URUGUAY: Centro de Capacitación y Producción (CECAP) Context Uruguay faces a number of challenges in the area of secondary education. According to official statistics obtained from a National Household Survey conducted by the INE in 1999, 15.5% of the population aged 14 to 18 do not go to school. Furthermore, 26.6% of this population does not work either. It should also be stressed that 11.6% of youths aged 16 to 19 neither work nor study. That percentage of people under the same conditions was also found among males aged 20 to 27; among women, however, the percentage is higher: of the female population aged 15 to 19, 15.8% neither works nor studies, while the same is true for 21.3% of women aged 24 to 27. Centro de Capacitación y Producción [Center for Training and Production] (CECAP) has been implementing an educational training for work program since its inception in 1981. The program mainly targets youths of both sexes between the ages of 15 and 20, who are outside the regular education system, come from low-income homes, are in a situation of risk, need to work, and aspire to be recognized as citizens. The program focuses principally on urban populations, mainly in and around Montevideo and Rivera. It also has workshops at Piriápolis, Toledo, Pando and La Esperanza. Objectives Contribute to the social integration of youths from at-risk families by encouraging them to develop their own strategies for joining society and the labor market. The Program also seeks to encourage young people to develop self-knowledge and self-esteem, and to analyze their social environment. Pedagogical Challenges CECAP is an agency of the Ministry of Education and Culture, whose activities echo public policy on vocational education for youths outside of the regular education system. In its comprehensive education-for-work program, CECAP expresses an education policy and a social policy that advance an approach and a model based on respect for youths as human beings and express belief in their potential as developing individuals. General Description CECAP’s model and accumulated expertise are potentially interesting sources of reference with regards to: Experience in comprehensive education (in the sense of an education that combines essential components that contribute to a more fitting way of life). Experiences that might require provision of concrete support for finding a place in the labor market. Experience in provision of social, vocational and educational guidance, prior to initiation into the world of work through occupational workshops. Experience in defining the required competencies for educators at these centers. The program includes such aspects as: Comprehensive vocational education based on an “on-the-job learning” approach tailored to the particular pace and style of the each individual. Courses divided into flexible modules. Support modules for basic competencies, literacy, arithmetic, occupational health, safety rules, social and citizen education, planning and problem solving, and drawing. Production module, with incentives for apprentices. Induction workshop offering social and career guidance. System of internal and external internships and alternating company-workshop internships. Workshop on labor market integration. Assistance in, among other aspects, transport, meals, health services, and administrative procedures. Daily six-hour schedule, Monday to Friday, March to December. Participating Individuals and Institutions CECAP is the program’s principal implementing agency. It is an entity of the Ministry of Education and Culture, and its activities reflect public policy on education for work for youths outside of the regular education system. In accordance with the vision of the Ministry of Education and Culture to share and implement solutions with civil society and its various organizations, CECAP seeks to creatively combine, from the perspective of a positive conception of the human person, initiatives in the area of education for work. They carry out joint activities between the state and NGOs, as part of an attempt to build up institutions and as a way to bolster youth training efforts. Budget and Financing CECAP has been supported since its inception by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) and at the outset received substantial assistance from the OAS in order to set up its occupational workshops and provide training to its personnel. That assistance was provided, inter alia, by the Multinational Project on Education for Work (PMET/OAS). The productive project contributes to the institution’s self-generated funds. In addition to the contribution from the MEC, CECAP has received generous grants from private individuals and institutions. Strengths CECAP’s career guidance workshops seem to provide a new paradigm for organization and provision of education-for-work services. The project is expanding at the regional level Youths who enter the program after the workshop have the option of joining other occupational workshops run by CECAP or other institutions, persevering with their educational plans by continuing their formal studies, or entering the labor market. Lessons Learned The objectives of the program could not be accomplished without agreements signed with participating nongovernmental and community-based organizations. Future Challenges Training for educators, since in Uruguay there are no facilities specifically designed for their training. Application of an evaluation and accreditation system for educators. Permanent adjustment of training programs to the needs of businesses, where changes occur with ever-increasing frequency. Consolidation of and increased level of institutional stability that might favor the accumulation and systematization of the entity’s experiences. Broaden the scope, to the extent possible, of its social and educational mission to encompass all excluded young people who are demanding a place in society. Responding to the Challenges of the Summit The Uruguay program excels in addresses the commitments established in the area of education for youths and their preparation to tackle the challenges of today’s workforce. Back to Eje 3