October 23, 2023
News
In Georgia, Armenia, and Moldova, the realization of vulnerable young people in the labor market and their active involvement in democratic life is still a challenge. The mentioned especially prevents ensuring a dignified life for youth with disabilities. That is why the Caritas Czech Republic and the Coalition for Independent Living, together with the Moldovian organization Millenium and the Armenian organization Agate, are starting a European Union-funded project that will support the employment of vulnerable youth, the improvement of entrepreneurship opportunities, and their active participation in democratic life.
The main directions of the project
The project "Upskilling digital competencies and career management skills of disadvantaged youth" is an EU-funded initiative aimed at enhancing the employability and entrepreneurship of disadvantaged youth, including persons with disabilities, and supporting their active participation in democratic life and labor markets in Georgia, Moldova, and Armenia. The mentioned will be achieved through strengthening digital career consultation services and upskilling disadvantaged youth in digital and entrepreneurship competencies.
The project will work in three main directions, namely: strengthening existing state and CSO-based employment support services in terms of digital career counseling, increasing the technical capacity of CSOs working with disadvantaged youth including PwDs and NEETs and upskilling their digital competencies, and ensuring active participation of youth in democratic and socioeconomic life by increasing their awareness on the opportunities of digitalization as well as risks of cyberbullying and disinformation.
Youth from different regions of Georgia, Armenia, and Moldova will be involved in the project
The EU-funded project activities will target various rural areas of the mentioned three countries, namely: Adjara, Imereti, and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti regions in Georgia; Shiraki, Lori, and Tavush regions in Armenia, and Chisinau, Cahul, and Ungheni regions in Moldova.
At the initial stage of the project, project experts will develop a career counseling manual for digital professions, based on which ToTs will be conducted for career counselors working in the state and non-governmental sectors. By using this program, career counselors will be able to share information with their colleagues and provide counseling to vulnerable youth. In total, twenty career consultants will be trained in each country.
Within the framework of the initiative, project experts will also develop a digital skills development training module for civil society organizations. This in the future will enable them to work intensively with vulnerable youth at the local level and strengthen their digital competencies in an online format.
In order to put the developed programs into practice, the project will announce small grant competitions for civil society organizations working with vulnerable youth, including persons with disabilities, through which the selected organizations will provide career counseling to vulnerable youth in digital professions. This will promote both youth employment and the growth of opportunities.
There will also be a series of webinars for young people on digital risks and opportunities, cyberbullying, and misinformation. In addition, online festivals of digital skills and employment will be organized, which will promote the interests of vulnerable youth and offer them employment opportunities.
The project started in September 2023 and will last for 18 months. The total budget of the initiative is 276,000 Euros.
The aim of the EU4Youth Phase III Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Programme
EU4Youth phase III – Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship is part of DG NEAR’s multi-phase regional EU4Youth programme for the Eastern Partnership (involving Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine). EU4Youth phase III has been programmed under the Regional Action Programme 2020 of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI). The resulting contract is a multi-donor action jointly co-financed by the European Union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. By the Contribution Agreement, the implementation has been delegated to the pillar-assessed Lithuanian Central Project Management Agency (CPVA).
Addressing the economic dimension of the “New Deal for Youth” under the post-2020 Eastern Partnership policy agenda, EU4Youth phase III aims to foster active participation of youth in the societies and economies of the Eastern partner countries, by stimulating youth leadership, entrepreneurship and other skills as well as better youth employment policies, particularly focusing on opportunities for disadvantaged youth. EU4Youth phase III builds on the results, lessons learned, recommendations and developments of previous phases of the EU4Youth programme.
