Description
The project addresses the link between low education and poverty due to the delayed secondary and higher education reforms and the mismatch between the academic standards and the labour market demands. The project aims at contributing to better policies to reduce poverty. First, an analysis of employment as a factor of poverty and inequality will be carried out. Second, an analysis of the relationship between education and employment, youth unemployment and mobility in particular, will be carried out. Third, 2 informal expert groups will be set up to discuss the above issues. Fourth, a regional council will be set up to examine regional good practices and present them in reports. Finally, ongoing monitoring of institutions and policies will be carried out including 100 meetings with parliamentary committees. The project will benefit the target groups of decision-makers, NGOs, young people and the general public.
Summary of project results
Poverty in Bulgaria has been traditionally addressed through the point of view of social assistance and the capacity of the budget to solve social issues. The factors leading to poverty have often been ignored which is an obstacle to the application of successful public policies. The project focused on education and the labour market as key areas to solve poverty issues in the country. The main goal of the project is to raise the quality of the policies pertaining to education and employment, jobs and income, poverty and inequality in the country. Making use of a lot of data that has been inaccessible so far, presenting data adequately to the broad public under the project helped the project gain recognition as a key project raising awareness about poverty. The surveys and research carried out were summarized in several thematic analyses available on the project website. The work in informal groups helped establish a good dialogue among the experts and achieve consensus positions and decisions about policies related to the various groups at risk. The active work on monitoring and publicity ensured permanent dialogue with the public institutions and involvement in policy-making, i.e. more than 50 visited parliamentary committees, 10 official positions, more than 100 publications and media coverage. The sustainability of the project results was ensured by the boosted capacity of the Institute, the recognition of the topic of poverty as part of its mission and the informal partnerships built under the project that are still in place. For more information and access to the analytical products, please, visit:
http://www.bednostbg.info/
Summary of bilateral results