Our partnership with SOS Children’s Villages
In December 2010, we launched a partnership with SOS Children's Villages, which helps provide young people between the ages of 15 and 25 with better opportunities for a professional career, an own income and a self-determined life. In 2011, initial pilot projects were successfully implemented in Brazil, Madagascar, South Africa and Vietnam. In 2012 additional partnerships with SOS Children's Villages in Mexico, Ghana and Kenya could be established.
Increasing the chances of employment with one-on-one support
Career Day 2011 in South Africa
We focus our activity on career guidance, job qualification training, and providing young people with first exposure to the working world. In addition, we provide financial support for SOS Children's Villages' educational programs and facilities for young people.
We have successfully developed and implemented a wide range of programs and activities that are specifically tailored to the needs of the young people in our different partner countries. The individualized support is designed to help open up employment opportunities for young people entering the job market and make it possible for them to begin generating their own income as independent young adults.
Our employees volunteer their time to serve as mentors to these young people. As interns, they gain valuable insight into the world of work and learn to take on responsibility. In Brazil, for instance, 25 young people took part in a special training program conducted by our employees, meeting every Saturday for a period of three months. Eight participants were offered internships at DHL in Sao Paulo upon successful completion of the program.
Over the course of 2012, more than 1,100 employees invested over 14,000 hours of their time to take part in SOS Children’s Villages activities. As such, a total of 1,400 young people benefited from 51 different support initiatives in the seven partner countries. We plan to expand our partnership to at least four more countries in 2013.
