GERED GEREEDSCHAP WINS JOBENA PRICE FOR YIP MADE PROJECT.

In 2016, Gered Gereedschap and Young in Prison received the Jobena Price for their joint project Yip Made. The project offers training courses to young prisoners in Malawi after their detention. A training to become a skilled metalworker, offering them a prospect of a better future as a craftsman or craftswoman. The price of € 10,000 is awarded every two years by Stichting Jobena to a development project aimed at further strengthening empowerment.

Cila van Thiel of Stichting Jobena regarding the choice of Yip Made as winning project. “We are impressed with the fact that two foundations, independently doing wonderful things, have joint forces. Each in their own domain of expertise give chances and a longer-term perspective for the future to these young Malawians who have fallen behind at a very young age. This is real ‘self-help aid’, something Stichting Jobena stands for. It is our impression that the project is well thought out and also very achievable.”

Young ex-prisoners trained as metalworkers

At YIP Made Academy, young ex-prisoners receive a 9-month training to become metalworkers. They learn a trade, receive lessons in social skills and learn how to set up their own business. The Yip Made Academy is currently being extended with a workshop. Stichting Gered Gereedschap is responsible for the set up and the equipment of this workshop with the necessary machines and tools. Gered Gereedschap will also supply sets of metalworking tools for the training. The amount of money related to the Jobena Price will be used for the set-up of the workshop and ensures the continuity of the training programme.

Successful product Freedom Lamp

Within this programme young people work on concrete assignments. One successful product is the Freedom Lamp, an exclusive art object made of metal specially designed by the Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout. The Freedom Lamps are sold as artwork in the Netherlands. Besides the lamp, young people at the Yip Academy join furniture like bed frames and chairs for the local market.

Jobena Price

The Jobena Price is an initiative of Stichting Jobena. The foundation was founded by Mr Vincent Brenninkmeijer in 1995 and aims to support cultural projects in developing countries. Jobena focusses on emancipation and development. The foundation only supports projects which enable self-reliance and financial self-sufficiency. The supported projects must therefore be firmly embedded in the local community. Jobena further expresses its beliefs concerning emancipation and empowerment by awarding the € 10,000 worth Jobena Price to an initiative which inventively complies to these premises.