“New Opportunities and New Approaches to increase the employability of young people with a university degree at the territory of Dubrovnik Neretva County” is a regional project implemented by DEŠA association which was funded from Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance – IPA. This support system does not have defined fields, but it was mostly focused on Sustainable Tourism.
The purpose of this project was to reduce the unemployment of specific target groups of young people in Dubrovačko-neretvanska County by adapting project activities to labour market requirements. The overall objective of the project corresponded to the priorities of the Human Resources Development Operational Program for the period 2007-2009. According to county statistics, over 300 students graduate annually in the County of Dubrovnik-Neretva, mainly in the economic direction. Only 10% of them find work, and only 5% find a job in their profession. remaining they are continually looking for a job and appearing in the Employment Service waiting for the call. After several years of inactivity, they are at the edge of social exclusion with all the problems that it brings. Due to these problems, DEŠA wanted to enable additional training of young people in the county to improve their knowledge and increase their employability in a demanding labour market. By increasing the level of knowledge and skills of young people, DEŠA wanted to target the target groups with greater opportunities for employment in tourism, which is the most important economic branch of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. With the acquisition of knowledge and skills in project management, young people were prepared for the challenges of Croatia’s accession to the EU.
Courses provided in the project enabled young people to find a paid job, though seasonal. Since young people were actively engaged by participating in all training activities, their families also benefited from these activities. The local community also benefited from this project because the population of young people is professionally trained. HZZ Dubrovnik Regional Office has also benefited from this project as it has increased its staff capacity to provide better services to target groups.
During the implementation of the project, it was noted that resignation and lack of interest in target groups can be neutralized by the right approach and the innovative methodology of project implementation. In this way, most young people become interested in more topics, especially for foreign languages.
During the implementation of the project, it was established that young people need further training of key skills after completing their education because they cannot find adequate or any job. In this regard psychologically endangered. That is why young people need further education as a motivation for job search. Measures that relate to active employment policies and specific working conditions for adolescents in disadvantaged positions in the labour market were provided. Directly influenced the improvement of the knowledge and skills of young people, which is related to technical skills and management skills. This is enabled by the implementation of specially designed training programs for acquiring new knowledge and skills. In this respect, project activities are planned for unemployed young people to increase and improve their labour market capacity and ensure a better position in society. By acquiring work, young people also gain economic independence and basic human rights – the right to work. It can be concluded that the level of competitiveness and employability of the target group in the labour market has been increased.
Find out more on: http://www.youth-dubrovnik.com/