Ghita is empowered to build the career of her dreams

Ghita first came to SOS Children’s Village Imzouren in Morocco at the age of three. Her supportive SOS family and happy childhood empowered Ghita to believe in herself and SOS provided her with the educational opportunities to follow her dreams.

Now 19 years old, Ghita is in her first year of accounting at the Moroccan Office of Vocational Training and Labour Promotion in Casablanca. At the end of next year, she will earn her degree.

But she’s interested in more than accounting. “I want to study psychology too because I feel it is a very human [field]. I want to help people,” says Ghita.

Ghita’s goal is driven partly by career orientation sessions organized by SOS Children’s Villages Morocco. She has participated in them for three years and says they have helped her to learn about the working world and how she can succeed.

She has also completed a two-week training at a call center. “I learned what this field is like and how it works. The orientation days also helped me in my studies. I know a lot of things that my other classmates don’t know,” Ghita explains. “I am aware that this is an opportunity that not all young people have.”

As she prepares for a bright future, Ghita is motivated by happy memories from her childhood at the SOS village in Imzouren. She says that the people who inspired her as a child still inspire her today as a young woman.

“SOS will remain the best period of my life. In SOS, I could have a family and a happy childhood,” says Ghita. “A lot of people have left their mark on my life: my SOS mother, my SOS aunt and Madame Béatrice, the national director. The work she does inspires me. She does everything to ensure a good future for young people.”

Around the world, an estimated 71 million young adults under age 25 are unemployed—and women are less likely to participate in the labor market than men. Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to building stronger economies and achieving internationally agreed-upon goals for development and sustainability. When women are educated and employed, it improves the quality of life not only for women but for men, families and entire communities.

To increase youth employability, SOS provides young people with the training and opportunities most relevant to their local job market. SOS offers access to vocational training, hands-on learning through apprenticeships and real-life work experience to give youth the skills that employers are looking for. At the same time, SOS’s entrepreneurial skills development programs prepare young people to go into businesses on their own.

Every young woman deserves the opportunity for success. For Ghita, this is just the beginning!