1. TEAM: KIRISOR COUNTRY: ROMANIA Learn more than just theory, learn skills!

2. Experience Youth unemployment in Romania is affecting, in average, 23% of the youth and it is on an increasing trend since 2008 The country average unemployment rate is only 7% Affected youth are aged between 18-29 years old Statistics are showing that youths which had bad results in high school at math and languages are also having difficulties in finding a job

3. Experience Youth unemployment is costing Romania 2,1 billion Euros each year Most young people decide to leave the country in search of employment opportunities. Preferred countries for migration are France, UK, Germany, Italy and Spain – as most of them know the language and they can easily integrate

4. Discover The main cause of youth unemployment is the lack of experience and skills that employers are looking for The labor market is also limited to call centers or support centers for multinationals or IT companies. Therefore, young people not speaking a foreign language or not having IT skills will find it difficult to find employment The university curricula is also centered more around theory than on practice that could allow gain of skills needed for the specific field

5. Proposed Solution Create a youth organization or group focused on the youth unemployment and youth insertion into the labor market As the number one cause of youth unemployment is lack of skills which are not gained through the theoretical curricula of the universities, the main focus of this organization will be to help youth get the skills they need in order to be competitive in the field they are preparing.

6. Proposed Solution The organization will review each university’s curricula against the skills required by businesses operating in the university filed and propose trainings/workshops/internships that will allow participants to gain such skills These resources should be free of charge The funds to sustain the trainings/workshops and information resources should be obtained from public funds – local and European, donations and collaboration with companies working in the industries of interest

7. Proposed Solution The organization will offer:  An online platform with useful resources about university profiles, curricula and required skills in a specific field  An online internship database organized by field and skills  A series of trainings and workshops aiming to develop a certain skill or set of skills  Recommendation of other training programs relevant for a certain field or skill  Interviews, meetings and various events with people working in a specific field or company operating in that field  A community of youth who can discuss issues, successes, challenges, improvement suggestions etc

8. Proposed Solution The target group will be the students for whom the university curricula proves to lack the necessary training on business required skills The focus will be on students are they are the most likely to leave the country if they cannot find employment here Also, the government is already investing in these young people through the university system Students are also investing a certain amount of time in education, hoping this will give them a better chance to find employment and they become disappointed when this is not happening

9. Planned Results and Outcomes In the first six months the online platform should be complete and a community formed Starting with the second half of the first year the first workshops/trainings should be delivered The aim is to deliver weekly trainings/workshops to up to 20 participants per workshop The trainers could be collaborators or young people specialized in training or in the field of the specific training

10. Planned results and outcomes The success would be measured by the number of students who manage to find a job via the organization or, as a result of skills gained through our training programs Around 1000 young people should be trained per year Many more should benefit from the online platform resources Youth unemployment rate should drop by at least 5 points in the next 3 to 5 years