Results: Program for Rehabilitation Through Education and Training

• Through PRET approximately 2,000 un/underemployed Sri Lankans receive vocational training every year.
• Approximately 20,000 have completed training since 1989.
• Overall employment rate of 63% (male 71%, female 46%) after completing project cycle.
• The average monthly income for trainees increases tenfold within two years. 
• Trainees' contributions to family income are very high, with a quarter contributing more than 75% of their income to the household.
• PRET helps identify potential entrepreneurs. With encouragement and training, many trainees successfully create their own small businesses.
• When trainees find jobs, their status usually improves from daily labourer to a supervisory role, from part-time to full-time work or from contract to permanent employment.
• More women pursue opportunities in non-traditional trades where incomes are higher.
• In tsunami-affected areas of Sri Lanka, PRET offers accelerated training courses that combine multiple trades such as plumbing, masonry, electrical wiring and carpentry.
• WUSC staff in Sri Lanka work with more than 50 local partner organizations to strengthen their management and administration of vocational training programs. Many of our partners have received national recognition as a result.
• Applying some of the lessons learned through WUSC's Plantation Communities Project, a group of vocational training "mobilizers" has been formed to identify barriers that prevent people from entering vocational training in specific communities and develop outreach and awareness activities to overcome them.