Initial focus of Building a Future Foundation will be on tsunami affected youth from the Southern coast of Sri Lanka which has remained relatively an under developed area for the past so many years. This situation was worsened after the devastation caused by the tsunami. More than ever before, there is a crying need to empower youth to find a sustainable and gainful employment.

BAF Foundation will focus on areas that have a market demand, since the primary objective of the foundation is the facilitation of gainful employment for youth upon successful completion of training.

In addition to being a provider of training and technology the foundation will also provide facilities to commence commercial activities on a selective basis.

Based on the above criteria, BAF Foundation has initially identified the following major areas of training for youth:

A. Sea Based Activities		B. Land Based Activities
1. Fisheries Section	2. Leisure Section
. Sashimi	. Sashimi	1. Training
. MK I & MK II Retrofits: 19 & 28 feet boats	Water Sports . Sailing Training for Youth: Ruhunu Sailing Association . Harbour Support	Workshop
3.Boat building		2.Main Workshops
4. Sail making		- Mechanical & Electrical
5. Mast making		- Aluminium & Bronze
		- Polyurethane - Moulded Rubber - Plastic - Composite Structures - Related Mechanical Engineering

60 youth per year will be trained and provided with employment, which differentiates the BAF program from normal vocational training. All training programs include: written and spoken English, marketing, small business management, basic bookkeeping and computer applications.

BAF will help the youth to organize themselves into corporative societies or partnerships to provide the main activities proposed by the foundation, namely leisure sailing, leisure boat building, repairs, maintenance and sail manufacturing on a commercial basis. The areas of training have been identified in a manner that they easily form into interlocking value chains.

generating employment. The foundation makes the necessary inputs not only the training, but also the resources and infrastructure to develop some economic activities which were either non existing or which were under exploited due to lack of technology and / or new ideas.

Opposite the classic concepts of cooperation development practiced by various development agencies, we strongly believe the outcome will bring positive results and strengthen the local communities.

ACTUAL STATUS OF TRAINEES PER PROJECT

PROJECT	TRAINEES	EMPLOYED	TOTAL
Boat building (wooden and fibreglass)	30	9	39
Mirissa Water Sports		11	11
Sail making	6	12	18
Mechanical & electrical	26	13	39
TOTAL	62	45	107
Status as per September 2008