Developing countries have very young populations with insufficient access to vocational training. The government are unable to assure a minimum of vocational training to their growing population. Our solidarity is thus essential. ACTEC intends to contribute to the training of the younger generations in developing countries that also have the right to an education and a better future.

The training courses that are offered are diverse: mechanics, computer studies, electrical engineering, etc. A course program is established for each option and qualified professors and instructors are hired by our partners. We encourage our partners to have regular contact with labour market so that they may have a good knowledge of what enterprises need.

ITT: A better start in life

Our partner IIT (Institute for Industrial Technology) has set up a 3-year electromechanical engineering training program for young people in Nigeria. The first year only consists of courses in the training centre (theoretical and hands-on). In the second and third years, the beneficiaries have to do placements, which represent 50% of the time of their training. These training courses aim to both specialise students in their chosen fields and prepare them for the day-to-day working conditions of their future professions. The young people also have the advantage of coming into contact with the companies allowing them to find a job more easily.

These placements are an important test for ITT as their main objective is to promote the training of disadvantaged young people so that they can find a job. IIT has taken on a significant challenge: it is not easy to connect young people who have dropped out of school with the business world. Nevertheless, it seems that they have achieved their goal: both students and the companies are very satisfied. These results are encouraging. The students have been allowed to join the working teams and the companies are already very happy with their level of training. Whereas it had been very difficult to find placements for the students of the 2nd year for the academic year 2002-2003, it is now the companies that ask ITT to accommodate some students next year. This allow us to forecast good prospects for the future of this program.

In 2002, 132 people took part in the training courses organised by ITT.