Development of competences among young people and entrepreneurs of the 21st century in Albania

Development of competences among young people and entrepreneurs of the 21st century in Albania is a project being implemented by the Albanian Sustainable Development Organization, in cooperation with the Albania STEM Center, and with the financial support of the National Youth Agency (AKR), and the Minister of Statefor Youth and Children (MSHRF).

The projects main objectives are:

To raise the capacities of young people in Albania on technological, and sustainable development education as well as engage this young people in internships

Despite the fact that these issues are being discussed more and more in the revised school curriculum, young people still struggle to grasp the main concepts and information that they receive about technology, digitization and telecommunications on the one hand, and the environment, sustainable development, climate change and related risks on the other. The business sector is also noticing a rice in the demand to adapt to technological developments, and to offer a responsible service, established within the principles of the circular economy, environmentally friendly and conscious of its impact in future generations.

Under this motivation, this project aims to provide concentrated knowledge through “tailor-made” trainings designed to specifically address these requirements and to form responsible and capable citizens for the 21^st century market. With this project, we intended to reach groups of young people in 5 main cities in Albania, such as Tirana, Shkodra, Korça, Gjirokastra and Saranda. Ensuring an equal and fair gender representation is one of our priorities, bearing in mind that the knowledge gained through these trainings, will be needed by both girls and boys in their journey to become responsible citizens as well as assets for the labor market.

Environmental education in Albania is still in its infancy. Therefore today, environmental problems in Albania occupy only a small place in public policies, and the public’s reaction in relation to them is short-lived and in many cases insufficient to bring about the necessary changes in the formulation of new policies, in order to support a long-term and sustainable development. In recent years, we have observed an increase in the motivation of businesses in implementing environmental protection practices during their activity. Thus, it is also necessary to increase environmental awareness among young people so that they respond to the new dynamics of the business world. In this way, awareness of these problems will become a normalized habit in the minds of young people as future entrepreneurs and professionals. We believe that by doing so, their response to the above problems will rely on consolidated knowledge and the way they will respond to development challenges will be based on critical reasoning on the problems.

The project will offer expertise in the fields of Graphic Design, Digital Marketing, Web design, Python Programming, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management, by implementing “tailor-made” trainings designed in compliance with the project’s objectives and identified needs. After the training, qualified young people will be offered different internships and will be familiarized with online freelance platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer and LinkedIn.