking process includes outreach to organizations from the private and the third sectors to promote the program. The support is provided to the youth free of charge, and several alumni and individuals will be volunteer mentors of the program. The frequency of the training is 3 hours per day, 4 days a week, for a 10 month period. The expected result is that students will secure employment opportunities, engage in ongoing learning and be active in their communities upon completion of the program.

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Deliverables and links to SDG targets

Progress: 187 young people trained in relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, ICT skills and soft skills

8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

Providing English, Digital Literacy and Financial literacy trainingS to Cambodian youth aged 15-30

BY: Dec 2021
Progress: 187 young people benefitted from employment services, including job search assistance, job fairs and career counselling

8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training

Tailored guidance for youth to stand out in a competitive job market.

BY: Dec 2021
Progress: 50 out of 50 young people whose working conditions improved, including working time and remuneration

8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment

Help Cambodian youth to understand their employment rights.

BY: Dec 2021

Start

01-Feb-2020

End

31-Dec-2021

USD 25,000

Estimated total value of the commitment

187

young people to benefit directly from this commitment

Target: Only young people 15-19, 20-24, 25-29

Primarily:

Young people in urban areas
Young women
Young men
Youth with disabilities
Low-income individuals
Young people with low levels of education and/or drop-outs

Challenges faced in implementation

Recently, University Scholarship students have been more difficult to fund individually. The cost of education has risen substantially alongside the cost of everything else. We have been looking for new sources of funding for these bright youths to complpete their 4 year commitment to professional and self-development. in 2023 we will start crowd-funding more scholarships, as opposed to fining indivdual donors. Also, until the Expanded Employability Project, the Better Futures program had a more difficult time keeping a high retention rate. The paid stipend has made a huge difference in maintaining students active in the program until the very end. the last difficulty in the program has been finding partner employers who