The first participants of the Youth Career Initiative in Amman, Jordan graduated at the beginning of May. The Four Seasons Hotel Amman, The Amman Marriott Hotel and Sheraton Amman Al Nabil Hotel and Towers worked in partnership with the Jordan River Foundation and YCI global team to implement the programme. 

The graduation ceremony is an opportunity to celebrate the success of the programme with everyone involved in supporting the participants throughout the six months. In Amman this included hotel staff, English teachers and Computer Centre representatives.  Her Excellency Maha Khatib, Tourism Minister for Jordan also attended and presented the certificates to the thirteen graduates. 

H.E. Maha Khatib, who deputised for Her Majesty Queen Rania at the ceremony, said tourism was an essential and vibrant growth sector that contributes to the economic and social well-being of Jordanians by increasing earnings and creating employment since it has around 7,000 job openings annually.  H.E. urged the private sector to pay attention to young employees and offer them capacity building and training to develop their skills and equip them with needed expertise. 

The programme secured a number of firsts, as this was also the first YCI programme that a Four Seasons Hotel had taken part in.  At the end of the graduation ceremony the newly formed Youth Career Council met.  The Council, chaired by Vatche Yergatian, General Manager of Marriott Amman, is made up of the General Managers and Directors of partnering organisations.  Their remit is to support the set-up, growth and sustainability of the programme in Jordan. 

Over the next three years the programme in Jordan will grow to include new hotels in Amman and areas such as the Dead Sea and Aqaba. 

The New Year started well in Costa Rica as the first YCI programme began at the Real InterContinental Costa Rica Hotel and the Marriott San Jose Hotel. Participants will be learning life and work skills at the hotels over the next six months.  The aim is to empower them to make informed career choices following completion of the programme. 

All participants, hotel staff including General Managers and Human Resource staff and representatives of partner organizations attended an opening ceremony at the Marriott San Jose Hotel to celebrate the start of YCI. The event included speeches by hotel and partner representatives. Many partners including World Vision have been involved in recruiting the participants who come from San Jose.

Hundreds of attendees at the graduation ceremonies celebrated the success of graduates who completed the Youth Career Initiative programme in Brazil this month.  Ceremonies took place at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo Airport Marriott Hotel and Renaissance Costa do Sauipe Resort.
 
During the graduations the young people gave presentations outlining the skills they had learnt from the programme in very creative and inventive ways.  In Rio de Janeiro a group of participants performed a song they had written especially for the occasion. In Costa do Sauipe all the graduates wore the uniforms from the many hotel departments they had trained in during the programme, thanking each department in turn they explained what they had learnt in each area.  Participants in Sao Paulo recorded interviews with all those involved in running the programme to produce a news report.  
 
This year saw the involvement of additional hotels that are interested in participating in the programme in 2008.  Sofitel Rio ran sessions for participants and others including Hyatt have interviewed graduates for employment positions in their hotels following completion of the programme.  

In Mexico City the JW Marriott Hotel Mexico City, Presidente InterContinental Mexico City and CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa have started the programme. Fundacion Infantia are coordinating the programme in country, which has involved working with World Vision to recruit suitable young people. 

A successful visit to Mexico and Costa Rica by Operations Manager, Alberto Canovas, has resulted in the set up of two new YCI programmes. 

YCI Mexico will be starting in September in Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta, giving young people from these areas the opportunity to gain employability skills.  Fundacion Infantia will be coordinating the programme working with several other NGOs in Mexico to find suitable participants. YCI Costa Rica is currently in the planning stage and will be starting next year in San Jose.

The third YCI Brazil programme started this month.  Hotels from competing companies are working together to provide the education programme for young people in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Costa do Sauipe. 

A partnership with IDIS, Institute for the Development of Social Investment - a civil society organization committed to social development, has been instrumental in the growth and success of the programme.  By developing networks with community organisations IDIS has secured contact with young people who would benefit most from taking part in YCI. 

The opening ceremonies attracted local media coverage in papers and radio.  Plans to increase the number of hotels and participants for next years programme are already underway.                

JW Marriott Bucharest held the graduation ceremony for the second programme to have been held in Romania.  Attendees included the Deputy Ambassador from the British Embassy, the UN Resident Coordinator and representatives from Feed the Children and World Learning who had supported the participants throughout the programme.

In Addis Ababa participants from the second programme graduated in front of family, friends and hotel associates.  Kidist Chebsa spoke on behalf of all the graduates, giving an on the ground account of their experiences during their six months at the Sheraton Addis.  She said; “Our work experience in Sheraton Addis is our life skill. The multiple skills we acquired from the different departments are valuable to us today and in our future. We learned to take responsibility for our mistakes, accept assignments with a smile and accomplish tasks according to standards.”

In Warsaw, the Sheraton hotel hosted the graduation ceremony. All the participants had the opportunity to present to the attendees what they felt they had gained by taking part in the YCI programme.  The joint hotel days that had taken place each week with all participants had included visiting the Hotelarz office to learn how a monthly magazine is put together and a restaurant to learn about wines including grape varieties and correct serving methods.  These experiences enable participants to see how the skills they are learning will enable them to work in various environments.     

Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort started their second YCI programme.  Participants will spend time in the many departments of the hotel including the Lagoon Restaurant and landscaping.  They will also have the opportunity to find out how competing hotels in the area run their operations. 

Preparatory meetings for the 2007 YCI programmes in Brazil took place in Sao Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro.

Following a beautiful graduation ceremony last September organised jointly by the hotel chains that run the 2006 YCI programme in Rio de Janeiro, YCI in Brazil has set a new global benchmark in the operation of the programme as competing hotel chains including Marriott, InterContinental, and Orient Express set aside business and commercial rivalry in favour of working together and joining efforts in order to offer life prospects to disadvantaged youth.

Alberto Canovas, YCI Operations Manager, who chaired the meetings said, “I felt very proud of all of YCI champions from each hotel, particularly the ones that have experience in the implementation of the programme as they exchanged experiences offered support to those hotels joining the programme. It was really special to see otherwise fierce competitors sitting around the table, discussing and agreeing key aspects of the programme, and coordinating joint actions from the outset of our 2007 YCI programme in Brazil.

“This is a great example of an effective corporate social responsibility programme – we have shown how companies can collaborate and contribute actively in the solution of pressing socio-economic problems affecting their communities through partnerships with other organisations within and outside the private sector.”

In Romania the programme has become a model of successful partnership between the private and the voluntary sector. Participants are receiving assistance and counselling from Feed the Children, an international organisation supporting young people and families in need. Other NGOs, such as Leaders Romania and World Learning, collaborate to coordinate YCI locally and source external lecturers to complement the training provided by the YCI host hotel. A number of businesses sponsor the programme such as Amway who are donating products and providing a lesson on personal hygiene for the participants as part of the health, diet and exercise section of the curriculum.

The second YCI Brazil graduations took place in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Costa do Sauipe during August and September.

In Sao Paulo the ceremony included a performance by the participants of the Renaissance Sao Paulo of ‘I believe I can fly’, which did not leave a dry eye in the house! The certificates were presented by Dr Marcio Favilla, the Vice Minister for Tourism for Brazil.

Cristina Secchin, Director of Human Resources at JW Marriott Hotel Rio de Janeiro said ‘The YCI programme has given participants a view of the world beyond their own. It has broadened their horizons and has given them the hope they so much need to never give up and always seek new opportunities.’

Dramatic growth is expected in 2007 with new hotel chains hosting the YCI programme and giving more participants the opportunity to improve their life prospects.

The initial participants to be admitted to the programme will be selected by highly reputed NGOs such as the Queen Rania for Family and Child Centre, the Al Karma Centre and The Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development - Prince Basma Youth Centre. All these organisations work closely with local communities to support, develop and empower youth and families.

In Australia the programme has worked in partnership with the national government and private sector to utilise existing resources and enable the hotel to deliver a quality Corporate Social Responsibility Programme. Director of Human Resources at Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort, Jackie Porter, said the programme was a way to give back to the community.

"We're in the heart of Australia's most popular tourist destination right here,'' she said. "It makes sense for us to train young people who would not normally be offered this kind of opportunity, to be able to stay close to home and work within our dynamic industry.''