Don Bosco International pledges its support for the Pact for Youth

(ANS – Bruxelles) – Don Bosco International, an international organisation representing the Salesians of Don Bosco to the European Institutions, counting on more than 300 T-VET Centres and 800 Schools across Europe, has pledged its support for the Pact for Youth.

The European Pact for Youth, a mutual engagement of business leaders and the EU, was launched on 17 November during CSR Europe’s Enterprise 2020 Summit – CSR Europe is the leading European business network for Corporate Social Responsibility. Through its network of around 50 corporate members and 45 National CSR organisations, it has over 10,000 companies.

The European Pact for Youth aims to help build a pro-youth and pro-innovation Europe by creating a fair and equitable culture of partnerships between business, education and young people. These partnerships are designed to enhance the quality of training and skills that young people can acquire and help with the transition from education to employment.

Salesians, following the example of Don Bosco, work for the young and with the young, believing in the great potential of all young people, even those in the most severe conditions, to become honest citizens if they have the right training and a strong support from their caring educators. Miguel Ángel García, World Coordinator of Salesian Schools and T-VET Centres, said: “Our experience in working with companies as an education provider, both in formal and non-formal settings, has proved successful over the past 150 years. With the current situation of youth unemployment, and its terrible effects on the lives of young people, as Salesians of Don Bosco, we must share our experience with high quality and participatory education systems that involves the learner, the educator and the employer.”

Stefan Crets, CSR Europe’s Executive Director, said: “We are very happy to have the support of Don Bosco International for the European Pact for Youth. The voice of teachers, educators and young people themselves and the expertise of working together with education and companies will increase without a doubt the number of partnerships between these actors. We look forward to involving our national members to promote more partnerships with Don Bosco institutions as part of our fruitful collaboration and we also are excited as we start working together towards our shared objectives of boosting youth employability and inclusion across Europe.”

This initiative has the endorsement of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, and Presidents of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council.

Find out more about the European Pact for Youth here.

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