PHARE BG 9915-01-051 - Capacity building for entrepreneurship development and employment promotion in the municipalities of Stara Zagora Region, affected by the restructuring of the mining industry (October 2001 – October 2002)
The project was funded by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy under the EU PHARE Programme.
The aim of the project was to build local capacity for SME encouragement and solving unemployment issues through the establishment of Centres for entrepreneurship support and re-training of unemployed.
The direct beneficiaries were 132 unemployed who acquired new vocational skills and SME management skills, as well as starting and existing SMEs in the municipalities.
Partners to Stara Zagora REDA for this project were:
• Radnevo Municipality;
• Galabovo Municiplaity;
• Chirpan Municipality;
• the Bulgarian-German Center for Vocational Training – Stara Zagora;
• the Secondary Vocational School for Construction and Carpentry “Nikola Ranchev” – Stara Zagora;
• the Regional Coordination Councils of the Confederation of the Independent Trade Unions in Stara Zagora and Radnevo
As a result of the project:
1) three centres for entrepreneurship promotion and employment initiatives in the three municipalities: Radnevo, Galabovo, Chirpan were established and are now part of REDA’s network in the region;
2) 108 unemployed from Radnevo, Galabovo, Chirpan, Bratya Daskalovi and Stara Zagora were re-trained in new vocational skills (9 courses) according to the future workforce needs;
3) 24 unemployed were trained and motivated to start their own business in two “Start Your Own Business” courses;
4) 87 local SMEs received services from the newly established centres;
5) 90 SMEs (30 in each municipality) were trained in 9 training seminars in marketing, new labour legislation, customer service.