My career academy
Career Development for Youth, funded by the Rotary Foundation
The aim of this project is to increase the professional and social skills of students from the suburbs of Sofia at risk of dropping out by providing career guidance, teaching skills for employment, such as writing a resume and cover letter, applying for a job, behaving at interviewing, setting goals and achieving goals (including planning, time management and effective training).
We conducted a 5-week course
based on our proven methodology that only private schools and business organizations can afford. We used methods such as non-formal education and learning by doing, working on real projects and transformational training.
We measured the results by tracking how many young people found a job after the course or started their education, proving a success level of 7 out of 10 with a very challenging target group.
Aim of the project
With our academy we strive to solve all these problems for 40 young people. We give them an equal start with their peers from “elite schools”. Their development will help their families, the local community and will serve as an example to their classmates. This will serve as proof of the need for such courses, and as a basis for organizing such academies in small towns in Bulgaria with similar problems and needs.
The direct target group
there were 40 students from 11th and 12th grade (with an emphasis on graduates), in two schools in Sofia, Krasna Polyana district. The area and the schools in it were chosen because they have a reputation as schools in a “bad neighborhood” in a remote area, where students are perceived as having no ambitions or future plans. We wanted to change this perception, because it hinders the development of students. The second reason to choose these schools is that they are mixed – we train young people of Bulgarian and Roma origin together.
The skills we teach young people are just as important as the ability to read, so they fall into the literacy class. Our goal was for 50% of course graduates to apply for a job or university within 5 months of completing the course, and for the rest to achieve the same within 15 months.
Gallery
What happened in this project
