Project “INNO-JOBS: Creation of employment opportunities in the trans border region by identification of innovative jobs and delivery of specialized training”

 INNO-JOBS brings together the people, communities and economies of the Romania-Bulgaria cross border region to participate in joint economic cooperation, mobilising the area’s human resources and advantages in a sustainable way by exchange of employment opportunities and establishment of cross border training services to best suit the integrated market needs.

Overall Strategic Goal: To bring together the people, communities and economies of the Romania-Bulgaria border area to participate in the joint development of a cooperative area, using its human, natural and environmental resources and advantages in a sustainable way.

The project develops specific training services with a view on the application, promotion and stimulation of innovations and high-technologies (training and reference tools and methods; specific business-oriented trainings, apprenticeships, mutual visits, best practice exchange, and broad campaign for visibility and dissemination) and employment opportunities in the traditional for Dobrudja sectors of tourism and agriculture.

Activities:

·      Conductiong of a survey amongst 120 representatives of the business and 30 educational institutions regarding the opportunities for cooperation and new jobs recruitment;

·         Development of a “Strategic Document on the Opportunities For Employment in the Cross Border Region” and distribution in 1500 copies in Bulgarian, English, and Romanian. The Strategic document presents the alternatives for creation of different types of cooperation between business-to-business and business-to-education/research organizations and as a result of that recruitment of staff;

·         Organization of 6 international events in the framework of the project and more than 100 representatives of the business, the educational institutions and the society took part in them.

·         Establishment of an Agency for Professional Bulgarian – Romanian Reference and a Cross-border business internet radio - in 18 bilingual (Bulgarian-Romanian) internet radio broadcastings topical issues regarding employment, job search and behavior on the work place were provided;

·         Conduction of a Bulgarian – Romanian Employment Fair - More than 400 people from Dobrich district and about 40 from Constanta County visited the 3 days event to get information about the new jobs opportunities.

Results:

 •       Conducted a study on the possibilities for alternative employment in the cross-border region of Dobrudja among 150 organizations, including 70 business structures in Bulgaria and 50 in Romania, 15 training institutions from Bulgaria and 15 from Romania;

 •       Developed "Strategy paper on Alternative Employment Opportunities in Dobrudja", printed in 3 languages ​​and distributed in 1 500 copies in total;

 •       Established and fully equipped Agency for Bulgarian - Romanian Professional Cooperation in Dobrich, Bulgaria with an adjoining high - tech laboratory with 16 workplaces. The Agency aims to support the creation of common prospects in the cross-border region, to assist entrepreneurs and jobseekers in creating alternative employment;

•       Established local office of Agency for Bulgarian Romanian Professional Cooperation in Constanta, Romania;

•       Developed software applications for hotel and restaurant management; human resource Management; business performance management analysis;

•       Developed innovative curricula and training materials in the field of entrepreneurship in tourism, agriculture and commerce, focusing on practice as the basis for acquiring key skills;

•       Conucted pilot trainings for pupils - a total of 47 children from Bulgaria and Romania participated in the training courses on entrepreneurship in tourism, trade and agriculture;

•       Conducted employer training on ways of organizing and conducting apprenticeships and practical training - 20 employers from Bulgaria and Romania were trained;

•       Conducted two networking events to share good practices and partnerships building - each of the events was attended by more than 40 stakeholders from Bulgaria and Romania who exchanged information on their experiences and future initiatives with the tendency to become new successful cross-border partnerships;

•       Established a web-based platform for distance learning in the field of tourism, agriculture, commerce and foreign language teaching (English - Romanian and English - Bulgarian) - for less than 4 months, more than 70 people are registered there and regularly use it;

•       Developed "Training for Trainers" handbook with detailed information on the role, importance and stages of organizing on-the-ground trainings (mentoring, practice, internship), also containing useful documents. The manual is printed in Bulgarian (100) and Romanian (100) languages.

•       Established cross-border business Internet radio broadcasting in Romanian and Bulgarian - a total of 18 radio broadcasts in each of the languages ​​were broadcast. Each of them enjoyed more than 400 listeners.