Job mentoring, training for disadvantaged young people

Vulnerable youths will be offered training and mentoring to be able to secure a job as part of a scheme piloted by the Malta Trust Foundation.

The Youth Employment Support Programme (YESP) will provide supported employment services for those who fall through the net.

It will help fill the gap the State may not be able to bridge, foundation president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said at the signing of three agreements with project backers.

The Gasan Foundation and the Melita Foundation are joint sponsors of this project, while Michael Evans, a top European support employment consultant, is also involved.

“There is a great need for such a service… There are numerous disadvantaged young people who want to work and this could be a great opportunity for them to get out of the downward spiral they got on through no fault of their own,” Evans said.

He added that employers are in business to make money and so have to be presented with opportunities that make business sense.

“My optimistic view is that everybody loves somebody who is trying to succeed against the odds; maybe I’m naive, but I believe that most will welcome the chance to help these vulnerable individuals" Evans said. 

The programme is intended to offer tailor-made plans to help vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals integrate into the mainstream workforce. 

The Malta Trust Foundation has also partnered with YMCA and the Maltese National Federation of the Friends and Pupils of Don Bosco to provide support and mentoring services to young people on the programme.

“This initiative will be instrumental in providing better life opportunities for those who are marginalised, excluded from society, without education, without job prospects, and those who have had a brush with justice,” Coleiro Preca said.