After a decade of working with young adolescent girls, at RYTHM Foundation we have launched a brand new initiative called IMPACT (I Made a Pact to Change) aimed at helping at-risk adolescent boys from disadvantaged families.
IMPACT is a 12-month programme that will mould and train a select group of 16 to 18-year-old boys helping them in their journey into becoming responsible and employable adults. The programme equips them with vocational skills in areas such as electrical wiring, maintenance, and other fundamental life skills that will enable them to transition into higher-paying jobs upon graduation.
A Memorandum of Understanding was inked by both organisations on 4 August 2020 to launch IMPACT. Present at the MOU signing were Datin Sri Umayal Eswaran, Chairperson of RYTHM Foundation and Mr. Pasupathi Sithamparam, the founder and Director of MySkills Foundation. The MOU entails the roles and responsibilities of both parties’ commitment to IMPACT during the one year project period, ending in August 2021.
Commenting on the launch of IMPACT, Datin Sri Umayal explained that through the holistic and transformative training programme, the Foundation wants to equip the boys with value-based training, starting with emotional support, social assimilation, and vocational skills along with life lessons.
“Besides training and equipping these boys with vocational skills we want to focus on healthy social and emotional development. Social development means investing in people, it means helping the boys to move forward on their path to self-sufficiency,” Datin Sri Umayal said.
“This programme will serve as a bridge of support for all those who want to make a difference in their lives. Ultimately, that’s the key point. We can give these boys a great platform but it is entirely up to them to make the changes to become the best version of themselves,” she added.
As part of the IMPACT training, the boys will undertake the Electrical Wiring Level 2 programme with training provided by the in-house trainers from MySkills who are certified by the Department of Skills Development under the Ministry of Human Resources. Upon successful completion of the training, these students will be awarded MLVK (National Skill Qualification Awarding body) certificates with the same standard certification of the National Youth Training Institute (IKBN).
MySkills Foundation Director Mr Pasupathi said their collaboration with RYTHM is a joint initiative to empower at-risk youth in Malaysia with the skill sets required for gainful employment. At MySkills, they use a holistic approach which incorporates components relating to emotional, life management, social and vocational skills.
He said their campus in Kalumpang, Hulu Selangor offers a wide range of vocational skills with upgraded facilities for student training, accommodation, character transformation programs. Facilities include a football field, an indoor sports complex, obstacle course, yoga, gym, organic farm, a cafeteria with a learning kitchen, and a bathroom complex.
We firmly believe that providing the right opportunity to at-risk boys will help them change the course of their life and in the process their transformation also hs the potential to influence their peers and the younger groups within their community to follow the right path and break free from the cycle of poverty and undesirable behaviours.
RYTHM, an acronym for ‘Raise Yourself To Help Mankind’ has been running a dedicated programme for young at-risk girls called Maharani, which marks its 10th anniversary this year. The programme has helped over 7500 girls in Malaysia especially in rural areas and from poor and marginalised communities by providing skills and knowledge to enable them to identify and work towards their full potential.
