Project ˝Youth Empowerment and Employability Strengthening – YEES! ˝ is co-funded Erasmus + Programme (Capacity Building in the Field of Youth) for a period of two years, January 2022 – until the end of 2024. The project brings together 6 partner organizations from 3 Programme countries; Balkan Development Centre from Serbia, Mobility Friends from Portugal and Active Youth from Lithuania and three partners from the Western Balkan Region (NGO Ekvivalent and Cultural Centre Homer from Montenegro and Greenways from Bosnia and Herzegovina). All partners work directly with youth but also with organizations working with youth, youth workers and other relevant stakeholders.
Project focuses on establishing connection between relevant sectors and jointly working on increasing employment and employability of youth, creating services and mechanisms that foster local activity level for youth employment and employability. The project is fully in line with the scope of the Call Capacity Building in the Field of Youth through the creation of international cooperation based on multilateral partnerships between organizations active in the field of youth which aims to support international cooperation in the field of youth and non-formal learning as a driver of sustainable socio-economic development and well-being of youth organizations and young people. It also contributes to reaching the objectives: raising capacity of organizations working with young people outside of formal learning: promoting non-formal learning activities in partner countries, especially targeting young people with fewer opportunities though improving the level of competencies and the development, testing and launching schemes and programmes of non-formal learning mobility and enhancing synergies and complementing formal education and labour market demands.
Thematic areas/specific objectives addressed through the project are: inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities: anti-discrimination and gender equality (which will be mainstreamed through the entire project) and main focus is on the empowerment, engagement and increasing the employability of young people.
The project addresses both youth workers and CSOs working with youth to increase their capacities to prepare and provide adequate trainings for young people and other vulnerable groups which would contribute to increasing their employability and preparedness for job search and employment. The second aspect is direct work and provision of created trainings to youth which contribute directly to increasing their knowledge and preparedness for job searching and increasing their employment potentials through improved competencies, skills and understanding of the business sector. This meaning that through the project, participants gain insight into what employers look for when hiring, what they expect from employees, etc. Young people go through training modules which consist of general trainings (personal competencies), trainings on entrepreneurship, project management and youth empowerment and engagement. Additionally, the project is a link between the youth and CSO working with youth and different sectors (business and public) to contribute to increased cooperation and collaboration in youth employment potentials and opportunities. The business sector will have the opportunity to openly discuss with youth what they feel are problems, what young people can do to better prepare for employment and what they can expect on the job. The project brings together relevant stakeholders to increase cooperation and understanding between sectors.
Through foreseen project activities more than 650 persons will be directly involved while the outreach and project impact will be much higher.
The Overall Project Objective is: to contribute to strengthening skills and competencies of youth workers, young people and vulnerable groups to increase youth employability and increase their involvement in the democratic life.
Specific Objectives:
Developed new tools and non-formal learning methods for youth workers, especially those improving competencies and skills contributing to increasing employability of young people
Increased knowledge and employability of youth, youth gained practical experiences in job searching through direct contact with business sector and inter sector cooperation,
Youth workers exchange experiences and gain insight in methods of partner organizations used to increase competencies and skills of young people
Contributing to increasing youth potentials and to increasing engagement in decision-making processes, employability and practice to become active citizens
Bringing together different sectors to contribute to increasing youth potentials and to increase engagement in decision-making processes, employability and practice to become active citizens.
The project implementation is divided into 4 Work Packages. Work Package 1 – Project Management – (Quality Control, Monitoring and Evaluation) – includes all activities relevant and required within the project implementation, monitoring implementation and assessment of project achievements, execution of project finances as planned in a transparent, accountable and responsible manner and quality control management. Work Package 2 Training preparation and implementation – includes gathering experiences and insight into EU partner experiences related to youth empowerment, increasing employability of youth and other vulnerable groups in the relevant sectors. Furthermore, the creation of 4 training modules which will be tested through 3 mobility training courses and then used for non-formal learning methods with young people to contribute to increasing their employability, to empower them and to encourage them to be active members in society and participate in decision making processes in their communities. The WP mainly focuses on increasing capacities of trainers and persons who will use the training modules in work with youth to apply the new non – formal learning methods. Work Package 3: Events and local trainings – Testing new training modules through which youth workers, trainers and representatives of youth organizations and civil society organizations will further apply their new knowledge through trainings and multiply events at the local levels. This work is directed directly toward the upscaling of practices and outreach. Work Package 4: Communication, Dissemination and Impact – to secure adequate project visibility, communication, dissemination of project results and impact on a wider level.
SAOPŠTENJE ZA MEDIJE: Održana prva press konferencija u okviru realizacije projekta: “Youth Empowerment and Employability Strengthening – YEES!”
Nevladina organizacija “Ekvivalent” u saradnji sa nevladinom organizacijom Kulturni centar “Homer” organizovala je prvu press konferenciju u okviru realizacije projekta “Youth Empowerment and Employability Strengthening – YEES!” koji sufinansira Evropska unija kroz program Erasmus+ (Izgradnja kapaciteta u oblasti mladih) u trajanju od dvije godine. Projekat ima za cilj: “Doprinos jačanju vještina i kompetencija mladih radnika, mladih i marginalizovanih grupa kako bi se povećala zapošljivost mladih i povećala njihova uključenost u demokratski život.”
Konferencija je održana 25. februara u sali Centra za razvoj nevladinih organizacija u Podgorici sa početkom u 10 časova. Na otvaranju press konferencije ispred nevladine organizacije “Ekvivalent” prisutnima se obratila izvršna direktorica Svetlana Cicvarić kojom prilikom je istakla, da su u sprovođenje ovog projekta uključene još tri partnerske organizacije iz tri zemlje Programa: “Balkanski razvojni centar” iz Srbije, “Mobility Friends” iz Portugala i “Active Youth” iz Litvanije, dok je pored nevladine organizacije “Ekvivalent” i nevladine organizacije Kulturni centar “Homer” iz Crne Gore, od partnera iz regiona Zapadnog Balkana uključena i nevladina organizacija “Greenways” iz Bosne i Hercegovine. Dalje je u svom izlaganju predstavila projektne aktivnosti koje će biti realizovane na području Crne Gore u naredne dvije godine.
Ispred nevladine organizacije Kulturni centar “Homer”, prisutnima se obratila Ivana Peruničić, finansijska menadžerka koja je u svom izlaganju predstavila četiri radna paketa koja su predviđena ovim projektom.
Na kraju događaja, izvršna direktorica nevladine organizacije “Ekvivalent” je navela da će se u okviru ovog projekta organizovati i završna konferencija na kojoj će biti predstavljeni postignuti rezultati.
S poštovanjem,
Svetlana Cicvarić
Izvršna direktorica
