Vocational Training for Young People in Brazil

DLW is a Norwegian NGO, and our mission is to give brazilian young adults, from less developed areas, fair opportunities for a better future, through education and employment.

Introduction

The new year of 2019 arrived and with it came many new features from the first quarter of Dream Learn Work. Several events and memorable moments have already happened and we will present them here for you. Enjoy!

JANUARY

Graduation Ceremony – Class of 2018 

Thursday, January 17th, Dream Learn Work held its annual graduation ceremony at Kincaid’s office in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Participants that completed a course in 2018 celebrated with our corporate partners, educational institutions, NGO’s, volunteers, family and DLW friends. The event was a success, great energy, beautiful venue offered by Kincaid, amazing breakfast buffet by Salsalito, sponsored by Equinor and gifts to the participants sponsored by DNB. The Norwegian Consul, Sissel Hodne Steen, spoke to our graduates. Thank you to all that came to celebrate. Special thanks to our partners Kincaid, Equinor and DNB for contributing! Events like these are essential to our participants, to continue to motivate them to study, aim further and change their future. We were happy to see that so many partners could come and get to learn a bit more about our participants and their stories. Congratulations to all the graduates!

DLW Recruitment - Abrigo Rainha Sílvia

On Tuesday, January 29th, the two Dream Learn Work Coordinators, Yasmim Nogueira and Jhonantan Mier, visited one of our partner NGOs, Abrigo Rainha Sílvia, for the first recruitment of the year.

Abrigo Rainha Sílvia is a shelter for pregnant women and their kids, in Itaboraí, outside of Rio de Janeiro. The shelter has functioned for over 25 years. It is a shelter, but urges to do more than just sheltering women. They prepare women for the future, through studies and preparations for independent living. The goals are long term, but distinct; to help the women to help themselves, and hence to change their future and their kids.

The coordinators reserved for the morning the follow-up of the academic and vocational trail, with each participant, privately, that was already a DLW recruit. In the afternoon, they left the time to present DLW to the candidates and also the recruitment selection process of new youngsters.

These recruitments are a great opportunity to exchange experiences among participants, local employees and recruiters, as well as being a moment in which dreams are exposed and the expectations generated for a possibility of access to vocational education, training and entry into the labor market to improve life quality for participants and their families through education and employment.

Thank you for the reception and for the beautiful work done at Abrigo Rainha Sílvia! We are very happy and proud of our partnership!

Good Deeds Day 2019

Annually, DLW takes part in the international event Good Deeds Day, arranged in Brazil by Atados. This year’s NGO fair (RJ edition), will be held on Sunday, April 7th, at Pq. Garota de Ipanema — an amazingly beautiful venue for this type of event. Near one of the most famous beaches in the world! A great opportunity to promote our NGO and for visitors and general public to understand the importance and impact of our social work!

The fair is meant to be a bridge between volunteers and NGOs. People who would like to volunteer simply go around from stand to stand to learn about the different organisations and pick the one they find interesting or can identify themselves with. Then, they sign up and offer volunteer work for the NGOs through Atados’ website.

During the week after the fair, all the NGOs that took part arrange social actions so the volunteer can participate in their work. We will have our Good Deeds Day action on Wednesday, April 10th, at Aterro do Flamengo, where we will gather volunteers representing various professions with participants, so they could exchange experiences and learn how to enter the labour market through your network.

This year, DLW participated in 3 meetings before the NGO fair day and the social actions week of good deeds, after the fair. The purpose of these meetings was to promote and enable participating NGOs to reach a larger audience and to optimize the tools for that reach! We really liked this initiative from Atados. The DBA launch meeting, the action creation and planning meeting, and the mentoring & communication workshop, had a huge importance so that we could make our participation the best as possible!

Thank you Atados for this initiative and partnership!

FEBRUARY

DLW Recruitment - Projeto Karanba

February 21st, was visitation and recruitment day for new participants at our NGO partner, Karanba. In the morning, we set aside the time for individual follow-up of the already recruited from Dream Learn Work - DLW and also check the current professional and academic track record of each of our young adults recruits. We took a look at the completed courses, the status of those that are in progress and the search for new courses and continuous overall improvement.

All this, aiming for the best training and qualification of those involved, so that, more and more, they can get closer to their respective dreams and goals! In this process of accompanying young people, we also always have had the help and participation of the highly qualified Karanba professionals.

Our partner NGO has a team of distinguished professionals, such as pedagogues, anthropologists, physical educators, social workers, administrators and other professionals whom are present in the daily life of these young people and know the local reality. This, in itself, already helps us a lot in a collective construction so that we can best fulfill DLW's mission, which is to give young people, from less developed areas, fair opportunities for a better future, through education and employment.

In the afternoon, we left reserved to carry out our traditional recruitment for new participants at DLW. In this first recruitment of 2019 in Karanba, we had the participation of 27 members of the social project of São Gonçalo. All competing for 10 spots to join in our project as well.

DLW recruits its participants through local social projects based on age (18 to 25 years old), education, and socioeconomic criteria. And our philosophy is based on three pillars:

(i) Dream: Inspire young people dream and create expectations about their futures;

(ii) Learn: Sponsor qualification and vocational training courses. We organize and deliver workshops for the development of skills, as well as individual support for engaged and motivated youth;

(iii) Work: Connect program participants with large companies, organize orientation programs, curriculum building workshops, research and interview training.

Good luck to whom showed interest and that have already taken the first step in the pursuit of their dreams and in a better perspective of life through access to education, training and employment!

The day after our recruitment process and follow-up visit, Dream Learn Work and Karanba’s partnership made it on the local newspaper, O Fluminense. Click here for  the newspaper link.

Formal employability

Our participant recruited from our partner NGO Karanba, Wendell De Lima Barreto, last year got a scholarship in Electrical Engineering at UNISUAM and recently has started to formally work in his professional field area.

DLW is happy to inspire socially vulnerable young people to dream and aim higher. We support professional qualification and vocational training in a wide range of areas at recognized educational institutions.

Our mission is to provide youth from less developed areas opportunities for a better future through education and employment.

The best of luck for you Wendell! Keep up with the great work and dedication!

Human Development Course

We would like to highlight and thank the commitment and dedication of the two wonderful instructors, in our Human Development course, in partnership with SENAI (National Service of Industrial Learning. It is a private Brazilian institution of public interest, non-profit. Its main objective is to support 28 industrial areas through the training of human resources and the provision of technical and technological services).

The positive feedback from our participants on learning throughout the course is immeasurable. Please continue to inspire, motivate and collaborate with the learning of these young people in general, and especially of our young women. We need, more and more, empowered, qualified women who seek their dreams through education and employment. Thank you for supporting our mission to provide fair opportunities for young people from less developed areas!

DLW wants to continue to awaken everyone's dreams, young people in general, and especially women. We want to continue to encourage and inspire these young women to feel more and more engaged, deserving and belonging to the access and permanence in the labor market, which unfortunately is still predominantly male and transmits little representation to women in general, especially to black women. The course began on December 27th and went until February 21st. With meetings on Tuesdays, at the SENAIs unit of Vicente de Carvalho. During the course, the participants performed a series of activities such as job interview simulations, CV training, workshops with human resources professionals, as well as discussing various current topics on labor market posture, ethics and citizenship, etc.

Thank you SENAI for this partnership and all of our DLW participants for one more importante course in their lives!

Maritime Agent

We congratulate ALL of our 20 DLW participants who took the test and were able to succeed in the Maritime Agent 2019 - YOUNG TALENTS OF NAVIGATION test! The inaugural class happened on February 11th and classes will be held from 6pm to 9pm. Mondays thru Thursdays.

The tests were applied at the Headquarters of the Union of Maritime Navigation Agencies and Related Activities of the State of Rio de Janeiro - SindaRio (www.sindario.com.br) and the institution responsible for the selection was Instituto Mar e Portos - IMAPOR (www.imapor.org.br).

Students will receive a scholarship assistance during the course, digital material, english classes, as well as being prepared, throughout the course, to follow the career of a maritime agent! As well as discussing various topics on occupational health and safety, port state control, interface of the maritime agent and the ship visitors, etc., students will also have ethics and citizenship along the course.

The agent is the indispensable element for the operation of any merchant ship that climbs a port. He or she is the professional who assists the ship's commander to comply with all legal requirements of the port in order to allow the ship its operation. More than that, the shipping agent becomes a partner of the ship's crew, providing solutions to a huge list of demands, many of them from last minute orders.

Approximately 90% of our foreign trade flows by sea, all this passes through the capable hands of the maritime agent!

Another partnership and opportunity that DLW has been able to increasingly offer young Brazilians from less developed areas a fair chance to fight for a better future through education, professional qualification and employment! Thank you SindaRio and IMAPOR for this partnership! Congratulations and good luck, future maritime agents!

MARCH

WISTA BRAZIL - Women’s Day Forum

On March 13th, Wista Brazil hosted its AGM and the Wista Brazil Forum "What Moves, Inspires and Motivates us?" which took place at the CEMOI Auditorium, at the Naval Warfare School in Praia Vermelha. The Forum had presentations and participations, from Wista Brazil, Alumni PPGEM (Postgraduate Studies in Maritime Studies of the Naval War School of the Brazilian Navy), Dream Learn Work and Equinor. It was a wonderful event celebrating the International Women's Day!

Formed in 1974, the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA International) is a global organisation connecting female executives and decision makers around the world. WISTA International serves as a connector for its network of more than 3,000 female professionals from all sectors of the maritime industry.

More than 40 countries support a National WISTA Association (NWA), each of which in turn is a member of and is guided by WISTA International. NWAs provide in-country and regional networking, business and skill building opportunities, corporate visibility, and also facilitate relationships within the industry.

On a global scale, WISTA members have access to an incredibly diverse network of executives in the shipping and trading field on whom they can call for referrals, connections, advice or business collaborations

DLW wants to continue to awaken everyone's dreams, young people in general, and especially women. We want to continue to encourage and inspire these young women to feel more and more engaged, deserving and belonging to the access and permanence in the labor market, which unfortunately is still predominantly male and transmits little representation to women in general, especially to black women.

This, in itself, already helps us a lot in a collective construction so that we can best fulfill DLW's mission, which is to give young people, from less developed areas, fair opportunities for a better future, through education and employment.Thank you Wista Brazill for the invitation and for providing a day of networking, knowledge and experience exchange, and such sense of representativeness for women. It sure was an inspiring day for all of our participants there.

Visit at DNB Brazil

On March 22nd, we took some of our DLW participants to visit the facilities of Den Norske Bank. DNB is one of Dream Learn Work’s founders, together with DNV-GL, DOF, Jotun, Kongsberg, and Vard. We are hugely grateful for still having a strong relationship after 13 years together. During this visit, Claudio Goulart, from DNB Brazil, once again welcomed our youngsters with the kindness and attention they have always had.

Claudio began the presentation by asking about the trail of each participant so that everyone could hear and share their respective experiences and perspectives for the future and the role of DLW in making these dreams possible. Then the DNB Brasil representative spoke about the bank's history and trajectory and its operations.

After all the introductions, the DLW participants attended a presentation about investments. The participants were very involved in the subject proposed and presented and they had several doubts on the subject. In the end, we performed a small group recreational activity of annual spreadsheets with different fictitious forecasts of different types of investments that were discussed in the presentation. Students had to work together to make the best collective decisions, and increase their initial profitability. At the end of the exercise, we all left happy with the results and learning of the day.

We must always engage and motivate our participants, and this bridge with our partner institutions, also through diverse activities, is a great way to achieve our goals together. The collaboration of our corporate partners, through sharing experiences and volunteering for activities such as: CV workshop, technical visits, mentoring or knowledge sessions, etc. has a major social impact.

Thank you once again, DNB and Claudio Goulart for providing us with another valuable and important day in our mission to help young Brazilians from less developed areas to have a fair chance for a better future. Through support in professional qualification and continuing education.

These were our new features from the first quarter of Dream Learn Work. Much more to come in our next report. Thank you once again for all your support!!

Dream Learn Work 6th Report on Global Giving

Dream Learn Work’s mission is to give youth from less developed areas opportunities for a better future through education and employment.

Introduction

2018 flew by! We have participated in a number of events and activities and have a lot to share. This report outlines Dream Learn Work`s activities on the fourth quarter of last year.

2018 Courses

Dream Learn Work recruits participants from social projects that work in less developed neighborhoods. These local projects contribute in the completion of basic education and the development of life skills. Dream Learn Work offers the next step: professional skills development and the support to enter the formal job market. Our amazing (and small) team have recruited 52 new students this year. These participants have received guidance and had their educational path prepared with the support of the NGO they are linked to. In total we have 111 participants enrolled in our program, some are at the end of their educational journey and starting to work and change their futures.

DLW has developed a model for training that all participants need to follow. They need to demonstrate motivation and dedication to complete each level and proceed to the next.

Level 1 - Basic knowledge and introduction to a subject. Aim: Assess skills and motivation. 2018: 60 courses committed.  

Level 2 - Longer courses, following the introductory course. Aim: Prepares for an entry level position in a company and to follow on to a technical course. 2018: 25 courses committed.

Level 3 - Vocational training course. Aim: attain a recognised professional qualification. 2018: 1 committed.

Level 4 - University degree - 14 students enrolled through scholarships or public universities.

OCTOBER

DNB Rio de Janeiro Oil & Gas event
In October, Dream Learn Work was invited to DNB’s (Den Norske Bank) Rio Oil & Gas event, in Rio de Janeiro. DNB’s Global Head of Ocean Industries, and ANP Director, presented Brazil’s oil and gas perspectives. DNB is one of Dream Learn Work’s founders, together with DNV-GL, DOF, Jotun, Kongsberg, and Vard. We are hugely grateful for having a strong relationship after 12 years together. DNB Brazil’s representatives, thank you for the opportunity to present our organisation at this event. In addition, our participant Rafael was selected for an internship at DNB Luxembourg last year, with an extension of one year for his great performance. Opportunities like this are life changing to our participants. “Luxembourg is completely different to what I am used to. Here there is better economy, education and health care. And here I can gain experience that will be of great use later”, says 28-year-old Rafael. Rafael’s journey with DNB started through a mentoring program with Arne-Christian, former leader for DNB Brazil, where he was introduced to the labour market with an impression from the banking industry. “Rafael is doing a great job with us and gets help to make a better life for himself. This is a story where everyone is a winner,” says Arne-Christian about Rafael’s time in Luxembourg.

Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Dream Learn Work

Also in October, we set up an event with some of our partners at the head office of Dream Learn Work, in Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro. It was a day with a lot of sharing and learning! As our name indicates, Dream Learn Work encourage three aspects of the youngster’s development: dreaming, learning, and working. The workshop was related to the work pillar, focusing on the importance of social networking and entrepreneurship.

We were lucky to have Line and Carolina, from Mandorla, a digital marketing company, with us. They walked us through the business-oriented social network LinkedIn, which nowadays is an important job hunting tool. Before the event, we asked all DLW participants to sign up to the platform – then, during the presentation, they learned many tips to increase their profile and use the tool. After that, the students heard a little about the entrepreneurship experience of Bruna, from AB Sports RJ. Bruna founded AB Sports, a company that works with functional training, health and wellbeing in Copacabana. She not only talked about her story and the company but also prepared a simulation exercise for the participants to learn about business plans. During this sharing afternoon, yoga master Angela Moreira, introduced the young people present into yoga focused on stress control, breathing and concentration. Thirty participants from our partner NGOs were there. Many of them left with meetings already scheduled with Line or Bruna for a personal follow up. 

NOVEMBER

Visit at Jotun’s factory

On November 27th, a group of our participants was invited to Jotun’s factory in Itaboraí. Jotun is one of our founders and we are grateful to catch up with the Norwegian group again. Twelve years ago, Jotun was one of the companies that were willing to help when Erik Solheim —then Norwegian Minister of Development—challenged Norwegian corporations here in Rio de Janeiro to foster social change. The result was Dream Learn Work; the goal was (and continues to be) to address the lack of skilled labour and, at the same time, to create social impact, changing young lives for the better. Since then, we have lost contact with Jotun—but in 2018 we got in touch again and this visit was the first activity.

Nathalie, one of Jotun HR team member, organized a great event where our group got to visit different parts of the factory with guidance from employees. They held presentations about various working areas that they have in their departments in Itaboraí. One of the big moments during the event was Maria’s presentation, she is in charge of the kitchen and a professional chef at the company. From Monday to Friday she is responsible for the preparation of meals for almost 40 employees, this includes all the logistic, nutritional planning, cooking and making sure her team is following the hygiene rules. Maria told us about her story on how she got to Jotun, and our participants identified a lot with her. When she was 12 years old, she started working for a family as a housekeeper that needed to cook as well as clean. She had never even cooked rice, but she said she would be able to do the job. It seemed like she had a talent and, since then, she has never stopped cooking and developing herself. She now holds a diploma as a professional chef from the Estácio University, in Rio de Janeiro, and is a proud employee at Jotun.

Visit at Wood, getting ready for the job market

At the end of November, ten students from DLW had the opportunity to visit our partner Wood’s office (former Wood Group), in Barra da Tijuca. Wood is a high-performance multinational corporation in the oil and gas industry. It acts in more than 60 countries employing about 55,000 people. Ana Cecilia and Natália, who work in the Communication and HR department, welcomed us. After a short introduction to the company and the oil and gas industry, they talked about their careers, job seeking, writing a curriculum vitae and job interviews. Their kindness and spontaneity broke the ice quickly. The youngsters asked many questions and had all their doubts answered by great professionals. It was a visit filled with sharing and interactions. 

DECEMBER

NGO partners/volunteers Christmas event

Early December we had our annual lunch with some of our contacts from the NGOs, schools and our volunteers! After a delicious meal, we did some manual activities like Norwegians usually do for Christmas. Our Norwegian volunteers Anita and Ingeleiv taught us how to decorate gingerbread cookies. 

Brunel - RH Workshop

Early December we visited the HR department of Brunel, our new corporate partner where our participants learned about the labour market and how to enter it. They talked about attitude, how to behave at an interview, what to wear and other factors that can be crucial to get employed. Brunel specialises in recruitment and it was a great experience for our participants.