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Career guidance, entrepreneurial and digital skills development – innovative programmes of the EU-funded JOBOTECA project for young people in 25 sc

August 2023 was a very busy month for the beneficiaries of the JOBOTECA pilot project – teachers and pupils alike. Throughout the month, Terre des hommes Moldova organised a series of trainings for teachers and a summer school for students to strengthen and develop their knowledge and skills on career guidance, entrepreneurship and digital skills.

Trainings for teachers

From 7 to 20 August, 80 teachers from the 25 partner schools of the JOBOTECA project took part in training sessions organised by Terre des hommes based on the three educational programmes for pupils, developed within the project: “Career guidance”, “Entrepreneurial education” and “Development of digital skills”. After implementing these pilot programmes in their schools during the 2022 – 2023 school year, the teachers met again with last year’s mentors to share their experience and consolidate and deepen their knowledge.

As a first step, the selected experts to develop the curricula worked last year with teachers on the basis of drafts, collecting feedback from them and then adapting the curricula. “Over the course of a year, teachers have had the opportunity to implement the guidelines. We are currently in a monitoring and improvement phase. We are working with them to add new clarifications, ideas, recommendations, which will contribute to improving and updating the Guide“, said Diana Vrabie, mentor and co-author of the “Career Guidance” course material.

Teachers participating in the trainings reported on the challenges and successes in implementing the three programmes:

  • the difficulties they have encountered and the successes they have had in helping students identify their interests and plan their careers;
  • how successful they have been in encouraging creative thinking and the development of entrepreneurial skills among students;
  • discussed the benefits and challenges of using technology in learning and debated creative ways to bring the digital into the classroom, increasing students interest and engagement.

Innovation and Business Summer School

29 middle and high school students from the 25 partner schools in the JOBOTECA project had a unique educational experience during the “Innovation and Business Summer School 2023”, which took place from 18 to 20 August.

During the three days, students had interactive sessions, worked in teams and explored potential business ideas. With the help of the trainers, they had the opportunity to explore the world of innovation and business, as well as to discover and develop essential skills to easily integrate into the labour market.

“I’m 16 years old and I want to create a company that specializes in creating websites. The programme has shown me how to draw up a business plan, analyse potential clients and manage the available budget. After the training, I realized that I need to raise funds to develop the business and take courses in IT“, said Rusu Sergiu, a student of the “Constantin Stere” Theoretical High School in Soroca.

“The aim of the summer school was to help young people learn how to create a business plan and develop their ideas in local teams. We work with concrete steps, from generating ideas to evaluating and consolidating them. In addition, I encourage the adaptation of their ideas in order to avoid financial complexity,” said Diana Vrabie, summer school facilitator.

The 29 young people attending the summer school represent 25 teams from their schools. They returned home to pass on the knowledge they have gained, and for two months the local teams will participate in an online mentoring programme. In November 2023, they will participate in the Entrepreneurial Ideas Competition, with the best teams receiving financial support of €500 to implement their ideas.

“JOBOTECA – Pilot Programme to prepare young people in Moldova for the labour market” (2021 – 2024) is 90% co-financed by the European Union and implemented by Terre des hommes Foundation, Romania and Moldova offices, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova.

25 job libraries have been set up in the Joboteca project in the partner schools. These are youth-friendly spaces, fully equipped, that have been designed to make it possible to implement the pilot programmes to increase young people’s skills – vocational, digital and entrepreneurship skills.