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Professional Integration Centre (PIC)
2026
Direct beneficiaries
35 young people per year
Profile: these young people live in extreme poverty and are out of school or have had their education interrupted; most of them live in the barangays of Sampaloc and Tondo. Beneficiaries are identified through door-to-door visits, leafleting, word of mouth (by the young people themselves or by local communities) or referrals via the local authorities.
The Professional Integration Centre (PIC), which opened in September 2024, offers six-month training for out-of-school young people aged 17 to 25 from the disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Manila in the Philippines.
The aim is to enable them to access decent employment, or to return to school or academic studies.
Objectives
This intensive programme combines:
● vocational training and life skills (English, communication, leadership, management)
● learning by doing through a micro-enterprise run by the young people
● individual support (coaching, mentoring, social follow-up)
● exposure to the professional world (company visits, mock interviews, 3-week internship)
● material and financial support (monthly allowance, equipment, uniform, digital access).
It is based on a progressive teaching approach (autonomy → responsibility → management → entrepreneurship) and draws on a network of partner companies.
Activities
In 2025, 21 young people graduated from the Professional Integration Centre. Among them:
● 12 have already found work and become independent, both from their families and socially
● 6 have gone back to school or started vocational studies, which is also an important driver of integration.
● and 3 were still looking for a job with the help of the P.I.C.
Thanks to this project, young people can rebuild social ties (friends) and self-confidence, make peace with themselves or others, and believe in their dreams; and thus set out, or set out again, to find work, return to school or resume their studies. Specific support is also provided to young women, often already mothers, to help them return to the labour market.