The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (the Alliance) has developed a new training curriculum to give young people who are struggling to gain employment the core skills they need to get started in their careers. This resource is to be made freely available to qualified organisations to tackle the global issue of youth unemployment and help more young people who face additional barriers to employment to start their career journeys.

The development of the curriculum has been supported by IHG Hotels & Resorts through a legacy Foundation gift, with the aim of upskilling potential colleagues with transferable skills to help fill the talent gap in the industry and support local community employment.

The hospitality industry can offer a wealth of roles for young people from all skill sets and backgrounds. Before the pandemic, the travel and tourism industry accounted for 25% of all jobs created globally between 2014 and 2019.1 Forecasts suggest that, as the world recovers, more than 100 million jobs could return to the sector during 2021,2 giving a substantial opportunity to help vulnerable young people through upskilling and employment.

The curriculum

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance has used its established background in running a youth employment programme to bring together the skills commonly included across hotel employers’ training programmes, with technical expertise provided by IHCL (The Indian Hotel Company Limited) and worked with education specialists to create a free resource that can be used by community and training organisations around the world. It provides a range of core employability skills over the course of around 100 hours of teaching that are suitable for the hospitality industry and transferable to other sectors. This includes life skills, communications, digital training, English, interview skills, and an introduction to hospitality.

The aim of the training is not just to give young people the skills and experience to find a job, but to develop their self-belief and confidence.

“As the UN Sustainable Development Goals demonstrate, partnership is essential to address the scale of this issue, and we’re proud to share our experience and resources to ensure that more young people are getting the support they need.”

Madhu Rajesh, CEO, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance

Sustainable Hospitality Alliance CEO, Madhu Rajesh said: “We are committed to addressing youth unemployment which is having a devastating impact on one in five young people around the world,3 leaving them extremely vulnerable to poverty and exploitation. As the UN Sustainable Development Goals demonstrate, partnership is essential to address the scale of this issue, and we’re proud to share our experience and resources to ensure that more young people are getting the support they need. We thank IHG Hotels & Resorts for their support, and all our partners for their part in the development and accessibility of this curriculum.”

Yasmin Diamond, Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs, IHG Hotels & Resorts, commented: “Travel and tourism has long been a thriving industry, typically accounting for one in 10 jobs around the world, and through our IHG Academy programme, IHG has expertise and a good foundation in driving community employment through skills development, education and mentoring. As we come through this pandemic and get back to better times, IHG is proud to support the creation of this new training curriculum, which provides crucial opportunities to those most in need in our communities, and a chance to build a fulfilling career in hospitality.”

“IHG is proud to support the creation of this new training curriculum, which provides crucial opportunities to those most in need in our communities, and a chance to build a fulfilling career in hospitality.”

Yasmin Diamond, Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs, IHG Hotels & Resorts

Marsha, curriculum trainee, commented: “The training has enabled me to stop doing casual work of just washing people’s clothes and idling by sitting at the door of my house. This training has helped me see myself and the potential I have and that in all things I can make it in life.”

“The programme has helped me to be different, to be a pioneer and a leader in the hospitality sector.” Eleanora, curriculum trainee

“The training has enabled me to stop doing casual work of just washing people’s clothes and idling by sitting at the door of my house. This training has helped me see myself and the potential I have and that in all things I can make it in life.”

Marsha, curriculum trainee

The curriculum was designed to ensure that it is accessible for people from different backgrounds. This includes a disability inclusion review supported by Inclusive Futures funded by UK aid, and trialled by young people with disabilities in Kenya and Nigeria. The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation were amongst the funders who supported the review of a more streamlined and sustainable program model. The curriculum has also been used to support young people who are survivors or at risk of human trafficking in India, supported by the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) with funding provided by the United States Government.

A free resource to help more people to build a better future

The core employability skills curriculum will be used as a key part of the Alliance’s youth employment programme in all its programme countries. The charity also intends that this should be a free resource that can be used by qualified, non-commercial organisations to further the reach and help support more disadvantaged young people to build a better future.

The Alliance would like to invite anyone who is interested in this curriculum as part of their own youth employment initiatives, including hotels, non-profits, training organisations, funders or government departments, to get in touch. For more information, please visit www.sustainablehospitalityalliance.org/curriculum