Sustainable Employment for Long-term Inclusion

Before the crisis generated by COVID19, Colombia had a poverty of 26.9% of the population. The effect of the pandemic will raise poverty in the country to 38%, which translates into around 5.6 million new people entering poverty. 19 million Colombians living in multidimensional poverty.

Effects of the pandemic on our adolescent mothers

In addition to the situations of extreme poverty, exclusion, biological, human and social vulnerability experienced by our adolescent mothers, we identify others such as:

• Increased suicidal ideation
• Domestic violence
• Depression
• Food insecurity

By not having a “safe territory” to attend to every day, a feeling of abandonment and hopelessness has been unleashed. In the Foundation they not only find the fundamental psychosocial care to create sustainable life projects, quality technical education, education in values, citizen awareness, the importance of the maternal role, the affective bond between mother and child, among other educational opportunities and job inclusion but also they find love, respect, and a safe place where they can develop their full human potential.

Now more than ever it is essential to invest in the comprehensive empowerment of women in order to repair the social disasters triggered by the pandemic.

SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL AND LABOR INCLUSION

More and better job opportunities in today's new market.

Due to the health crisis and the social crisis in the country, the Employment and Entrepreneurship Office has been affected in the workplace with fewer job opportunities for our adolescent mothers, Therefore, our mothers receive training courses and empowerment workshops according to the new job opportunities offered by the current market. We guarantee the participation of graduates in our training offer through flexible models and we have created other necessary spaces related to psychological support for those graduates who have presented emotional and family problems as a result of the pandemic.

During the months of June-September we have achieved:

We are generators of female labor

a) Jobs managed: 143

b) Permanent jobs: 86

c) Temporary jobs 36

d) Own management jobs: 12

• We identified 130 job opportunities.
• We manage 143 jobs, of which 130 adolescent mothers have worked in different jobs as kitchen assistants, waitresses, sales consultants, bakery assistants, cashiers, operators, therapists, bartenders, waitresses, stylists, receptionists, among others.
• We carried out the Labor Closet for the second time in Cartagena, 237 adolescent mothers graduates had the possibility of acquiring ideal pieces to look effective in their work environment.
• We achieved 100 new alliances with companies such as: Patprimo, D1 Stores, Hotel Casino Atlantic, Da Pietro Restaurant, Bakery By Gaga, Megatiendas, among others. • We are committed to our mothers and their employers, strengthening capacities for the new labor market, for this reason, the OEE has carried out 240 job follow-ups.
•  We adapt to the new job market and continue to strengthen the skills of our adolescent graduates (we have carried out 19 strengthening workshops and 5 empowerment courses)
• We held the Business Breakfast for the strengthening and generation of alliances and we had the participation of 16 companies. 
• We had the participation of 12 companies in our job fair where they announced the vacancies available to employ mothers of Juanfe

In Colombia, we have experienced 3 waves of infections that have exhausted health personnel, and even the most robust and specialized medical machinery has broken down. According to a study by the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Colombia is among the worst countries in handling the pandemic, only 3% of the population is vaccinated, and the economic and social effects continue to affect the most vulnerable populations. It is important to note that adolescent mothers who enter the Juanfe live in extreme poverty, are in situations of vulnerability and exclusion and therefore the effects generated by the pandemic have been much more accentuated in this population.

Even though the pandemic has endured over time, we have learned many lessons that have helped us improve our work.

In response to the pandemic and the needs of the current labor market, the courses and workshops organized by the Office of Employment and Entrepreneurship have focused on topics related to strengthening skills, handling office tools, writing and spelling, as well as the reinforcement of soft and administrative skills, increasing employment opportunities for graduated adolescent mothers and improving their performance and the quality of the work provided. Furthermore, we have made great efforts to strengthen our alliances with companies and start with dual training, that is, theoretical-practical training, where our adolescent mothers learn while generating labor experience.

During the months of January to May:

• We managed 63 formal jobs for our teenage mothers and identified 237 new job openings.
• We were able to establish 131 commercial alliances with important companies in the country such as Crepes & Waffles, Hotel Estelar, Hotel Hyatt, Mall Plaza Shopping Center, Cotecmar, Oil Tanking.
• We carried out the Juanfe Tour 2021, an event that had the participation of 15 companies. The results were positive, we were able to create alliances with companies from the public and private sectors to carry out workshops to strengthen and obtain employment for our adolescent mother
• We started with dual training with the Hotel Hyatt Regency Cartagena, where 5 teenage mothers in the internship stage are in the training process, generating work experience, in order to enrich their knowledge and strengthen their skills.
• Carry out 3 courses with the participation of 89 adolescent mothers and 21 workshops with the participation of 323 adolescent mothers.

The planning and execution of activities in virtual training and in alternation have continued according to the evolution of the health crisis. For this reason, Juanfe has continued to manage through donations, electronic devices (Tablets / Cell phones) and has provided data plans, ensuring training and continuous support for our adolescent mothers.