Country Profiles

Hungary

IYF and the Foundation for Democratic Youth (DIA) have been implementing Passport to Success since 2006. This program began with an intensive preparation phase involving curriculum development, teacher training and contacting potential schools in Western Hungary. The main objective was to reach secondary and vocational schools which do not offer any preparation for the job market and employment.

Additionally, two university teacher training colleges adapted the program to allow student teachers to gain university credit for delivering the life skills lessons in secondary schools as a practicum. This innovative approach gives the next generation of young teachers hands-on experience in using interactive teaching methodologies.

At present, over 480 secondary school teachers and student teachers have implemented the PTS program over three academic years, reaching over 5,000 secondary students.  A total of 150 community projects have also been accomplished through the service learning component.

India

IYF and Youthreach have collaborated since 2003 on implementing the Passport to Success model for Indian youth aged 14-24 years old. The program, which was renamed the Udaan Life Skills Program in India, targets vulnerable youth, including those from urban slums in government schools, job training programs for leprosy patients and their dependents, vocational training courses for out of school youth, such as street children, child laborers, and children affected by HIV/AIDS.

During the large scale-up phase starting in 2007, Youthreach concentrated on training Master Trainers, who could then instruct other facilitators on how to deliver the life skills course. To date, the Udaan Life Skills Program has trained 33 master trainers in each of the 24 youth-serving partner NGOs in Delhi, Bangalore & Hyderabad. The Master Trainers successfully trained 464 facilitators who subsequently utilized the curriculum to teach life skills lessons to over 21,600 youth.

Youthreach conducted a follow-up survey with 374 youth participants six months after they graduated from the program to track their progression. This survey found that 58% of respondents were continuing with their vocational skills training after attending the PTS program, and 38% had either found a job/internship, or had started their own enterprise. The majority of youth who found employment after graduating from the program indicated that they are performing better at their job, working more effectively in teams, and better understand how to behave in an office setting as a result of the PTS training.

Mexico

IYF and Rostros y Voces Foundation have collaborated on the Passport to Success program in Mexico since 2003, which is known as Ocupate. The beneficiaries were vulnerable out-of-school youth in Mexico City and in-school youth in San Luis Potosi, aged 15-21. The program highlights a focus on sustainability, as students in teacher training colleges were trained as trainers, and could then implement life skills lessons during their student teaching practicum.  In addition, Rostros Y Voces reached out to local government youth-serving agencies in Mexico City. To date, over 8,000 students have been reached by the program.  In addition, 12 Master Trainers were taught by the project, who then provided training to 241 student teachers and youth educators from 29 schools and youth-serving organizations. 

The results from the program evaluation demonstrated statistically significant increases of the level of students’ understanding and ability to use the targeted life skills.  PTS in Mexico appears to serve a socialization function for its participants, breaking down barriers not only between the youth participants, but also between participants and their peers outside of PTS and between participants and family members.  In the school environment, PTS has significantly contributed to reducing the conflicts common among students in Mexican schools.  A major innovation of Ocupate is using student teachers successfully to facilitate life skills lessons during their practicum exercises.  Targeting student teachers in universities is a way to reach a second cohort of young adults, while at the same time, equips the teachers of the next generation with interactive teaching methodologies. 

Morocco

The Passport to Success program in Morocco is focused on equipping at-risk and out-of-school youth aged 15-26 with marketable skills for successful integration into the job market. Based on a job market assessment that highlighted employers’ frustration with the lack of motivation and positive attitudes among young job seekers in Morocco, IYF worked with local educators to adapt the Passport to Success life skills curriculum to be used in the Moroccan context and translate it to Moroccan Arabic and French. The PTS Morocco program was piloted in 2006, starting with a small group of 50 unemployed school drop-outs from the slum neighborhoods of Casablanca. The training also included language and IT training.

The life skills training has resonated with youth and employers because of the valuable skill set and attitudes with which it has equipped youth. Based on the experience of this pilot, the program was then scaled up through the Ministry of Education’s network of vocational training centers in the region of Casablanca and coupled with technical training. As a result of these experiences, the program is currently being replicated in Northern Morocco and as part of job trainings for the tourism sector.

Poland

IYF and the Polish Children and Youth Foundation have partnered to implement the Polish edition of Passport to Success, known as the Trening Umiejętności Społecznych program, since 2005. In Poland, the program is carried out in professional schools and technical high schools in Gdańsk, Poznań and Łódź. The program targets developing skills in youth that will increase their future chances of becoming employable and finding jobs, and will have a positive influence on their private lives.

The Trening Umiejętności Społecznych program has incorporated 33 life skills lessons from the Passport to Success curriculum, in addition to the Service Learning component.  The highlight of the program for students in Poland has been the service learning projects. Service learning projects undertaken in Poland include a recording studio built in one of the schools in Gdansk, a prototype of a bicycle-powered cell phone charger, and self-confidence building activities organized for orphans. So far, around 4000 students and 146 teachers from over 30 professional schools and technical high schools in Gdańsk, Poznań and Łódź have participated in the program.

Tanzania

IYF and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) piloted Passport to Success in 20 Tanzanian primary schools in 2009. Funded by USAID and locally known as Stadi za maisha: Ufunguo wa masanikio, the program is offered after school and targets students in grades five and six in both rural and urban districts of the country. 32 lessons were adapted for Tanzanian primary students and translated into Kiswahili by IYF, in close consultation with the MoEVT, Tanzanian Institute for Education (TIE), and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE).

Stadi za maisha is part of a larger program known as Bridgeit Tanzania, or Elimu kwa Teknolojia, which uses innovative cellular and digital technology to transmit educational video content to schools in seven regions of the country. The project seeks to improve the quality of teaching and increase student learning gains by pairing the videos with learner-centered lesson plans and providing training and ongoing support to teachers. As part of the broader Bridgeit project, the life skills program incorporates short videos into the lessons in order to introduce difficult themes and encourage interaction and conversation among students and their teachers.

In 2010, the program will expand to 25 new schools and is expected to reach an additional 1,100 students.