Last week was a very memorable one for us. On July 12, we were excited to officially launch our project “Future Skills and Jobs for Armenia’s Rural Youth.” This is not just a regular project for us, but rather important one, because as usual, we are here to help develop our communities, regions and support the youth to become better at their skills that will ultimately make them better professionals in their respective fields.

The goal of the project is to reach out to the most vulnerable youth groups in rural areas of Armenia with an offer of ambitious economic opportunities and new employment frameworks. The target regions are Lori, Shirak, Tavush and Gegarkunik. In other words, Kolba will embark on the journey of transforming the life of regional youth in many ways. There are several milestones that we will be concentrating on to reach potential success.

 

As part of the first phase, we have already carried out researches on mapping the job market situation in the targeted regions and the gap between unemployment and current interest of professions that are being studied. At our event last Friday, we shared the results of the research findings on the unemployment in the regions and the baseline assessment of job market and advocacy mechanisms.

Unemployment is a wicked social challenge across Armenia. However, some statistics demonstrate path dependency aspects in social behavior that can be addressed by development agencies and Government. 2018 data for unemployment in regions has a breakdown of professions. One of the least successful employment paths is for those who have professional education in Economics or Humanities. Data from the same year, shows that majority of vacancies in the region require jobs in wholesale, retail trade and service sectors. Such a mismatch is supported by path dependency, where the “society” considers certain professions as prestigious educational opportunities.

As part of our project, we will be working with Skolkovo School of Management, and will apply the foresight methodology that was tested by them. The creators of “Atlas of Emerging Jobs” identified up to 25 industries where personnel and career changes are expected. This is a very big number and to consider changes are going to happen everywhere, we will be working to define and adapt this in the Armenian reality.

We are also going to develop educational curricula, that will respond to future market demand, provide trainings and skills workshops to the youth to be flexible and enhance their experience in the required branches of professions. This will include supporting startups in regions, to help them strive, succeed and continue to grow.

Ultimately, our goal is to setup regional resource centers to ensure self-employment and startup opportunities for local youth. This is an important milestone for us, to ensure that self-employed youth has all the required resources to stay in their hometown and continue supporting the economic growth instead of moving to the capital, or abroad.

Overall, our goal for the project is to be able to build a strong ground for our youth, which will help them plan their future wisely. This will be the sustainable outcome that we are aiming for.

***

The project is funded by the Russian Federation and implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.