27 Bulgarian organisations are the first ones to join the National Action Plan implementing the objectives of the European Pact for Youth
Eight priorities of change, involving all key stakeholders: teachers, students, parents, schools and universities, companies and branch organisations as well as non-governmental organisations, are set out in the National Plan.
„The world is changing, the youth is changing, education is changing, business is changing, too. Young people expect their work to make sense, to bring benefits for society.“ said Jacques Spelkens, a member of the board of CRS Europe, referring the signing of the National Action Plan implementing the European Pact for Youth.
The Pact for Youth is initiated by the leading European business network for responsible business, CSR Europe, and the European Commission, and aims to improve the professional opportunities for young people through creating business-education partnerships and providing new traineeships or entry-level jobs. This type of partnership is the new norm of behaviour in Europe. EU’s business leaders and educational institutions have created over 23,000 collaborations, while meaningful apprenticeships, traineeships and entry-level jobs are already over 160,000 in Europe.
The National Action Plan focuses on eight action priority areas aiming to improve the quality of education, teacher training, active involvement of companies and parents in the management of educational institutions, personalized education and early professional orientation for each child. The Bulgarian document is one of the 24 national plans adopted, and the participants stood up in front of the European Commission with three joint proposals for new policies:
- Make business-education partnerships the new norm
- Make vocational education and training an equal choice for all
- Develop entrepreneurship and soft skills on all stages of education
The National Action Plan is an invitation for partnership and forthcoming collaboration, an open call to all stakeholders.
„The responsible business is a force for good: its role is to be innovative not only in the services and products it offers, but also to work for the benefit of society by recognizing the challenges, seeking, investing, experimenting and offering solutions “ said Ognian Trajanov, Chairman of the UN Global Compact Network Bulgaria.
As a first step in its implementation, he pointed out:
„Our main approach is to work with the branch organizations who would recognize the key professions for their industry, to combine their efforts with the professional organizations and then work together with the youth – to attract their interest, to gain their trust and then help for the proper education and development of future experts.“
Anyone interested in taking part at the execution of one or more of the actions included in the National Plan may state their commitment by filling in an online form here.
See pictures from the event here