World Day of Social Justice is observed annually on February 20. Internationally, the world is plagued with issues that prohibit millions of individuals from living a fair life. Many of the world’s population, through no fault of their own, are deprived of basic facilities, such as homes, jobs, healthcare, education, nutrition, and more. World Day of Social Justice in an opportunity to focus on how we can create a just world where social justice is a norm.
Today, at Helm, we consider what social justice means for young people in Tayside and beyond.
The economic and social crises of recent years have been exacerbated by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters due to accelerating climate change, geopolitical tensions and armed conflicts. The UN recognises that the current situation is impacting on young people and their prospective employment opportunities. The ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization (2008) places full and productive employment and decent work at the centre of economic and social policies.
At Helm we support young people to engage in employment and we advocate for decent work. Since the first Covid-19 lockdown of March 2020 we have witnessed a seismic change in young people who are accessing our programmes. The fear, isolation and blame that the pandemic levelled at young people has taken its toll on a generation who were already going to face barriers in the workplace due to their age.
We support young people to overcome the challenges and barriers they face. By delivering crucial life skills training, including budgeting and healthy eating advice, we build young people’s confidence and ability to thrive within society as successful adults. By enabling young people to gain SQA qualifications in practical environments, young people gain an education that will help them in the future. By creating safe and supportive working environments in our onsite salon, garage and practical unit, young people gain hands-on experience in a range of industries to bolster their CVs. By working with employers across Dundee, we enable young people to access work placements to gain an insight into different jobs and help them understand the opportunities available to them.
Put simply, by attending Helm, young people gain the experience and the confidence to take the next steps into full and productive employment and decent work.
Today, on World Day of Social Justice, Helm is calling for support to enable us to continue our life-changing work with young people from Tayside.
What can you do?
- Individuals can make donations or volunteer their time and get involved in our work.
- Employers can offer work placements or select Helm as their Charity of the Year.
- Politicians can advocate on our behalf.
“Together, we can make a difference to young people and create a just world where social justice is a norm. Today, on World Day of Social Justice, I’m asking people from Tayside to pledge to support Helm and enable us to continue to enable young people to dare to dream about their futures.”
Ally Calder, Chief Executive, at Helm
If you’d like to find out more about how you can get involved, email hello@helmtraining.co.uk and the team at Helm will be delighted to give you more information.