Sustainable Employment for Long-term Inclusion

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.

During the course of 2020, the Office of Employment and Entrepreneurship (OEE) witnessed many consequences that directly affected our graduates and allied companies as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, among which we find:

• Unemployment
• Changes at work
• Voluntary retreats
• Domestic violence, suicidal ideas, depression, sexual abuse, mood swings among others.

The OEE constantly offered training workshops and courses for them to be able to keep their minds occupied in training that would allow them to be more competent in the job market, as well as topics to overcome the emotional problems that surrounded the situation of being unemployed, inactivity, financial problems, and fear of catching the virus

Assuming this big challenge, OEE invested in the purchase of connectivity data packet recharges during the year to support the training processes of young people who did not have Wi-Fi in their homes and who wanted to learn.

It is highlighted that the year 2020 was the opportunity to experience new, more creative, and resilient pedagogies that achieve amazing results:

• We approached 250 companies in the city and we identified a total of 853 job opportunities.
• Dual Vocational Training with the participation of 20 people among teachers, Juanfe administrative staff, and businessmen interested in establishing or strengthening alliances with the OEE.
• Job fair that was held virtually by the Q10 application which had the participation of 5 companies and 125 graduates, the hiring of 8 young people and the completion of 3 tailor-made training offered by them.
• The Give It 4ward foundation financed 10 business plans for young graduates of the Juanfe Foundation, 5 in Cartagena and 5 in Medellín,
• A “Juanfe Entrepreneur Seedbed” was consolidated with the enrollment of a total of 50 young graduates. 10 of them were present at the Entrepreneurs Fair at the Mall Plaza shopping center, where they had the opportunity to publicize their business ideas, improve the quality of their products, generate income and expand the number of clients
• The 9th meeting of Juanfe graduates took place virtually on the social network Facebook and was broadcast at the Mall Plaza shopping center. 350 young people attended online and 1,684 comments with positive messages for the activity.
• Strengthening workshops to increase the competitiveness of the graduates. A total of 66 workshops for personal and technical strengthening were offered, achieving the attendance of 958 young graduates obtaining 479% of the achieved goal.
• 60 scholarships in technical and technological careers were awarded under the agreement with SENA
• During the last quarter, a total of 1,547 aid was delivered, including vouchers in chain stores (Éxito and Megatiendas) and physical food delivered in Juanfe supplied by different allies.