According to the latest survey of the National Institute of Statistics, unemployment rate has increased by 5% in Romania in 2021. Unfortunately, the highest rate, 17,3% is registered among young people aged 15-24.
Obviously, one of the reasons is the pandemic caused by COVID virus that affected the national economy. As a youth NGO, we find quite worrying the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and we are determined to find different methods of increasing the employment opportunities of the local youth.
One of the solutions might be volunteering, in different sectors – education, health, environment, social services, etc – according, of course, to the needs and interests of the young people. Besides formal education in schools and universities, volunteering is an excellent way of developing essential key competencies. Key competencies include knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed by all for personal fulfillment and development, employability, social inclusion and active citizenship. To be more precise, there are eight key competencies needed for personal fulfillment, a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, employability, active citizenship and social inclusion:
- Literacy
- Multilingualism
- Numerical, scientific and engineering skills
- Digital and technology-based competencies
- Interpersonal skills, and the ability to adopt new competencies
- Active citizenship
- Entrepreneurship
- Cultural awareness and expression
Our NGO promotes volunteering as a means of personal and professional development among young people aged 13-30. The activity is formally certified in a contract and at the end of each project or action the volunteers receive diplomas of certificates. We also recommend our volunteers to attach these documents to their CVs when preparing for a job interview and more often than not, this makes a difference.
So our motto is: BE ACTIVE, BE A VOLUNTEER and increase your chances to get a job!!