Careers Councelling

Getting children out of brick factories and into school is a huge step. But for us, it is not the final one.

In the communities where we work in Rautahat, very few young people have traditionally completed their education. Many children grow up surrounded by poverty and generations of insecure, low-paid work. Their parents may never have had the opportunity to finish school themselves, and children often have little exposure to the possibilities that exist beyond the work they see around them.

Now, something is changing.

The first children who joined our End to Child Labour Programme are growing up. They are reaching the final years of school and beginning to ask a new question…

What comes next?

For some, the answer might be college and university. For others, vocational training, learning a trade, starting a business or moving directly into employment. Some may build their futures within their own communities; others may choose opportunities elsewhere.

Our role is to make sure they know what those choices are – and have the knowledge, confidence and practical support to pursue them.

And we are already seeing what can happen when those choices become possible.

Six young people from our programme are now studying at college or university – the first in their villages to do so. One of our young women chose to study Education at university and has already secured her first job as a teacher at a local school.

Next year, another six young people from our programme will complete their basic education. We want each of them to be able to look ahead and see genuine choices for what comes next.

Our Career Counselling programme introduces young people to careers, courses and vocational pathways they may never previously have considered.

We start working with children before they leave school, helping them explore their interests, strengths and ambitions and understand how these can translate into real opportunities.

Our team works with each young person individually. Rather than telling them what they should become, we help them discover what they could become.

Career workshops bring different professions to life, with specialists explaining what their jobs actually involve, what qualifications or training are needed and how young people can take their first steps towards them.

These workshops also reach students from local schools, opening up conversations about the future with young people across the wider community.

For many of the families we work with, navigating further education and career choices is completely new.

A parent who has had little or no formal education may not know what studying nursing involves, how their child could train as an electrician, what qualifications are needed to become a teacher or where vocational training is available.

That is why career counselling doesn’t stop with the child.

Through regular home visits and monthly parent meetings, we work closely with families to discuss their children’s aspirations, explain different education and training routes and address the practical barriers that could prevent them from continuing.

Because we have worked alongside these families for years, we understand their individual circumstances and can support each young person in a way that is realistic for them.

Career counselling only matters if young people can act on the choices they make.

Our support includes:

• Trained career counsellors – developing our own team so young people have access to informed, ongoing guidance close to home.
• Individual career counselling – working with students from Grade 10 onwards to explore their strengths, interests and future options.
• Career workshops – bringing professionals and specialists into our communities to introduce students from Grade 8 onwards to different occupations and the pathways into them.
• Education and training guidance – helping young people identify suitable colleges, university courses, vocational training and other opportunities.
• Working with parents – helping families understand and support their children’s ambitions and the value of continuing education.
• Scholarships – supporting young people from families experiencing poverty to continue into college and university where finances would otherwise put that opportunity beyond their reach.

Ending child labour isn’t simply about getting a child out of a brick factory.

It’s about making sure they don’t have to return.

Education, skills and access to decent work give young people alternatives. They also have the potential to change what is possible for the generation that comes after them.

We want every young person in our programme to reach adulthood knowing that their future isn’t determined by the circumstances they were born into.

They should be able to see the possibilities, make their own choice – and have a real chance to get there.

Our Career Counselling programme is delivered in collaboration with our fantastic partners, Roots for Life and Schoeck Familien Stiftung.