Description
According to the statistics Slovenia comes first in the field of youth unemployment. The lack of practical experience must be considered as one of the most important reasons for lower competitiveness of young people in the labor market. Within the project 15 non-formal voluntary apprenticeships for 15 young people in 15 NGOs and public organizations will be performed. Beside that innovative program of non-formal voluntary apprenticeships will be established for young people, which will be based on concrete assignments and will therefore enable gaining practical experience and professional competences. The target groups are unemployed young people up to 29 years of age, non-governmental organizations, and public organizations.
Summary of project results
In Slovenia major changes in the education of young people have been witnessing, reflecting the introduction of Bologna system and the construction of a new model of a single European Higher Education Area. With so-called massive study production of highly educated graduates increased. They are now dealing with unemployment and low employment opportunities, which in many cases arises from a lack of practical experience, since only higher education professional programs on first level provide certain proportion of practical training. The project addressed two basic needs of young people: the need for acquiring practical experience, knowledge and skills, and the need for greater competitiveness in the labour market. Thus the Career Kicker’s main objective was to provide first working experiences, new knowledge, competencies and skills for young people entering the labour market. The recipe was simple: participating NGOs published a call on Career Kicker platform and invited young people to submit their proposals for solution of their questions asked. Author of the best solution, chosen by the organization, was invited to perform a 14-days long informal voluntary apprenticeship in the NGO where he continued working on the proposed solution with his mentor. The long-term goal of the project was achieved: based on self-evaluation report the model provided a win-win situation for both sides and 75% of young continued working with the organization even after the 14 week’s period. Project provided 16 informal voluntary apprenticeships for 15 young up to 30 years old in 13 Slovenian NGO's. In most of participating organizations it was observed that the participation of young people continued even after completion of informal voluntary apprenticeship in the workplace. They strongly believe that this is because all young people, who participated in the project activities, showed a high level of motivation and commitment to cooperation. As a result they gained new skills and experiences, and strengthened social and project competences. This indicates the right direction of Career Kicker model towards the need of creating connections among young and NGOs or public organisations. All participants in Career Kicker project (young and mentors) evaluated their experience. Young particularly underlined important experience for further work, new references and incentive for the acquisition of new skills as the most important advantages of participating in the project.
Summary of bilateral results