New Life with Dignity

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

This project is the continuation of an on-going project, aimed at employment of deprived young adults in rural villages through training, raising awareness of the job market and creating new work opportunities. The anticipated long term impact is that young adults will be able to support themselves and stay in their villages, thus contributing to the social and economic life of the predominantly poor villages.The development problem seen in the project area is the unequal distribution of the country’s newly gained wealth between different parts of the country and society. A major part of the population has serious difficulties in making a living. This is especially true in districts distant from the capital, including the areas where the New Life with Dignity project is ongoing. Unemployment leads to poverty, social problems and people migrating from villages to larger cities and abroad in search of employment. This in turn has many consequences: deterioration of economy in villages, loss of work force, and - due to primarily men leaving the villages - family separation and an unhealthy gender balance.The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment" and further "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity". This cross-cutting objective of human development is included in the project through selection of the project scope and direct beneficiary group. As the Finnish Foreign Ministry states "strengthening the status of especially vulnerable and easily excluded groups decreases inequality and creates the conditions for sustainable development." The main beneficiaries of the project are deprived young adults of the poorest and most disadvantaged families. Part of the beneficiaries belong to ethnic minority groups. Gender equality is one of the main themes of the project and will be realized by empowering women to take decisions regarding their own life and offering them employment.Rather than creating new structures, the project aims to work with existing community groups, vocational training centers and local business entities in the project area.The key project activities are offering vocational and business training for young adults and supporting their microbusiness creation and job search.