DHL partner SOS Children’s Village to empower the youth

DHL, world’s leading logistics company has partnered SOS Children’s Villages, an NGO on child welfare to provide career counseling and advice for underprivileged youths in the country.

The partnership is aimed at enhancing the empowerment and provision of career opportunities for the youth by providing them with career exposure, mentoring, job shadowing and work experience.

DHL employers would be given the opportunity to volunteer their time to guide these youth in preparation for their future.

Speaking at a dinner to launch the initiative in Accra, Mr. Ralf Duerrwang, Global Vice President of Corporate Public Policy Responsibility at DHL, said motivating the youth was essential to encourage them to give off their best to secure their future.

He said the importance of education and career counseling was critical in helping the youth build a solid foundation for their future and for national development.

“There is an old proverb that states that ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and it is in this spirit that we have partnered SOS Children’s Village in Ghana,” he added.

Mr. Duerrwang said often young people lacked direction and were unaware of the necessary skills they needed to make them competitive in the labour market, adding that, this was even more difficult for those who came from a challenging socio-economic background.

“SOS Children’s Villages provides a key intervention in the lives of these youth and we hope to become an integral part of this,” he said.

Mrs Katharina Steinkeller, Head of International Corporate Partnerships for SOS Children’s Village, commended DHL for the kind gesture and hoped the initiative would go a long way to help protect the future of the youth.

“This marks the start of a long-term partnership between us and we look forward to many more interesting programmes in the future,” she said.

The poor access to education and few chances to gain work experience by the youth in many developing countries incited DHL to partner SOS Children’s Village in 2011, as part of its global GoTeach Programme.

The partnership in Ghana follows the successful implementation of the partnership in Madagascar, South Africa, Sierra-Leone, Vietnam and Brazil.**