Just over one year ago, Collinson and Save the Children entered into a three-year partnership to help children around the world reach their full potential.
The first year of our partnership focused on helping children and families in times of emergency via Save’s Emergency Fund, as well as the introduction of a new Adolescent Skills for Successful Transitions (ASST) programme helping young Chinese migrants to secure sustainable employment.
The ASST programme provides adolescents and youth with capabilities and opportunities for obtaining decent and productive employment, as well as agency, hope and aspirations for their life-chances. It focuses on gender-sensitive and inclusive programmes, policies and systems working at scale with the most marginalised and at-risk adolescents and youth.
With Collinson’s support of Save the Children’s ASST programme in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, during Year One of the Project (April 2020 to April 2021), 253 young people were equipped with the employability skills necessary to obtain decent employment. The programme focused on supporting yyoung people with 6 key skills: positive self-concept, self-control, social skills, communication skills, higher-order thinking and job search skills.
Of the young people who participated in the programme, 84% showed improvements in their employability skills and established strong links with employers.
Our goal was to support 200 young people with the skills they need to obtain decent employment in year one of the programme. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, we saw fantastic engagement with employers, local government and corporates, which resulted in us exceeding our original target and supporting even more young people to realise their full potential, secure employment and break the cycle of poverty.
Key programme achievements include:
- 253 youth equipped with employability skills
- 63 youth provided with career counselling services
- 25 corporate volunteers took part in the ASST mentorscheme – including 10 Collinson colleagues
- 84% of youth showed improvements in employability skills
Xiaoling, a youth participant in the ASST programme (pictured above learning employability skills with a trainer - Xiaoling on the left), commented that she found her own value and direction again, and even found employment during the training. She expressed hope that this type of training will continue in the future so that more people can benefit from it and make their life full of positive energy.
With Collinson’s continued support for the ASST programme in China, Save the Children launched the second year of the programme on 1st May 2021. The ambition for year two is to build on the success of year one by transforming the lives of a further 200 disadvantaged migrant youth in Guangdong Province – ensuring they have relevant employability skills to improve their chances of securing a safe and positive transition into decent employment.
