How Ambica Earned Her Job
Read All PostsWhen Ambica left school after grade 12, she was unsure about her future, and often expressed her anger and frustration to her peers. She was afraid to speak in public. She didn’t have a job. Today, now 21, she is a different person. After participating in a life skills class, which was part of a new job training initiative in Bangalore, India, Ambica is now working at a data entry firm where she uses the knowledge and skills she gained in the program. “I learned a lot of new things,” she says, “like how to behave at work, how to speak to my boss, how to resolve problems.” Ambica says that while she still gets nervous at times, she is far more able to deal with the challenges before her.
Ambica and thousands of young people like her have benefitted from participation in Passport to Success, a life skills and employability training program established by the International Youth Foundation and initially launched in India and Mexico in 2004. Funded with an initial US$1.2 million grant from GE, the program equips young people, ages 14 to 18, with a range of skills that will help them stay in school and get the education, professional skills, and confidence they need to succeed in life. The 81-lesson life skills curriculum, which promotes a range of personal competencies and employability skills that include communications, teamwork, cooperation, financial literacy, life planning, and decision making, has been adapted for use in numerous countries around the world, and has now been translated into 12 languages. To date, it has reached nearly 45,000 youth and more than 1,200 teachers and youth educators.
The impact on individual lives is not so easy to quantify. Perhaps as important as getting her first job is the hope that Ambica now has in her future. She is determined to go back to school so she can teach computer engineering, even if her parents discourage her from doing so. “Progress is made in your life every day, and I want to achieve my goal of having a career,” she says. “Once I reach that goal, I’ll set my eyes on the next one.”