We are pleased to announce that Dolna Mitropolia Municipality is launching a new project under the "Education" 2021-2027 program, aimed at promoting intercultural education through culture, science, and sports. The project will be implemented in partnership with 12 organizations, including schools, kindergartens, community centers, and NGOs. Its main goal is to improve intercultural communication and encourage the successful inclusion of children from vulnerable groups in the education system.
Nickolay Boytchev, an IT specialist with a deep focus on cybersecurity, plays an essential role in the projects connected with IT and digtial security by directly contributing his vast knowledge in the digital realm.
Nikolay Todorov, the chairman and financial manager of the Projecteka Association, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in financial management and project implementation to different projects and initiatives.
Why is the project important? Keep reading to see.
Nowadays young people are a most educated group than ever before. However, today’s young generation feels “hopeless” and “powerless” by fears about their job prospects. A top priority of the EU is young people who are the backbone of each society. Over the past 20 years, the EU has incorporated youth priorities at every level to build a better future for all young people.
As a part of these priorities, a series of strategic documents and supportive measures were adopted such as the European Youth Strategy 2019-2027 devoted to three essential areas of action: engage, connect, empower young people from all over Europe. As a result, 11 European goals were developed based on values of equality, inclusion, quality of learning, and employment for all.
The European Youth Guarantee tackles youth unemployment in the EU to ensure young people under the age of 30 receive a good quality offer of continued education, employment, apprenticeship, and traineeship. For the period 2013-2020, the scheme achieved a significant decrease to a record of 14.9% which is still considered as much higher than the overall unemployment rate of 6% (EC, 2022). As a consequence of the pandemic, young people are one of the most affected groups, especially those in a vulnerable situations. It also impacted the quality and quantity of education and training and vulnerable to “scarring” and are more likely to accept jobs for which are overqualified with low pay rates (ILO, 2022).
One of the main factors that foster youth unemployment is the skills mismatch, the difference between the knowledge required for a certain position and what employees can offer. Pellizari and Fichen, 2017 examine the importance of how job requirements are defined for measured skills mismatch. According to a report by UNICEF, more than 50% of employees in 108 countries reported a skills mismatch in their education. What is more, a lack of education and cooperation between educational institutions and employers, contribute to a lack of essential skills for young individuals. These highlight the need to make skills more visible for young generations to be able to make career choices and achieve the goals of the New European Skills Agenda.
The SKIF project aims to address the global problem of youth employment and specifically to bring attention to the skills mismatch as one of the main obstacles to transition to the labour market. More specifically, the project's systematic approach addresses the need for:
inclusive access to quality education and the development of soft and employability skills training and job opportunities for all young people aged 16-30, especially for vulnerable groups; awareness of labor market demands and aligned with young people’s potential; development of training and learning materials according to the needs of young people and relevant to the labor market; encouragement of the close cooperation between educational, training providers and businesses.
The main experts from Projecteka Association, working in this project in the field of development and implmentation of results, project management, partner communication, participation in meetings and other project activities, are Ani Dimitrova, Marinela Docheva, Srebra Ilchevska and others.
Stay tuned for more news!
Projecteka Association is a non-governmental organization established in public benefit with mission to form a community of smart people, sharing the values of knowledge and motivated to exchange ideas.
