The seminar held in Villarrica from November 24 to 27, 2009, on the subject of Vocational Training was also aimed at achieving this goal. Vocational training plays an important part in almost all of the National Kolping Societies, and vocational training is undoubtedly one of the core competences of the Kolping Society. However, just like the economy and the societal conditions are changing, the requirements to vocational training are also subject to continuous change. The Kolping Society of Chile, which has longstanding experiences in the area of vocational training, had prepared the seminar together with experts. A total of 26 persons took part, coming from four African and ten Latin American countries.
All the participants agreed that, in view of the challenges on the job market, the Kolping Society has to increase and qualify its offers in the area of vocational training. Above all the also globalization-related rapid growth of the informal economy, which in some of the developing countries accounts for up to 80 % of the economic output, demands innovative offers of short-time courses, which build up one upon the other and which also open up ways to economic independence. It is above all the Kolping Society in Africa, which in the past had put special emphasis on rural development that intends to increasingly pick up the impulses gained in Latin America for formulating its own initiatives.
