ＵＴＣ－Ｃｈａｏｙａｎｇ Ｒｅｅｍｐｌｏｙｍｅｎｔ Ｐｒｏｇｒａｍｍｅ

United Technologies Corporation recently decided to donate $50，000 a year for 3 consecutive years， a total sum of $150，000 to China Friendship Peace and Development Foundation under the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. The donation will be used to sponsor China’s reemployment training project. The initial project kicked off on October 18， 2004 in Chaoyang Vocational School of Beijing which is expected to provide free vocational training for more than 350 unemployed women in Chaoyang District， Beijing and help them to find jobs after training.

One of the 500 top companies of the world， UTC owns many famous brands such as Otis elevator， Carrier air conditioner， Sikorsky helicopter， Pratt Whitney airplane engine， etc.It has invested more than $450 million in China and has more than 30 cooperative and joint venture projects. UTC not only devotes large amount of capital into Chinese market， bringing with it sophisticated and high-quality products， but also supports the public welfare projects which are conducive to China’s social development. Over the years， UTC has sponsored many such kind of projects for the colleges and communities. In line with the reemployment programme of Beijing Municipal Government and at the suggestion of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries， UTC generously donates for the free training of unemployed women to help them master new knowledge and skills so that they can be reemployed. This will on the one hand solve the financial problem of the unemployed women and on the other hand provide qualified workers to the vocational markets who are in short supply such as household management workers.

Being the largest district of Beijing， Chaoyang District has a large number of unemployed women. The government of Chaoyang District attaches great importance to the reemployment work and sets up a special leading group in this respect. In the first half of this year， over 6，000 unemployed women in the district received vocational guidance. Entrusted by Chaoyang Labour and Social Security Bureau， Chaoyang Vocational School provides free reemployment training to the unemployed women. In accordance with their characteristics and the needs of the communities， the school offers the following vocational training: household service， baby care， family management， beauty treatment， hairdressing， knitting， flower arrangement， sanitation， health care， massage， and use of computer. The training period varies from 8 days to two and a half months. Those who pass the training will be issued official certificates. In recent years， the school has adopted flexible methods to give different kinds of training through which over 60% of the trainees have found jobs.

Under this project， an unemployed woman in Chaoyang District can register at the nearby neighbourhood office in charge of finding jobs for the unemployed and choose the type of training， then she will be recommended to the vocational school. The school will sign contracts with the companies that need workers before the training starts in order to ensure the reemployment rate. On top of this， the school will set up a special scholarship for the excellent ones who wish to receive further training.

This donation project is initiated by the CPAFFC. The Beijing Municipal People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries is involved in contacting and organizing work. In order to better utilize foreign funds to support public welfare projects， the China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development was founded by CPAFFC in 1996. The foundation is engaged in sponsoring activities which are conducive to people’s welfare， social development and world peace. By the end of 2002， the total sum donated by domestic and foreign companies， organizations and individuals amounts to 40 million yuan (about 5 million US dollars).

The Beijing Municipal People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries was founded in 1981， a group member of the CPAFFC. It has long kept friendly and cooperative relationship with various people’s organizations at provincial and municipal level across the country and is a channel for conducting exchanges with foreign countries in the fields of economy， sports， youth， culture， etc.