Wong Foundation will provide more opportunities for youth thanks to its new technical college

Wong Foundation will start up its first technical school, which will be implemented at the Dr. Segundo Wong Educational Unit during the first semester of 2024. This is a program dedicated to high school students, whose curriculum will aim to develop technical skills in agricultural production in young people from rural communities in the provinces of Los Ríos and Santo Domingo, Ecuador.

This initiative arose from the need for agricultural and livestock companies to incorporate more highly skilled labor. In this way, Wong Foundation also seeks to combat migration and unemployment in rural areas, where 68% of the population lives in poverty, which in turn leads to insecurity and criminal violence.

"Our children, living in economically and socially vulnerable conditions, need to generate resources for self-sustainability and have the tools to work from a young age. This technical high school helps them to develop these tools so that, at the end of their studies, they can quickly enter the local labor market, which is mainly agricultural," explained Ricardo Romero, director of the NGO.

"The aim is to make the learning curve of young people much faster in their jobs, thus guaranteeing their right to a quality education and decent work, which will enable them to be prosperous, free and self-sufficient," added Romero.

The foundation will provide scholarships to dozens of technical high school graduates over the next three years. The first class of this program is expected to graduate in 2027.
The technical school also seeks to provide young people with a productive experience that, upon graduation, will enable them to empower themselves, become entrepreneurs and generate employment for others. Technical education is a powerful tool to promote the development of a formal and sustainable economy in communities.

"We are working with the community: parents, students and teachers to train young people in values so that they are able to face the reality they live in and take advantage of opportunities to develop and enjoy a dignified life," concluded Romero.

This ambitious project is complemented by the foundation's 4 child development centers, 3 educational units and the Productive Technical Baccalaureate, which benefits around 900 children and young people each year so that they can have a better future.