With the creation of the 'voluntary Service of Collective Utility' (DCN), Federal Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder aims to activate the 300,000 unemployed people between 18 and 25 on a living wage in Belgium.
Dedonder wants Defence to employ 200 young people next year so they can receive training in a military environment. In exchange, they will receive an extra allowance on top of their living wage or unemployment benefit. The course lasts six months but if someone finds a job, they can stop the training early.
"The young people are offered a programme in the form of a 38-hour week, which focuses on courses on citizenship, teamwork, safety at work and sports," Dedonder said.
Interestingly, the formation has no military component: the young people will not learn how to handle weapons or receive tactical lessons – meaning they will not be given a status as military, reservist or civilian personnel.
99% certainty
It is Defence's social role to give an opportunity to young, inexperienced, low-skilled job seekers who do not or cannot enter the labour market, said Dedonder
"We need to integrate them while also giving them a sense of being useful within the community. With this, we want to offer them a clear framework and structure that they would otherwise not get," she said. "We are also convinced that after such a course, the young people will find a job with 99% certainty."
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They will also have the opportunity to learn other skills, as the Defence Ministry has signed agreements with partners in different sectors, from logistics to construction to the hospitality industry.
"For example, we offer training to become truck drivers or crane operators. Training courses that are recognised as fully-fledged by both the military and the private sector," Dedonder said. "The Voluntary Service of Collective Utility fits in seamlessly with this."
To this end, Defence works with FOREM in Wallonia and VDAB in Flanders to reach that large group of young people.
