Project “easy”: “We are like a ‘gas station’ for difficult times”
In the “easy” employment project run by Caritas Salzburg, young people are encouraged to enter the job market.
SALZBURG. Difficult social conditions, mental stress and a lack of daily structure – the problems faced by the young people who come to Caritas Salzburg’s “easy” project are manifold.
Find in regular daily routine
“These are young people who are not affiliated with any school or apprenticeship, often grew up in difficult circumstances and have failed several times in life, for example by dropping out of an apprenticeship or school. With us, they find the opportunity to pursue employment in a very easily accessible way and thus find your way step by step into a regulated daily routine.
Products made of wood and textile
“easy” is now celebrating its tenth birthday – and Wippel has been working there for just that long. In “easy”, young people between the ages of 15 and 18 learn to develop their stamina. They work there in the workshop, for at least one hour a day they learn for an hourly wage of five euros how to be creative with wood and textiles and how to make products such as bags, stuffed animals or storage boxes.
“The young people can decide for themselves how many hours they work, a maximum of 15 hours a week. Some come very regularly, others we only see once a month, it varies a lot and we never know who will come tomorrow. Experience shows that those young people who have been coming to us for a longer period of time are often here 15 hours a week and are already working towards other perspectives, i.e. towards integration into a course from the labor market service, a secondary school or an apprenticeship. Most of them young people at ‘easy’ came to the project from child and youth welfare organizations or through friends. There is also close cooperation with youth coaching,” says Wippel.
Empower the youth
“The most important thing is to strengthen the young people, to show them that they can do something and to enable positive experiences. Then they dare to take further steps towards the job market. Around two thirds manage to get into the job market or further training change,” says the facility manager.
More and more girls on “easy”
The majority of young people come from the city of Salzburg. Since 2020, more and more girls are taking part in the project. “This year we had more girls than boys at ‘easy’ for the first time, but we’ve actually been seeing the trend since the outbreak of the pandemic,” says Wippel. Former participants would also come to visit again and again and talk about their successful start in professional life.
“Our focus is a very positive one. We work with the resources that the young people bring with them. To see how they then stick with it and develop further is a very nice confirmation for me. I see the ‘easy’ as a kind of gas station you can fill up afterwards and with a full tank you can also cover longer distances. And if you still have a breakdown, then you know that you can come back again. We want to convey this feeling to the young people,” says Wippel.
You can find an interview with child and youth attorney Andrea Holz-Dahrenstaedt on the subject of “Children’s Rights” here:
“There is still a lot to be done when it comes to children’s rights”