Centre for Civic Education (CCE) has organized, from 8 to 24 March 2019, training for project proposal writing and management of projects funded by the EU for10 unemployed persons with disability, within the framework of the project Skills Development for Better Employability of Persons with Disabilities.
During three three-day intensive trainings, participants have been working on design of their own project ideas. Through presentations, discussions, group and individual work, they developed logical framework matrix for their ideas, fulfilled the project abstract and application form, by studying the background of identified problems, existing national and EU strategies, projects sustainability, methodology and budget, in a detailed way.
Vuk Maraš, lecturer on training, assessed: ’In a modern age, where solving socially important issues is more often done via specific projects, it is important that persons with disability learn basics of projects proposal writing and project management. Trainings of this kind will bring closer to them needed EU funds, as well as national funds allocated to addressing of priorities that they themselves previously identified, such as grant schemes of the Employment Agency of Montenegro’.
Project participant, Ranko Vojvodić, considers that learning about manners of turning ideas into specific solutions through the project implementation represents an excellent manner to respond to the existing challenges. ‘I believe that the training is useful, not just for persons with disability, but for the others as well. A lot of those which can be quickly in practice applied is learnt through these trainings. All those who have any kind of problem in their communities can use this type of education in order to realize targeted goals’, assessed he.
Slađana Stijepović, project participant, stated that the skills gained during the training are important, although she earlier had an opportunity to see some of the presented documents. ‘It is important that persons with disability are included into the processes of project development. This is the way to get a chance to implement the desired change within their respective communities. Thus, it is necessary that persons with disability additionally engage themselves and to use opportunities for training and employment which projects, such as this one of the CGO, offer’, concluded she.
With this training, the two-month training programme for 10 persons with disability within the framework of project ‘Skills Development for Better Employability of Persons with Disabilities’ is finalised. Through this programme, the participants have learnt the basics of business communication, studied concepts of self-employment and application on public calls for project proposals, by which they gained needed knowledge and skills for modern labour market and hence improved their competitiveness on that market.
During the last day of this training, the CCE organized an official award of certificates to the participants of the projects Skills Development for Better Employability of Persons with Disabilities for their successful attendance of training on development of IT skills, training on entrepreneurship, start-up concepts and development of business plan, as well as project proposal writing and management of projects funded by the EU. Certificates got Andrea Pavićević, Andrea Rogošić, Ranko Vojvodić, Jupo Babačić, Tamara Radenović, Slađana Stijepović, Dragan Pejović, Dragica Vujović, Ivana Radulović and Marko Otašević.
Project Skills Development for Better Employability of Persons with Disabilities aims to contribute to improvement of social and economic inclusion of persons with disability within Montenegrin society. More specifically, the project aims to improve employability of persons with disabilities through informal training directed at developing key competencies, working practices and promotion of benefits and good practices of employment of these persons within the group itself, but also towards potential employers and general public. The project is implemented by the CCE, in cooperation with company New Page LLC, and with the support of the Employment Agency of Montenegro.
Zeljka Cetkovic, CCE Programme Associate