EU-funded project JOBOTECA – a space for innovative ideas and personal development for students and teachers from 25 schools in the Republic of Moldova

JOBOTECA is the meeting place for ambitious and curious youth, where they learn new things, exchange ideas and experiences. After more than half a year of not seeing each other in person, 25 school students – members of the JOBOTECA Advisory Group – from 5 districts from Moldova met again during spring break for a new teambuilding.

As they have only communicated online during this time, the reunion and reconnection was a joy for all of them, strengthening their team spirit even more. “It was a reunion we had been looking forward to for a long time. It was interesting to see how much we have changed, both physically and spiritually, in all this time since our last offline meeting”, noted Renata, an 8th grader from the village of Grozești (r. Nisporeni).

For 3 days, the students participated in the training offered by Terre des hommes Moldova on topics chosen by them in advance, which they consider the most important for their development at this stage. In this way, they consolidated their knowledge and trained their public speaking and time management skills. At the same time, they developed an action plan and set out the activities they will carry out in their schools.

“I really liked the game-based activities because they leave a stronger impression. One basic idea that I left with after these days is how important it is to understand and accept all people. I also developed my public speaking skills and understood efficient and correct time management!”, said Ian, also an 8th grader from the village of Zubresti (r. Straseni).

Alongside the students, 70 teachers and school managers from the 25 schools also participated to a training course. They met from 26 to 29 April in Vadul-lui-Vodă, where they took part in sessions on “Entrepreneurial education”, “Career guidance” and “Development of digital skills”. Subsequently, based on the knowledge gained, the teachers will implement the Joboteca programme in schools, offering career guidance training to students.

“It was a very welcome training programme. We discovered a lot of very useful new things that we can implement both in the programme and in the classroom. We also reinforced some of our knowledge, such as SWAT analysis, which is a very good tool for evaluating an activity or institution. As a result of this course, I will work a lot with secondary and high school students and actively involve them in activities such as the “CV Baseline” or the GROW method, so that they can see what steps they need to take next and what their options are. We will also plan activities with experts in the field from next academic year onwards. I will support them and help them to choose their future profession correctly and it is important to do it with passion”, said Vera Botnaru, director of the “Ion Inculeț” Theoretical High School, Vorniceni village, Strășeni district.

“JOBOTECA – pilot programme to prepare young people in Moldova for the labor market” (2021 – 2024) is an innovative project, funded by the European Union, being implemented in 25 schools in the districts of Soroca, Calarasi, Nisporeni, Straseni and Causeni. These schools have been equipped with a “career library”, where students of secondary and high school classes will participate in programmes to guide them in choosing a profession. In total, by the end of the project, more than 3,000 students will benefit from career guidance and participate in training, mentoring and internship programmes to develop and strengthen their skills to make the right career choice.

The project, with a budget of more than 1 million EUR, is implemented by Terre des hommes Romania and Terre des hommes Moldova Foundation, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova and is financed by the European Union.