In view of the training and employment problems of young people in the poorer strata of society, and the example of youth employment projects supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Chile and Argentina, the National Youth Institute (Spanish acronym INJU), of Uruguay, dependent on the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) launched in 1994 a Training and Labour Access Project called OPCION JOVEN, with resources from the IDB Multilateral Investment Fund. The pilot project contracted for training courses and reached a coverage of 4,090 young people in 1995 and 1996.

The instruments and methodologies that would subsequently be applied, with important adjustments, in the PROJOVEN Plan were tried out in the framework of OPCION JOVEN. The contracting out of courses through public tenders, training approaches closely connected with the labour market, control and follow-up mechanisms were all tested and evaluated during that pilot run.

The decision was adopted in1996 of launching the PROJOVEN Programme intended to train young people and facilitate their access to jobs. It was developed through an inter-institutional agreement between the Ministries of Education and Culture and Labour and Social Security. It was to be financed mainly with resources contributed by workers and employers of the private sector to the Occupational Retraining Fund managed by the National Employment Board (Spanish acronym JUNAE), a tripartite body including representatives of workers (PIT-CNT trade unions), employers and the National Employment Office.

A Programme Co-ordinating Unit was created to manage the scheme, based on a co-operation agreement between DINAE (National Employment Office), the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and INJU.

PROJOVEN is one of several decentralised programmes that JUNAE is implementing to promote employment. It gets resources from the National Fund for Occupational Retraining. This Programme also has some international technical co-operation and the support of the PREDEG Programme of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries for the courses it offers in some specific areas, such as technical training in agriculture.

The objective of PROJOVEN is to help young people from low-income sectors to improve their possibilities of accessing the labour market through cost-free occupational training in keeping with demands detected in the jobs market.

The Programme is aimed at:

• strengthening the co-ordination between the training of young persons and the changing requirements of the labour market.
• supporting the management capacity and links with the productive world of the training institutions that deal with the target population.
• co-operating with firms and enterprises in the processes of absorbing semi-skilled young people and offering them an initial work experience.