In line with MoreThanAJob activities for supporting the collaboration among Social and Solidarity Economy and Public Authorities, Greece has selected 2 proposals that will be sub-granted. Both projects share the public-private cooperation and partnership as added value for the development and delivery of welfare services promoting the social and labour inclusion of vulnerable people.

The first sub-grant project is “GuideCar”, implemented by Symplexis. During the 8 months of its implementation, the project aims to develop a mentorship programme that will provide participants with opportunities to develop their career prospects, leadership and diversity skills needed to succeed in a dynamically changing labour market.

The project aspires to shape project beneficiaries into future community leaders through their interaction with experienced professionals. As a result, they will be able to build the interpersonal skills that are necessary for supporting all community members into reaching their full potential.

Project objectives and target groups

GuideCar will establish formal best practices to drive success among 100 young people belonging to vulnerable groups, such as unemployed, women, uneducated, and migrants. The project features orientation sessions where participants develop the skills necessary to maintain mutually beneficial relationships.

The mentoring program is built to facilitate knowledge transfer and career development, as a means of combating unemployment in Greece. To achieve that, GuideCar uses an innovative competency-based and learning-outcomes-oriented approach that utilises user-friendly ICT applications. This allows for more personalized and individualized guidance, in contrast to more traditional approaches of mentoring.

More specifically, an online tool will be developed in Greece to assist jobseekers in finding employment that fits their skill profile, by providing a skill matching mechanism. The tool links existing vacancy databases to information on training courses, providers, and generic occupation overviews. The process will involve online training briefings, e-mentorship activities, and personalized advice with the intention to create practical individual pathways to benefit from the possibilities of the qualifications in the national framework. The website will remain operational after the project completion, ensuring that participants will have the opportunity to stay in contact with their mentees.

Public-private cooperation

GuideCar fosters public-private cooperation in line with the MoreThanAJob framework. This will be highlighted by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Athens Chamber of Small and Medium Sized Industries (ACSMI). ACSMI is an association of small and medium sized industries, and its goals include the protection of the interests of businesses in the context of the development of the national economy, informing businesses about the most appropriate use of incentives-opportunities provided by the state, as well as providing opinions to state bodies on issues concerning members (such as taxation, financing, exports, exhibition policy, professional housing, etc.). At the same time, ACSMI, has significant awareness and intervention role in wider and current social issues, e.g., environment and recycling, unemployment and its effects on the socio-economic fabric, corporate social responsibility, etc.

GuideCar will make use of a relatively new tool of ACSMI, the e-Chamber remote service tool. E-Chamber was created exclusively for member companies and interested third parties and operates alternatively, with the service within the Chamber. Through the e-Chamber, a set of services of the Register of the Chamber is provided, in a direct, reliable, and electronic way.

For more information on GuideCar and its activities, visit the Symplexis and EUROTraining websites.

For more information on the project and its activities, visit the MoreThanAJob webpage on the ENI CBC Med website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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