Interview: Sukaynah Salameh,director of the Vocational Development Association (VDSA), Lebanon

In this interview, Sukaynah Salameh, director of the nongovernmental Vocational Development Association (VDA) of Lebanon, states that the VDA was created to provide Palestinian and Lebanese youth with employment skills appropriate for local market conditions. The young men and women served by the VDA have had their education curtailed by 15 years of civil war and deteriorating economic conditions in their country. The situation is particularly difficult for Palestinian refugee women who face employment opportunities limited by scarce jobs, laws regulating the employment of refugees, competition by cheaper migrant labor, and women's unequal status. Most training programs provide refugee women with skills that do little but enhance their housekeeping skills. The VDA offers 6-9 month training courses using its own curricula. In addition, the VDA keeps a roster of its graduates to evaluate the usefulness of its training. This record-keeping allowed the VDA to determine that the market was being saturated with the skills they were offering. Therefore, the VDA conducted a market analysis that focused on the socioeconomic status of refugee women. This research revealed that the number of refugee girls enrolled in primary and intermediate school has gradually declined, although most young women 15-25 years old want to learn skills in order to find jobs. In order to increase the level of female enrollment in its vocational courses, the VDA decided to provide women who already have basic education skills with additional training in subjects the market is demanding, like architecture and design and computer studies. In addition, the VDA has begun an individual outreach program to promote the idea of female education and employment and has developed a network to help women find jobs.