(World Bank) 15 May — The World Bank (WB) Board of Executive Directorstoday approved US$20 million in financing for a youth training program for low income Bolivian youth. The Improving Employability and Labor Income of Youth Project will help close to 15 thousand youth between the ages of 17-35 improve their chances of accessing the labor market.

“One of the most important sectors of our society is that of low income college- and non-college educated youth that manage to complete their studies or are unable to graduate and to enter the labor market. This contingent of public and private college students represents more than 450 thousand people,” said Bolivia’s Labor Minister, Daniel Santalla Torrez.“Through the World Bank’s 2012-2015 Strategic Partnership with Bolivia and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security (MTEPS, in Spanish), we can work to promote employment. Moreover, we need to adjust and invigorate existing employment programs.”

The Project will have a duration of six years and will be implemented by the MTEPS in the nine departmental capitals of the country, including the city of El Alto and five intermediate cities with more than 50 thousand inhabitants. The program will be undertaken among three groups of low income non-college students: ages 17 to 26, with at least primary education, interested in improving their medium-level and auxiliary skills; ages 22 to 35, owners of micro-enterprises, with at least primary education and wanting to attain an entrepreneurial education; and ages 17 to 26, with at least primary education and wanting to complete their secondary education within a maximum of three years.

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