Hotels take up Unicef training

Hotels take up Unicef training

Companies flock to help needy youths learn new skills

The Youth Career Development Programme (YCDP) has been built on the philosophy of forging partnerships to achieve self-reliance for the needy.

Unicef initially sponsored the programme in partnership with the Pan Pacific Hotel in 1995.

At the start, Unicef funded the YCDP which has over the years been joined by more hotels eager to find apprentices from underprivileged youngsters in rural areas.

The programme targets poor and needy youngsters in remote communities who may be vulnerable to human trafficking or exploitation.

The programme also helps finance the dreams of many young people whose families are too poor to send them to college.

After the hotel training, many youngsters are employed as permanent staff of the host hotels and with the money they earn, they can pay their way through tertiary education.

The youngsters chosen for the programme - extended to high school graduates regardless of gender who are 17 years or older - mostly come from low-income families in poor, remote provinces of the North, Northeast and the far South.

In the beginning, Unicef took the role of more or less a chaperone bringing in the hotels to scout for trainees, many of whom had gone on to become their permanent staff.

However, the international organisation's intention was for the private sector to eventually take over ownership of the programme.

In the early years, Unicef provided full funding for the YCDP, including training, transport and accommodation costs. In 2008, Unicef asked the hotels to take over these costs as part of their training budget and corporate social responsibility.

"The programme is now entirely funded by the companies themselves, which has allowed it to grow," said Andrew Morris, Unicef Thailand's deputy representative.

"This is a much more sustainable model."

The hotels work closely with the Education Ministry as most of the trainees are chosen from the Rajaprajanugroh Foundation and Welfare schools which have been established for underprivileged students in various provinces.

According to Unicef, every year human resources personnel of the host hotels travel to the Rajaprajanugroh schools for trainee recruitment.

Before the staff arrive, education counsellors familiarise the students with the programme and seek out those interested in joining the YCDP.

The hotel staff conduct interviews with interested students and select the ones who are ready to be trained.

The hotels pick for training youngsters in dire need of assistance and who lack the opportunities to pursue higher education.

The training course provides the disadvantaged young people with hands-on occupational lessons as well as life skills in living and surviving on their own in the hectic and unfamiliar environment of the capital.

At the hotels, the youngsters hop from department to department to get an overview of the hotel operation.

They are trained in housekeeping, laundry, food and beverages and also in English skills.

At the end of the course, many trainees gain employment at the host hotels or other hotels.

Last year, eight trainees landed jobs at the host hotels thanks to their participation in the YCDP.

A similar Unicef-inspired training programme will soon be created in partnership with banks and hospitals.

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