In December 2020, Junior Achievement Azerbaijan in partnership with MOL Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Education launched the “Career Success: Youth Mentorship and Career Guidance” program. It was a mentorship and work readiness program that focuses on helping youth to develop employability skills and prepare them for the world of work. The overall goal of the program was to support young people in development of professional and business skills and cultivate the future business leaders’ character, creativity and leadership through mentorship.
Due to the pandemic situation the project was implemented online engaging more than thousand young people at age 13-25, across all over Azerbaijan. Youth living not only in the regions along the BTC line including Garadagh, Absheron, Hajigabul, Agsu, Kurdamir, Yevlax, Aghdash, Shamkir, Tovuz, Gazakh, and but also other regions such as Guba, Khachmaz, Lankaran, Gakh and Gabala showed high interest in the program. The eight months long program was a great opportunity, particularly for the young people living in rural areas.
The program was designed and delivered based on the age group of the participants. Tailor Made training programs have been offered to the secondary school children and university students separately. Training sessions and mentor meetings organized during the program aimed to help participants to estimate their strengths and weaknesses, to determine their interests, to understand the world of work and to improve personal skills needed to achieve career and lifelong learning success. Through the online workshops they were introduced to the fundamental business and economic concepts, explored career interests and opportunities, and developed work-readiness skills.
The program closing and award ceremony held on July 16, 2021. Project participants, trainers and mentors attended the event with greater enthusiasm. Mr. Bakhtiyar Akhundov, country manager at MOL Azerbaijan, underlined the value of the program for the career planning and development of youth as future professionals. This project opened and showed different perspectives and opportunities for the participants.
