Recent News

Corruption in Education
EDC has identified organizations from three countries in the region to serve as local partners and implement project activities with the youth from these countries. These organizations are: NGO Center (NGOC) in Armenia, YUVA Humanitarian Center (YUVA) in Azerbaijan, and Youth Educational Forum (YEF) in Macedonia.

The E&E Social Legacy Program’s Transparent Education Network has launched their interactive website to link various youth initiatives in the region and to serve as a platform for exchanging ideas and dialogue. Please visit ten.edc.org.

Workforce Development and Labor Markets
Though the SLP, USAID and the Montenegro Ministry of Tourism and Environment, are jointly sponsoring an event called The National Forum on Workforce Development for Montenegro’s Tourism Industry. The Forum is a one-day event aimed at building stronger linkages between the private, public, and education sectors in the tourism industry.

Project Overview

The E&E project works to build up weakened social sectors through 3 main program components:

• Workforce Development & Labor Markets - Kosovo and Montenegro
• Corruption in Education - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Macedonia
• Social Services for Vulnerable, Disabled Groups - Armenia, Georgia

Objectives

• Help countries evaluate and address social sector problems.
• Raise awareness about the costs associated with social sector problems through partnerships with private, public, and NGO institutions.
• Strengthen labor markets, especially to provide improved workforce competitiveness and job opportunities for youth.
• Increase awareness about corruption in education.
• Enhance social services and safety nets for vulnerable groups (especially people with disabilities) and increase awareness about these services.

Activities

Workforce Development and Labor Markets (Kosovo and Montenegro)
This component of SLP improves workforce competitiveness and strengthens youth workforce skills in targeted industries.

In Kosovo, SLP works to increase competitiveness in the agricultural sector through practical training programs that target youth, educators, and educational institutions. At the University of Pristina, these programs are helping the institution to modernize and adapt its curriculum in the agricultural sector, while assisting the faculty in understanding modern market requirements. By building the capacity of core faculty from the University of Prishtina, EQUIP3 has been working with its local partners to improve the skills of students in the College of Agriculture which will help them compete in the international market. This will ultimately help the country meet international standards in agriculture/food safety and then qualify to participate effectively in global markets.

In Montenegro, SLP is helping the tourism sector to grow and provide decent work for young people. Project activities have assisted the implementation of the Human Resource Development strategy in the tourism sector. Activities center around improving the competitiveness of tourism education providers as well as improving the quality and efficiency of tourism education. SLP project activities have provided technical assistance to three higher education institutions in the country: University of Montenegro Tourism Faculty in Bar; University of Mediterranean Montenegro Tourism Faculty in Kotor, and the Hotel Education Center.

In the fall of 2008, SLP launched distance-learning trainings and knowledge sharing through an online program called Blackboard. This will provide an opportunity for professional learning and collaboration among education providers, NGOs and government agencies by studying the 10 education modules and sharing knowledge. Learners will be able to gain information about resources and news in their areas of interest.

Reducing Corruption in Education 
The component of SLP aims to: (a) raise awareness about corruption in education and its impact on society; (b) strengthen local capacity (especially youth’s) to analyze effects of corruption in education at individual and school levels; and (c) promote a culture of transparency and accountability in secondary and tertiary level schools.

The program activities to accomplish these goals include: 1) development of the Transparent Education Network (TEN), a regional network of organizations and individuals who are interested in promoting transparency in schools and education systems; 2) implementation of various youth-led activities to raise awareness and promote a better understanding of issues pertaining to corruption in schools, its causes and consequences; 3) development of codes of conducts and other strategies that foster transparency in schools; 4) development of youth skills and organizational capacities to promote the use of more transparent education practices in the education systems.

The Transparent Education Network (TEN) will advance project activities, bringing together key individuals and organizations from the Europe and Eurasia region to foster peer-to-peer collaboration and dialogue, share lessons learned, best practices, challenges, and knowledge/resources relevant for this purpose. The regional network will be strengthened through the TEN website (ten.edc.org), ongoing communication among TEN partners, the TEN Roundtable, and the consolidation and dissemination of various resources.

EDC has identified 3 organizations to serve as local partners for the Corruption in Education Component: NGO Center (NGOC) in Armenia, YUVA Humanitarian Center (YUVA) in Azerbaijan, and Youth Educational Forum (YEF) in Macedonia. The local partners (in agreement with the EDC) will identify and engage a core group of 30-45 youth who will participate in project activities. The local partners’ program activities will fall into two categories: a) Awareness Raising and b) Development of Codes of Conduct / Capacity Building. The unique features of each of these organizations will complement one another while the features that they share will help to strengthen one another and solidify project activities.

Improving Social Services for the Disabled and Other Vulnerable People 
This component of SLP focuses on raising awareness about disability in a small number of E&E countries in order to increase knowledge about disability, reduce stigma and discrimination against the disabled, and decrease the frequency with which disabled people are institutionalized.

In Georgia, EQUIP3 is working with the Coalition of Independent Living (CIL) to further develop the National Coalition of Disability Organizations. The program will address two issues: employment and information referral. Supporting the employment of people with disabilities will help raise civil society awareness about employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Creating an Information Referral Center on the Issues of Disability will help to foster the protection of the rights of people with disabilities and improve their living standards by means of providing necessary information. In Armenia, the project is sponsoring a cross-sectoral disability initiative that will support one or more elements of the National Disability Strategy.

Partners

Implementing Organization
Education Development Center, Inc.

Tecnical Partners
Coalition of Independent Living - Georgia
SKARP Health Center - Armenia
NGO Center - Armenia
YUVA Humanitarian Center - Azerbaijan
Youth Educational Forum - Macedonia

Project News

The Boston Globe has posted recent blogs about our work in Macedonia and Armenia:
>In Macedonia, Educating to Fight Corruption
>In Armenia, Mobilizing for the Disabled

SLP-TEN Program Update from Armenia, March 2010