USAID and AFP Crecer Support Training and Job Placement for Salvadoran Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2012-06-14
USAID Strategic Development Office: (503) 2501-3471
U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section: (503) 2501-2471
www.usaid.gov/sv

From left to right: Acting Director of the USAID Economic Growth Office, Tom McAndrews; Executive Director of AFP Crecer, Ruth del Castillo de Solóranzo; and the Director of the USAID Improving Access to Employment Program, Beto Brun.

SAN SALVADOR– The U.S. Government, through its Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a memorandum of understanding today between its Improving Access to Employment Program and the AFP Crecer company to finance training courses for youth. These courses seek to provide youth with the basic knowledge required by employers and, in this manner, facilitate job placement.

Through this new alliance, AFP Crecer will provide funds to carry out training courses from June to December of this year for 500 youth who are largely from at-risk backgrounds. These trainings, which also have financial support from USAID and the Salvadoran Institute for Professional Training (INSAFORP), will be oriented towards jobs in restaurant customer service, sales, and check-out lines. Additionally, AFP Crecer will orient the youth participants on the importance of retirement savings.

This alliance forms part of the “Jóvenes Comprometidos – Yo Hago la Diferencia” (Committed Youth – I Make a Difference) initiative, part of the USAID Improving Access to Employment Program, which has graduated over 727 youth since mid-2010, of which 488 have found jobs. These efforts are an important part of the Partnership for Growth signed between the governments of El Salvador and the United States, one of the main goals of which is to increase productivity and reduce crime in the country for the wellbeing of its people, especially those young people living in high-risk areas.

“I want to congratulate AFP Crecer for this demonstration of their corporate social responsibility, which reflects the high esteem and value that private businesses are showing in support of Salvadoran youth,” said Thomas McAndrews, Acting Director of the USAID Economic Growth Office in El Salvador.

AFP Crecer will hold talks about the importance of saving as a way to promote a culture of retirement savings.

Ruth de Solórzano, Executive President of AFP Crecer, said that for the institution, “This is a way of contributing to the improvement of living conditions for Salvadorans and generating employment; as a company we have always had the vision of helping future generations.”

The goal of the USAID Improving Access to Employment Program is to improve the supply of qualified workers to meet the private sector’s demand for labor. To achieve this goal, the program organizes trainings based on skills defined by the private sector, and also supports training for job counselors; it also focuses on improving labor market information systems.

The ceremony was celebrated with the participation of Mr. McAndrews, together with the Executive Director of AFP Crecer, Ruth del Castillo de Solóranzo, and the Director of the USAID Improving Access to Employment Program, Beto Brunn.