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Description
The project aims at both sharing the existing broad and diverse experience of the partners as well as exploring new methods and approaches in supporting the equal access to quality education and employment of disadvantaged youth in 4 European countries – Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Spain.
Our target group is 15-29 year old economically disadvantaged youth, among them numerous Roma, as their presence among disadvantaged youth is very high in these countries. To achieve our goal, we cooperate with young people of different challenges, vocational institutions and employers in order for the participants to become more successful in education and also in employment later on. We support young people by personal and group mentoring, competence development, career orientation and hard-skill training besides other activities. We ensure for our partners in the fields of education and employment also capacity building so they can be more successful in their work in educating young people facing challenges and employing them in the long term.
In the period of lockdown we developed diverse methods to continue working with the target groups online. However we are very glad to continue the offline work now since our aim is bring closer the youth to each other and to their success on the fields of education and employment, which can work much better face-to-face.
We involved 1310 young people, 781 students, 717 Roma and 621 women participants in the project. All of them have received personal/group mentoring, and many of them participated in trainings and other developing interventions, which helped them to be successful in education and find jobs.
Summary of project results
Due to inefficient policies and dysfunctional institutions, youth are not receiving adequate support for their career and skill development. Unemployment among them is high. Youth, in general, seem to be left behind, and this is especially true for marginalized and discriminated groups, such as the Roma in our countries: Romania, Spain, Bulgaria, and Hungary. Employers are no different from society as they hold prejudices against the Roma minority. Find Your Way to the World of Work project partners have created and tested methods that enable us to engage, motivate, inspire, and develop youth, guiding them through a developmental process and providing individual and group mentoring. With proven results, we convinced schools that we have solutions to their challenges, alleviating some of their burdens and offering recipes that they can learn and adopt.
Through workshops and individual consultations, we organized meetings with our primary target group, sensitizing employers to the hardships faced by the Roma and helping them better understand the context from which these youth come. While many understand the magnitude of the problem, our institution cannot ensure a sure start for youth, and they are unable to make the necessary policy reforms. Inspiration can come from the NGO sector, which has greater freedom to think outside the box and offer potential solutions and opportunities for change.
As a result, by the end of the project, each partner has solid knowledge in the field, and we can provide solutions not only at the micro level but can also be partners in policymaking. The project provided opportunities for a significant number of youth, boosting their confidence, and developing their basic skills to help them gain employment, and, hopefully, lead fulfilling lives while becoming self-reliant.
We collaborated with vocational schools, companies, and skills development experts to provide tailored mentoring to marginalized Roma youth. Our efforts aimed to equip them with vital skills, enabling them to pursue vocational training and job searches. In total, we fostered the social inclusion of 1,783 youth and young adults, with 334 successfully entering the workforce and 918 returning to education.
Our primary achievement goes beyond directly assisting over 2,000 young individuals; it lies in developing transferable methodologies. These approaches benefit not only schools but also facilitators and policy institutions in this field.
We collaborated with vocational schools, companies, fellow civil society groups, and skills development experts to provide tailored mentoring to marginalized Roma youth in four countries. Our efforts aimed to equip them with vital skills, enabling them to pursue vocational training and job searches without facing discrimination. In total, we fostered the social inclusion of 1,783 youth and young adults, with 334 successfully entering the workforce and 918 returning to education.
Our services were meticulously designed, allowing for instant testing and direct feedback from mentors, schools, teachers, and companies. This active involvement and feedback loop played a pivotal role in our success.
Regarding the mentored youth: We closely monitored the progress of the young individuals who received assistance, assessed their school performance, and evaluated the willingness of schools to engage in continued cooperation. The majority of these young people received valuable support, enabling them to overcome challenges, return to school, and secure employment. Even if they encounter future obstacles, seeking help has become an integral part of their coping strategy, and they will turn to similar institutions for support.
For schools, our methods serve as a source of inspiration. In schools where we implemented methodologies like career guidance, it has become an integral part of the curriculum.
In the case of companies and their HR staff, we assisted them in refining their selection, screening, placement, and mentoring practices.
Our primary achievement goes beyond directly assisting over 2,000 young individuals; it lies in developing transferable methodologies. These approaches benefit not only schools but also facilitators and policy institutions in this field.
Our achievements encompass:
a) Crafting effective strategies to engage and motivate disadvantaged youth in both school and community settings. b) Establishing strong connections with leading companies, serving as exemplary models for the industry. c) Hosting a series of events where employers and professionals presented their businesses and career paths to young individuals making career decisions. d) Creating an event format for efficiently introducing a wide range of professions to a large youth audience. e) Proposing sustainable school methods to support youth with challenging family backgrounds and ease their transition from school to employment.
The transferability of our results has become seamless after many years of experience. We now confidently offer guidance not only to practitioners but also to policymakers and educational institutions, including universities. However, ensuring the sustainability of our activities poses a more intricate challenge.
Two of our team members have already secured a grant from CERV, while some staff members continue their employment. We will maintain a presence in localities for an additional two years in Hungary and Romania, where cooperation is facilitated by a shared language.
Furthermore, our organizations are actively engaged in two Erasmus programs aimed at disseminating the methods we''ve developed. We have also submitted applications to larger funding sources, potentially enabling us to sustain our work at the national level.
In terms of stakeholders, we are committed to nurturing our network and maintaining close relationships with schools and companies.
In Hunagry during the project, we have established important cooperation with the National Office for Vocational and Adult Education, which is the ministry''s back office providing professional support for the vocational education and training system in Hungary. They not only participated in our closing conference, but with the participation of some of the Institute''s staff, we also organised a workshop focused on supporting career choice and reducing drop-out rates from secondary school. The Institute is open to further cooperation on this topic, including joint projects. We hope that with their help we will be able to have access to further agencies and schools too.