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Lourdes Arragón, a shabbily dressed woman of 26 who has already lost most of her teeth, despairs as she recounts how difficult it is to find work in El Alto, the sprawling city that has grown up alongside the airport at La Paz, Bolivia’s capital.

“They always ask you about your experience. They say ‘well, I’m sorry, it is going to take too long to train you’”, says Ms Arragón, whose most recent spell of temporary employment as a assistant in an ice cream parlour earned her about $20 a month.

But her expression suddenly brightens as she describes how she has learned to operate a sewing machine as part of a vocational education programme. “It is slow but I am learning to use the machine. Three months of training, two months of practice and then – hopefully – I’ll get a job,” says Ms Arragón, who is desperate to earn funds to help her ill mother, invalided brother and other members of a needy family.

The scheme, run by Entra 21, an NGO that has been set up by the Washington-based International Youth Foundation, is part of a broader initiative designed to address one of Latin America’s most pressing development problems – very high levels of unemployment among younger people.

Four out of every ten residents of working age in El Alto (the city’s population exceeds 800,000) are unemployed, with rates exceptionally steep among people in their late teens and twenties. Elizabeth Denious, of the Quipus non-government organisation that is working with Entra 21 in La Paz, says that only one in five El Alto school leavers find jobs.

For the poorly educated – such as Ms Arragón – it is particularly tough. But even brighter high school graduates spend most of their time scratching a living from occasional part-time jobs.

Ramiro Ramos, who is also 26, has taught himself how to repair computers and simpler electrical devices but is still dependent on the few Bolivianos he earns from helping run his father’s tiny building business. “It is really frustrating. I just haven’t been able to apply what I’ve learned,” says Mr Ramos, who recently started an Entra 21 information technology course.

And youth unemployment is not just a problem in poorer countries such as Bolivia. Neighbouring Chile’s economy has grown by an annual average of more than 5 per cent in the last 15 years, a performance that makes it by far the most successful in the region. But there too the government is struggling to create enough jobs for younger people.

With the costs of capital falling fast as a result of new technologies, employers are tending to replace workers with machines. Unemployment has stuck around 10 per cent as a result, with rates among younger people as much as twice that. “Growth just isn’t translating into employment creation”, says Hernán Araneda, who works for Fundación Chile, another NGO that has teamed up with Entra 21.

Entra 21 – which was set up in 2003 – runs more than 30 projects in 26 countries in the region. Funded by $10m from the Inter-American Development Bank’s multilateral investment fund, and $15m from a range of other donors, the organisation aims to tackle the problem by linking training to employers’ real needs and actual job opportunities. Programmes are developed after discussions with local employers about the kind of skills needed and in the sectors most likely to generate employment opportunities.

In El Alto, Entra 21 teaches information technology skills that can be used in areas that are expected to grow. Mr Ramos is learning about satellite and wireless communications technology, knowledge that will eventually equip him to work on plans to link up isolated rural communities.

Ms Arragón’s newly acquired sewing skills should allow her to bid for a job in a small but relatively vibrant clothes exports industry. In Brazil, the tourism ministry and a trade association are backing Entra 21 training programmes for the hotel sector. And in Chile, the emphasis is on computers and information technology.

The courses also provide life skills that help young people deal with the psychological consequences of unemployment and learn to acquire the time-keeping and other disciplines necessary to keep any job.

Silvana, a 28-year-old single mother from the Santiago suburb of Maipú, has had a rough time since losing her job as a store manager in a pharmacy three years ago, but she has found a new lease of life with computers and can envisage a future that will allow her to leave her poorly paid part-time job at a supermarket. “It has really helped me a lot. I realise now that I could aim for something better.”