Due to the pandemic situation in the country, the Association had temporarily suspended on-the-spot trainings in the field of agriculture and entrepreneurship, aimed at low-skilled and unemployed young people up to 29 years of age (NEETs) within the eNEET Rural project. Since its launch in October 2018 until now, within the project specialized training materials for building basic skills for finding a job and agro-professional skills has been elaborated and face-to-face trainings were conducted in some rural municipalities. An opportunity for distance learning for young people were provided through the developed online learning platform www.eneet-elearning.eu.
From the end of August 2020, UBBSLA returnes to on-site trainings and intends to organize a series of Soft-skills classes (with a focus on basic skills for preparing a CV, participation in a job interview, communication skills, etc.) and Agro-professional skills classes (with a focus on innovation and technology in the agricultural sector).
The first such attendance training course was held in the period 27-28.08.2020 with the participation of unemployed young people from the rural areas of the Aksakovo municipality. The educational level of the population of Aksakovo municipality is low, about 65% of it is lower than secondary education and the relative share (%) of unemployed youth up to 29 is 33%. Trends in youth employment and unemployment do not show significant changes in recent years. The number of employed persons and the unemployment rate are maintained. Given the specifics of the employed population in the tourism industry and related activities, there are trends for a slight decrease in the unemployment rate, as well as an increase in employment during the summer season. The area of Aksakovo municipality has a strong agricultural character and plays an important role in meeting some of the needs of such a large consumer center as Varna with the adjacent resorts.
Fourteen low skilled and unemployed young people aged 18-25 from the villages of Vaglen, Dobrogled, Lyuben Karavelovo and the town of Ignatievo completed two full days the Agro-professional course.
During the first day of the training, the following training modules were included in the program:
- Intelligent communication (preparation of CV, tips and tricks for participation in a job interview, communication tools and public speaking)
- Intelligent work (productivity and self-management, organization and time management, team spirit and team building, problem solving, what to do and what not to do in the new workplace and use of ICT)
- Smart leadership (influence and motivation, crisis management, finding business opportunities, business trends)
The second day of the training focused on modules related entirely to agriculture and entrepreneurship:
- Starting a business (achieving self-empowerment, business fundamentals, generating ideas, financing and accounting, legal framework and status of the company, strategic marketing, branding and packaging, digital marketing)
- Agro-business (basics of agricultural business, plant and crop sector, agri-food sector, horticulture, ecological and bio-agriculture sector, subsidies and support mechanisms)
Individual consultations of the NEETs were held with the UBBSLA trainers in order to provide them with personal support in the approach of finding the right job for them or further development of their business idea. The online platform (eNEET ICT Collaborative Platform) and the possibility for online continuation of the training were presented. All young people received a certificate of completion of the training course and the opportunity to participate in the international Start-up competition, which UBBSLA team will announce soon.
More information about the next planned course and the enrollment procedure can be found here: www.ubbsla.org/eneet-cources
A number of activities are yet to be carried out in support of the young people trained in the project, such as a mentoring program in a local agribusiness company, an international competition for Start-up business ideas, youth exchanges, study visits, etc.
