Young people in Moldova are preparing to become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs with EntreComp4Youth

Entrepreneurial competences enable young people to identify opportunities, take initiative, innovate, manage risks, and effectively collaborate, thereby contributing to both personal and economic development. In this context, in October, the EU4Youth Phase III Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship programme organised “Fostering Youth Entrepreneurship in Moldova” webinar. The webinar brought together representatives from public authorities, local institutions, and youth organisations from Moldova and Ukraine to discuss concrete solutions for adapting and utilising EntreComp4Youth tools and ways to support youth entrepreneurship.

EntreComp4Youth and EntreGram4Youth – tools for young entrepreneurs to be developed in Moldova

EntreComp4Youth offers an entrepreneurial competence framework to enhance the entrepreneurial competences of citizens, youth, and organisations across Europe, promoting a unified approach to entrepreneurship development. This framework provides a shared understanding of entrepreneurial competences, outlining learning outcomes and competences’ levels. 

EntreGram4Youth, a self-assessment tool developed within EntreComp4Youth framework, helps young people to identify the level of entrepreneurial competencies and areas for growth. 

During the webinar, participants discussed how these tools could be potentially adapted and localised to realities of Moldova and how government agencies, educational institutions, and youth organisations can work together on this task.

Giuseppe Paglione, Programme Manager for Education, Youth and Culture, Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova: „EntreComp is a tool that could be adapted between international requirements and the needs of target groups of younger people in the Republic of Moldova. This EntreComp framework and the EntreGram are conceptualised to enable the young people to assess the entrepreneurial skills, providing a self-awareness tool for those considering starting a business, and then the younger people identify the entrepreneurial characteristics, and more strategically direct their career and educational pathways. Youth policies at large are taken very seriously by the European Union. In the case of Moldova, in view of the European integration process that this country has undertaken in the most recent years, initiatives like the one of today are very important for aligning the Moldova Youth employment and entrepreneurship with the best practices in youth policies in the EU.”

Intersectoral collaboration, essential for implementing EntreComp in Moldova 

The event brought together 56 representatives from various institutions, including the National Employment Agency (ANOFM), the Ministry of Education and Research, the Organisation for 

the Development of Entrepreneurship, the State Tax Service, the Centre for Entrepreneurial Education and Business Assistance, Junior Achievement Moldova, and several civil society organisations (MilleniuM, Universe Resource Centre, EcoVisio, Association GAL Trei Coline, GAL Vasile Stroescu). This involvement emphasised the importance of collaboration between government, the education sector, and youth organisations to create a favorable entrepreneurial ecosystem for young people.

Raisa Dogaru, Director of the National Employment Agency of the Republic of Moldova (ANOFM): “EntreComp is a very good initiative for young people in Moldova, but also for ANOFM, which has the mandate to implement services and measures in the labor market and to work with young people. ANOFM is aware of the needs of young people who come to the agency, and this competence framework would help young people to assess their entrepreneurial skills. EntreComp represents key competences for entrepreneurs and can support entrepreneurial learning in different areas: civil society, campaigning, education, youth work, start-ups, etc. EntreComp gives an overview of competences that are different but interconnected”.

This webinar is part of a series of regional workshops dedicated to supporting youth entrepreneurship measures in the Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Belarus. These serve as platforms for exploring ways to improve employment policies and adapt European entrepreneurship framework to the local needs. Webinar participants were given access to the web resources of the EntreComp4Youth framework and EntreGram4Youth self-assessment tool for testing. At a recap regional event, scheduled for November, participants will have the opportunity to provide feedback and ideas on how these tools can be implemented in Moldova and other Eastern Partnership countries.

Which parts of the Entrepreneurship Competence Framework can be adopted and implemented in Moldova? Tell us at euyouthyee@gmail.com. 

The adaptation of the EntreComp4Youth framework and elaboration of the EntreGram4Youth self-assessment tool was initiated by the EU4Youth Phase III Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship programme, co-funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.