InnoMate – innovation for future
According to a report prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, October 2018) regarding the skills, competences and knowledge required in Romania for employment, at the level of our country there is an increased need to develop verbal skills, to use information in problem solving, acquisition and efficient use of visual information, complex problem solving skills, social skills, coordination, negotiation, time management, but also those related to resource management.
InnoMate – Innovation for future is a United Way project carried out in high schools starting in 2021. It is based on a curriculum developed and adapted in 2020 by United Way Romania to meet the needs of students to develop and plan their professional path. It is addressed to young people who are at a socio-economic disadvantage, in a situation of social vulnerability or with school difficulties. The aim is to develop competences and skills that complement the knowledge acquired in school in order to increase the chances of employment and achieve a good integration in the labor market.
The high schools in which we intervene were selected taking into account the passability level, the results of the national tests and the social and economic situation of the students, so that the young people with the greatest need of support can benefit from the project and be encouraged to design a professional path. Like all the projects carried out by United Way Romania, InnoMate – Innovation for future aims at a long-term impact and approaches an integrated method of intervention, intervening especially among young people, but also among teaching staff, through training and development of new skills and skills to help them work with students.
Through InnoMate- Innovation for future:
- We offer career counseling services for young people.
- We develop entrepreneurial skills, softskills and meta-skills for high school students who are at a social and/or economic disadvantage
- We increase teachers’ access to specialization in the field of vocational counseling and the development of entrepreneurial skills.
We do this by:
- Train the trainer courses based on the InnoKit entrepreneurship curriculum developed by United Way Romania in partnership with colleagues from United Way Hungary. Trainers from United Way and our project partners are trained to later train teachers in using InnoKit to work with students.
The curriculum has a practical-applicative character and aims to develop entrepreneurial skills through individual and group practical exercises that support the student to develop communication and teamwork skills, creativity and problem solving, time management and attention to details, but also metacompetencies during design thinking, self-discipline, entrepreneurial thinking.
- Professional specialization courses for teachers in vocational counseling delivered through accredited providers, after which teachers acquire the qualification of vocational counselor (COR 242315).
- Training and teacher training courses in the use of the InnoKit curriculum.
- Vocational counseling of young high school students through individual counseling sessions during which they work towards self-knowledge, skills development, interest assessment and establishing their own educational or career plan, but also group career counseling in which they will learn information about the employment portfolio, job search strategies, interview preparation and employment law.
- Activities to develop entrepreneurial skills among young people organized in the form of Entrepreneurship Clubs, completed with an entrepreneurship contest that will reward the best ideas developed by students during the project. The activities will be carried out according to the Innokit entrepreneurship curriculum and manual, in groups of young people who will develop ideas and business plans.
- Voluntary activities and events with special guests intended to motivate young people, activities through which they will acquire information for a better understanding of certain professions or trades.