Training in hotel and restaurant management (kitchen courses, hotel management, bakery, etc.) has double advantage. On the one hand, the beneficiaries can use what they have learned in everyday life and on the other hand, they will more easily find a job in a sector, which, in the developing countries, often lacks qualified workers. Currently the most common outlets are first the restaurants and hotels; secondly, the caterers, bakeries and cake shops; finally, the hospitals, communities and snack bars.

These courses are usually difficult to set up because the vocational education costs are in general extremely high (particularly industrial and hotel management training). You only have to compare the official budgets dedicated to it in Europe to understand that it is almost impossible for the developing countries to reach the required level or even to keep pace with the ever-changing technology. Nevertheless, there are some solutions in order to reach self-sufficiency as our partner has proved it with the Foundation Al-Kafaàt in Lebanon.

Al-Kafaàt: A better start in life

Created in 1957, the Foundation Al-Kafaàt is an organisation whose mission is to integrate disadvantaged young people into the society through vocational training.

The hotel sector is an attractive market niche for the target population and it is an expanding business in Lebanon. This project particularly stresses self-financing training facilities. The Foundation Al-Kafaàt and ACTEC have created the concept of School-Company that combines educational programs with mass marketing. Thanks to an educational and professional staff, our Schools-Company provide both vocational training and a large production volume. ACTEC and Al-Kafaàt believe that the most effective way to maintain an enhancing-status training must be based on a self-financing principle.

Besides the essential financial contribution, the daily production rate enables the beneficiaries to get used to the working system of the companies in the food sector. This constitutes an additional asset for finding a job at the end of the training.

In concrete terms, in our project, the School-Kitchen covers 2.120m² and has achieved the following results:

• 500 students attend intensive training courses (900 hours per year) in equipped workshops. These students are divided into different academic courses that take into account their level of education. It is a matter of fact that many young people who can not study in secondary schools need appropriate vocational training;
  
• The integration of 60-70 disabled young people in the training and production activities each year;
  
• Every day, the students and some salaried workers prepare 1,500 meals, so cook-chill lunches and dinners are produced for the beneficiaries from the other centres of Al-Kafaàt (centres for disabled people, centres for disadvantaged people) and to the halls of residence.
  
• The marketing of foodstuffs in communities (such as vacuum-packed refrigerated food, sandwiches, salads).

The profits of the production activities have permitted to finance a large part of the training activities.

The emphasis is placed on understanding and tolerance. ACTEC and Al-Kafaàt recommend a vocational training open to every Lebanese communities: Moslems, Christians, and Druzes. Thus, they meet in the classrooms and work together in the workshops. They learn to know better, like and respect each other.