Fundación Telefónica kicked off its 2015 online and classroom training programme for young people in February. Over the course of the year around 675 young people will be taking part with support from the different programmes Fundación Telefónica rolls out at a national level.

Training is completely free of charge and is focussed on two main themes: entrepreneurship and job skills, and includes 30 specific courses.

The aim of the training cycle is for young people taking the different courses “to develop technical and social skills and the attitude necessary to acquire knowledge and skills with the aim of providing society with well-rounded and high performing students who will have greater chances of continuing with their studies or finding work, thereby transforming their living standards”, said José Antonio Fernández Valbuena, Director of Fundación Telefónica El Salvador.

The entrepreneurship courses are aimed at teaching young people to identify business ideas, find the necessary seed capital and eventually start up business for themselves.

“We aim to equip young people with the tools necessary to improve their education and their standard of living”.

The job skills courses will included courses on computer repair and maintenance, financial education and career counselling. “The course looks very interesting, it’s going to be very useful. I want to open a bakery and I want to be the manager. I’m grateful to Fundación Telefónica for helping young people like us because we couldn’t afford it ourselves” said Andrés Francisco López Fuentes, one of the young people being trained.

As part of their job skills training, Fundación Telefónica aims to prepare young people for the digital world, therefore among the subjects covered will be Mobile Learning, IT Skills, Innovation and Leadership, and ICT, as well as teaching on values with Guías de Paz. “We aim to equip young people with the tools necessary to improve their education and their standard of living, acquiring more knowledge and experience through the different courses and improving their chances of finding work and their digital know-how”, added Fernández Valbuena.

The training programme is taking place in collaboration with several partners, among which are the Ministry of Work, different town councils and teaching institutions such as ESFE, and organisations like Casa Maya, among others.