Skills training enables young people to earn their own livelihoods

Since 2009, water fittings manufacturer GROHE has cooperated with Don Bosco Mondo e.V. with a view to helping young people better their lives. To date some 780 young people in Mumbai, India, have been given the opportunity to start a new life as a result of this collaboration. The successful GROHE Dual Tech aid project has now also been launched in Manila-Tondo in the Philippines, where a new training facility was opened on 24 October.

A proven concept rolled out to a new location

“Today is an important day for all of us,” said GROHE Management Board member Michael Mager on the occasion of the inauguration. “In the six years that have passed since we launched our partnership with Don Bosco Mondo e.V. in India, we have achieved a lot and learned a lot. Our work has borne fruit and demand for our trained and skilled plumbers is huge. We now want to continue this strategy in the Philippines and offer apprenticeships to the young people of Manila-Tondo to give them a genuine chance to earn a living from skilled work. At the same time, our local partners will benefit from the availability of professionally trained plumbers.”

The inauguration ceremony, during which the building was blessed and a ribbon cut, was organised jointly by the Salesians of Don Bosco and GROHE together with apprentices from other disciplines of the Don Bosco Youth Center in Manila-Tondo. Besides the new Plumber Training Programme, the Center already offers apprenticeships in other fields, from mechanical and electrical engineering to accounting, home economics and hospitality, as well as milling, turning and welding. The ceremony was attended by guests from the local business and academic communities as well as the German Ambassador, Thomas Ossowski, and representatives of the German Chamber of Foreign Trade.

The way to independence

The project aims to enhance the professionalism of the local plumbing trade. To achieve this, GROHE Dual Tech offers a high-quality training programme leading up to NC II qualification. The programme not only supports the apprentices but also addresses the lack of skilled labour while at the same time helping to advance the industry. Direct cooperation with local companies helps young people find employment right after finishing their training, making their future more secure.

Says Christian Osterhaus, Managing Director of Don Bosco Mondo: “We are happy to offer these new training programmes in Manila-Tondo, a place that is known throughout the world for poverty and adverse living conditions. We give young people the chance to train and enhance their skills in order to compete successfully in the local labour market, to earn their living and to become active members of society.”

The programmes of GROHE Dual Tech in the Philippines are targeted at socially disadvantaged people aged 17 to 25 who are unable to obtain vocational training otherwise. Courses start twice a year with some 30 participants each and comprise a 12-month apprenticeship at the Training Center including a 6-week internship at a GROHE partner company. Thanks to their widely recognised graduation certificates, the young plumbers are not confined to the partner companies after finishing their training but can apply for a job with any other firm.

Assured quality of training

Besides the annual programmes, GROHE Dual Tech offers short-term training courses for assistant plumbers as well as further training courses comprising customised modules for young employees of construction and plumbing companies. “Train-the-trainer” courses and other targeted measures are organised to assure the quality of these courses. Participating companies benefit from regular visits by GROHE field representatives providing face-to-face advice and support as well as GROHE materials and training aids.

GROHE Dual Tech is a develoPPP.de project. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) fosters the involvement of the private sector at the point where business opportunities and development policy initiatives intersect. The programme is put into practice by Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) on behalf of the BMZ. DEG promotes business initiatives in developing and emerging countries and finances sustainable investments.

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