“Acquiring Skills for a Job Changes My Life”

Nguyen Van Liet, 24, was born to a poor family in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.  His parents divorced when he was still in pregnancy and he grew up with a step father and brother.  Dropping out of school in grade 12 when the family could no longer afford his school fee, Liet moved out to live in his brother’s slaughter house, starting to work and earn money. 

Life was hard with long working hours and unstable income.  Everyday Liet would take his mother to the market to sell bananas, then deliver pork and collect money from the slaughter house’s clients.

After taking a motorbike repairing course at Tay Do Vocational Center sponsored by Save the Children’s Skills to Succeed program, Liet got a job as an intern for a Yamaha motorbike shop right after graduation.  The intern salary could not secure his living, particularly when he had much to pay for at major occasions such as the Lunar New Year, but it was a good start.

After some time, Liet moved to a new job at Thi Nhan motorbike repairing shop at 233 Nguyen Van Cu street, Can Tho city.  With a monthly income of 3 million VND (136 USD), Liet now can start his independent life and have some saving to help his mother. 

“What made me happy the most was not the salary, but that I’ve got the skills for a job to secure my life,” said Liet. “I’m so grateful to Save the Children for this great opportunity”. 

Liet is one of the 2,000 young people in Vietnam benefiting from Save the Children's Skills to Succeed program, with more than 70 percent of them having got jobs or built businesses. In a continuation of the project to 2017, and building on its experience with financial literacy training, Save the Children will run the “Skills and Savings to Succeed” program. Innovative uses of Facebook will be added that encourage youth to save their money.

Save the Children’s Skills to Succeed program equips disadvantaged youth with the skills, networks and opportunities they need to get decent jobs or build their own businesses. With better income and more stability, youth can escape poverty and start to bring prosperity to their families. To date, nearly 50,000 young women and men have found decent jobs or built their own businesses through Save the Children’s Skills to Succeed program across Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.