May 14, 2020. СSR Ukraine, Center for CSR Development expert organization in cooperation with UNFPA Ukraine, the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine conducted a final meeting within the programs Skills Lab: Own Business and Skills Lab: Successful Career, which was held online for the first time. These are special training programs to develop and improve successful career-building skills or self-employment.
Male and female participants from 33 youth organizations which are partners of the Pact for Youth 2020 initiative developed their own projects of social enterprises and presented plans for the implementation of programs for young people in 19 regions of Ukraine.
Maryna Saprykina, President of the Center for CSR Development, congratulated the participants in the graduation event and said, “According to LinkedIn’s study, there are 50,000 professional skills in the world. 57% of employers say that it is more difficult to find Soft skills than Hard skills. That's why it's important for us to understand what skills the participants improved by participating in these programs.”
Olesia Kravchenko, Deputy Director of the Youth Policy Department of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, emphasized, “The implementation of Skills Lab projects by participants in their organizations and youth centers at the city and regional levels is about the partnership in general, accessibility of services for youth, and opportunities for the young people’s self-realization. We provide opportunities to increase the ability to work for and with young people.”
Anastasiia Krashevska, the Program Analyst for Partnership and Resource Mobilization at UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, added:
"Male and female participants in Skills Lab: Own Business and Skills Lab: Successful Career has received valuable practical advice from our speakers and examples of companies’ successful cases which they can use for their youth organizations today."
Skills Lab training took the form of webinars using interactive tools (video course, notebooks, challenges) with the participation of leading employers and entrepreneurship experts. Among the speakers of the Successful Career course were female HR specialists from the following companies: Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Procter & Gamble, Auchan Retail Ukraine, and PepsiCo Ukraine. Leaders of entrepreneurship platforms such as Startup Ukraine, Startup.in.UA, JET Accelerator, and Business-Leader School KNU shared their advice on starting a business during the Own Business course.
“Focusing on the young people’s needs associated with finding their first job, retraining and professional self-improvement, starting their own business and building a prosperous company, now that we have completed training and obtained the support of the Center for CSR Development and Career Hub, we can transmit the knowledge gained to young people in Nizhyn, encourage them to develop practical skills, and share successful cases and advice from large thriving companies and professionals,” Anzhela Tymchenko, representative of the Nizhyn City Youth Center, shares her impressions.
Among the participants’ final social business projects are the production of bionic prostheses, event agencies, courses for families, vocational guidance tours, creation of an agrarian cooperative, etc.
