Young people in low-income and violent neighborhoods in Honduras often struggle to finish high school and acquire skills that can help them get jobs. Through the Building My Future with Digital Education program, funded by the PriceSmart Foundation, thousands now have increased access to high school equivalency programs and digital skills classes. The program leverages the many Youth Outreach Centers inSan Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa that are part of the USAID-funded GENESIS project, managed by the National Foundation for the Development of Honduras (FUNADEH).
Youth who are no longer enrolled in formal education receive in-person and virtual classes and individual tutoring to help them accelerate their high school completion through an approved equivalency program. PriceSmart’s funding has allowed 2,500 young people to access these services, enabling them to receive support toward a critical milestone – a secondary education.
Thousands of other young people benefit from enhanced digital skill training that helps prepare them for the workforce. By equipping computer centers and supporting instructor training, the PriceSmart Foundation made many more courses available to these youth, ranging from basic computer literacy and graphic design to more intensive industry-recognized trainings from CISCO and Microsoft that offer certification in topics such as cybersecurity and coding. The participants also have access to a variety of online resources that expose them to other topics within IT, such as 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things.
Building My Future with Digital Education not only increases young people’s skills and knowledge but introduces them to career paths they might not otherwise have known about, broadening their horizons and opportunities.
