I listened to a Promenade concert on Radio 3 recently (while decorating a ceiling!) and I realised I was listening to something quite remarkable. It wasn’t just the music, which was exceptionally spirited, it was also the rapturous reception from the audience – the warmest and most enthusiastic I think I have ever heard. Perched up on my ladder, covered in paint, I was intrigued. During the interval there was a talk about the origins of the orchestra, and I found out why this concert was so special.

The whole experience set me thinking (what else is there to do when decorating a ceiling?) about the business of offering people opportunities that have the potential to transform their lives.

The orchestra performing with such obvious gusto was the Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. The orchestra owes its existence to a remarkable initiative taken 32 years ago by an economist called Jose Antonia Abreu. He decided he had to do something to rescue the poor children in Venezuela who were being forced by gangs, and their impoverished circumstances, into drugs, prostitution and crime. He gathered 11 children together in an underground car park, gave them musical instruments and started to teach them to play. At the next session there were 25 children, and then 46, and then 75, and so on.

This was the start of a scheme that eventually won government funding, and today employs 15,000 music teachers and involves 250,000 children throughout Venezuela. Their musical education programme leads the world in its scope and ambition. For the children involved, music is practically the only escape route open to them – the only hope for a dignified social existence.

The scheme’s national education co-ordinator, Eduardo Mendez, started as a five-year-old fiddler. The conductor of the Prom concert I heard was Gustavo Dudamel, another product of ‘the system’. The whole orchestra is full of extraordinary success stories – the leading clarinettist, for example, Lennar Acosta, is just one of many who was persuaded to swap his gun for an instrument.

The results have been so impressive that the Scottish Arts Council has just announced the start of a similar scheme for young people from the Raploch area of Stirling. Its aim is not just to develop musical expertise, but also to give children the opportunity to learn discipline, respect and co-operation. It will be fascinating to see if the Venezuelan experience will be replicated.

This story is surely a splendid example of how one man’s vision, tenaciously pursued, has triumphed. But it is also an example of the importance of providing people with opportunities – even if the take-up is patchy.

I have direct experience of this through my work with the Prisoners’ Education Trust. The Trust offers prisoners the opportunity to do distance learning courses while being ‘banged up’. Last year, 2,996 prisoners applied for funding but, with a total prison population (in England and Wales) of more than 80,000, less than four per cent of prisoners actively sought out the opportunity – and lack of funds means that the Trust typically can only give awards to 70 per cent of the prisoners who apply.

However, despite only scratching the surface, the Trust is bombarded with heartfelt feedback from prisoners about how worthwhile are the opportunities that it offers. Here is a typical quote: “The motivation to change the pattern of my life has been due to the trust you have given me to maintain focus and, for the first time, to actually achieve some positive goals. Throughout my life, my self-esteem has been very low but now I am showing signs of becoming someone I never thought I could be. Today, I am the best me I have ever been and you helped me get there.”

Two hundred and fifty thousand children in Venezuela sounds like a big number, but Venezuela has a young population (there are estimated to be about eight million children younger than 14) and only about 0.3 per cent of children are involved in the musical education programme. By comparison, the Prisoners’ Education Trust reaches a bigger percentage of the prison population – though it clearly has a long way to go before it can offer learning opportunities to all 80,000 prisoners.

However, my point is that offering opportunities, even when they are taken up by a few, is worthwhile. Who can possibly doubt that opportunities, particularly learning opportunities, have the capacity to transform lives?

In a sense, trainers exist in order to offer people developmental opportunities and to keep on doing so, undaunted by any obstacles. When you feel fainthearted, listen to the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

Dr Peter Honey, FRSA, FCIPD, FIMC is a chartered psychologist and founder of Peter Honey Publications. He can be contacted on +44 (0) 1628 633946, at peterhoney@peterhoney.com or visit www.peterhoney.com.

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