How to find a job and start a business: a new educational program to be developed for women, seniors, unemployed, migrants and Romani

April 7, 2022

A new educational course is being developed for seniors, the unemployed, migrants, Romani and women after childcare. The course will provide practical and digital skills that will help these disadvantaged groups re-launch their career or start an entrepreneurial initiative of their own.

“The COVID-19 pandemic created even more obstacles for these vulnerable groups. We want to help them re-integrate into the job market under new circumstances, and therefore are working on a program that will provide an up-to-date learning, networking and international internship opportunities that will be tailored for the needs of these specific groups”.

The project is called PAL PUSH II: Integrating the European Knowledge in employment and entrepreneurship for Disadvantaged Groups. It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, and is simultaneously developed in the Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Portugal. The project is a continuation of the previous PAL PUSH initiative.

Based on the educational materials the team is creating, 20 participants in each of the seven countries will go through 60 hours of entrepreneurship training, and 10 of them will have 40 hours of coaching after that, making 70 beginner entrepreneurs in total. In the next step, a group of learners will go through the 10 hours of training of basic computer skills, digital literacy, social media presence, finding jobs online.

Ten people in each country will be invited to participate in networking and job fairs in the form of business speed-dating. Finally, 5 of the participants in each country will be involved in a 2-months internships at local or international companies.

‘We hope that with this project, we will help decrease unemployment in our regions, provide more opportunities to beginner entrepreneurs in terms of access to funds, clients, partners and suppliers – especially those from underrepresented groups, and help stimulate digital innovation and connectivity’.

Project partners:

RomPraha, the Czech Republic

UNISCO – NETWORK PER LO SVILUPPO LOCALE ASSOCIAZIONE, Italy

ASOCIATIA MERGI INAINTE, Romania

ASSOCIAÇÃO MY MADEIRA ISLAND, Portugal

Otvorena medijska grupacija, Croatia

FTHIOTIDOS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Greece

OECON GROUP BULGARIA, Bulgaria