FEDES’ concept of Human Development is associated with providing for people’s spiritual, emotional and physical needs. This concept is related to educating and training people and their communities. Both education and training are deemed to be necessary conditions for creating a stable, safe and peaceful environment in which children and their families may develop and prosper.

In view of this, in its daily operations, FEDES Foundation endeavors to integrate all its acting capacities within a territory. Consequently, priority is given to operate within a network with public and private entities, as well as with individuals. With the vision of contributing toward generating an attitude of solidarity, those that are invited to participate in training courses are constantly urged to partake in projects for helping those in greater need.

The FEDES Foundation Vocational Training School was founded in October 2002 and was inaugurated in November that same year. It was created within the framework of a three-part agreement between FEDES, the Association of Municipalities of the Southern Districts and FOSIS, and was set up on a portion of the premises of Parque La Perla, in the District of San Bernardo.
This initiative was made possible by the generous contributions of the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas; the Church of Jesus Christ and Family Care Foundation.
The project was set up to counteract the prevalence of the poverty-stricken teenage & young adult population living in fringe situations, which are characterized by difficulties to obtain employment, blind alley employment, & most of all, lack of conceptual, social & technical “tools” that will enable them to turn their situation around.
In addition to the previous group, there is an increasing number of adults under 59 whom, having lost their jobs, are at serious risk of losing their productive skills.
The Vocational Training School is oriented mainly toward serving the young and adult entrepreneurs of the Santiago Metropolitan Area. The main features it offers are:

• Vocational training in areas with a high demand by the production system and with a high level of technology. This type of training is mostly geared toward self-employment, though it also includes the necessary skills to perform hired jobs.

• Training and knowledge that will enable the students to overcome the “culture of social exclusion and poverty,” and to acquire a more proactive attitude & mindset.

• A training model is based on determining vocational skills that are in accordance with characteristics of the participants and a series of new trends regarding the acquirement overall skills.

A support and follow-up model. The Vocational Training School invests a significant portion of its efforts to permanently monitor the progress of its graduates. This mechanism has enabled us to provide support to entrepreneuring projects and job obtainment. In addition to that, this option has also allowed us to redesign out training model in accordance with the feedback we get.

However, the main strength of our model of intervention is tied in with the affection and quality of interaction between people. This is embodied, among other things, by an environment in which people are respected and valued regardless of their condition, where love for fellow man is promoted and where people are encouraged to grow and develop as such.
The School has been set up with the following trades and occupational areas:

• Dress-making & Tailoring: This area offers courses in designing and making household clothes.
• Computer Skills: This areas entails courses in PC and basic network maintenance.
• Construction: Construction carpentry, electrical and security systems installations, plumbing and gas pipe installations. A significant portion of the training in this area is carried out at the pre-fabricated housing facility which is part of the Vocational Training School.
• Furniture construction: Construction of flat furniture in chipboard.
• Nursing: This area, which is experiencing increased demand, offers a course in care of the elderly.
• Gastronomy: In this area, the Vocational Training School has recently set up a training and production unit geared toward providing skills for “institutional catering services operators.” This unit also provides Bartending and Dining Services training which includes a technical English course.

The Vocational Training School training model, is based on the principal that the dichotomy between theory and practice is false. Therefore, methodologically it takes its classroom/workshop training model beyond that premise. In such an environment the learning process is carried out while producing. Every consumable used during the learning process is purposefully for generating a product that will cover some human need, whether individual or common.

The classroom/workshop is an educational environment in which vocational training is carried out at the same time it enables values such as solidarity to be put into practice. As a sample of that, the construction training courses use all of their supplies and part of their time in repairing or tailoring fittings in the homes of the poorer students or of other members of the community that may be in need of them. This type of practical training comprises the School curriculum.

Pre-fab Housing Plant

A significant portion of the construction skills training is provided at the FEDES pre-fab housing plant, which is part of the Vocational Training School.
The pre-fab housing plant was donated in 2002 for producing high-quality durable emergency housing. The plant provided solutions to families that were affected by the storms that occurred that year. Subsequently, FEDES modified the original specifications in order to build housing that would last more than twenty years. During 2003,  the Plant built infrastructure for community centers and senior citizens homes in the districts of the southern area of Santiago.