Job Training Kit ($60)

A huge global economic crisis, exacerbated by record numbers of young job seekers, threatens massive unemployment that could lead to deeper poverty and more explosive conflict. We can avoid this crisis by encouraging — and unleashing — the potential of tomorrow's workers today.

Why Help Is Needed

Of the 1.1 billion young people aged 15 to 24 worldwide today, one out of three is either seeking but unable to find work, has given up the job search entirely, or is working but living on less than $2 a day, according to the latest UN figures. And, in the next decade, one billion more young people are expected to enter the global labor market.

Mercy Corps In Action

Mercy Corps is providing youth with a growing number of opportunities to learn marketable skills, including master-apprentice programs. We’re also encouraging young entrepreneurs by offering business advice and access to financial services. Equipped with the right skills, young people can join the ranks of the employed, support themselves and their families, and earn a positive, useful role in society.

Emil's Story

It's not unusual to see sparks flying at the Usta Construction Company, a collection of fading brick buildings on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan. But today the sparks are being launched by a couple of teenagers, clad in heavy canvas smocks, shooting red-hot flames in the shade of an open-air warehouse.

Eighteen-year-old Aziz Madazinov and 16-year-old Emil Sanjaruluu are honing their welding skills under the watchful eye of one of the company's experienced ironworkers. They're two of the three apprentices learning how to make everything from steel building frames to window bars to decorative iron gates as part of a Mercy Corps project that connects master seamstresses, bakers, mechanics, arborists, and other professionals with young people — mainly recent high-school graduates — in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Welding is a surefire way to make a good living, says Usta's owner, who currently employs 60 welders, carpenters and mechanics in his shop. An experienced welder can earn more than a college-educated worker, says Muhamatbek Kambarov to the nods of two of his welders.

"People say there's a great need for welders," says Emil. "If I can learn in a few months, why not?"

Job Training Kit ($60)
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Purchase of a Mercy Kit is a symbolic gift that supports Mercy Corps' worldwide programs to help children and families in need. The Breastfeeding Kit, Climate Change Kit, Fuel-Efficient Stove Kit, Cricket Farm Kit, Send an Orphan to School Kit, Plant a Tree Kit, Play to Heal Kit and Uganda Farm Kit supports those specific project funds. Proceeds from the sale of other Mercy Kits will be used where most needed.