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its members with his spirituality and enable them to be of service in their local parish and beyond. One of the Kolping Society’s projects is the Work Opportunity Programme (WOP), which was developed by KSA (Kolping South Africa) to address the serious problem of unemployment amongst the young people in South Africa, in which many school-leavers become increasingly demotivated and develop low self-esteem, due to the fact that their attempts to enter the job market are unsuccessful. WOP attempts to look at the “whole person” when addressing the issue of unemployment. It is a programme of empowerment and transformation and students are able to get in touch with who they are, where they come from and what their aspirations are.
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WOP’s OBJECTIVES are: • To provide the participant with appro-
priate education and training, which help them to become responsible, self reliant and skilled individuals. • To in-still into the participants a sense of the ethics and spirituality of work so that not only is his/her own economic situation improved, but also that of the broader community. • To encourage the participants to assist other less fortunate than themselves in their community, once they have established their own position. The WOP project relies on corporate sponsorship, and also partners with the private sector and Government Departments to provide internships and employment for its trainees. Trainees are usually referred to the programme by existing Kolping members and are usually between the ages of 18 and 35. They must be able to show that they have made an attempt to obtain gainful employment. For more information on the Kolping Society and WOP, and to find out you can become involved, visit the Kolping Johannesburg website at www.kolpingjhb.co.za.
A Lifeskills workshop as part of WOP Ve r i t a s | F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 7