About the Project

THRIVE (Helping Roma and Roma-origin youth thrive in the job market) is an Erasmus+ KA210-YOU small-scale partnership supporting Roma and Roma-origin youth in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Through research, practical employability and digital-skills workshops, youth-worker training, stakeholder engagement, and a multilingual Employability Toolkit, the project aims to strengthen career readiness, confidence, mentoring support, and social inclusion.

Why This Project Exists

Roma and Roma-origin youth continue to face barriers to education, employment, digital access, and social inclusion. Limited experience with CV writing, job applications, interviews, professional email, and online job platforms can reduce access to employment, while discrimination and low confidence can make it harder to pursue and sustain new opportunities.

THRIVE responds through a practical and community-based approach. Organisations from Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Serbia work together to identify local needs, create accessible resources, train youth workers, deliver practical workshops, and involve stakeholders who can help build stronger and more sustainable pathways to employment and inclusion.

Project Objectives

  • Employability Skills and Career Readiness

    Equip Roma and Roma-origin youth with practical skills for CV writing, job applications, interview preparation, job searching, professional communication, and career planning.

  • Digital Competencies

    Strengthen the ability of young people to create and manage professional emails, use online job platforms, apply for opportunities digitally, and navigate the modern job market with greater confidence.

  • Capacity Building for Youth Workers

    Provide youth workers with practical mentoring methods, digital guidance skills, career-support tools, and inclusive approaches for working effectively with Roma and Roma-origin youth.

  • Active Participation and Social Inclusion

    Build confidence, self-efficacy, initiative, and community participation while creating safe learning environments that respect Roma identity and address discrimination and exclusion.

  • Sustainability and Long-Term Impact

    Develop adaptable resources, strengthen cooperation among partner organisations and stakeholders, and ensure that project methods and materials remain accessible and useful beyond the project period.

Target Groups

Primary Target Groups

  • Roma and Roma-origin youth aged 13–25, particularly young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, with limited access to education and training, or facing discrimination
  • Youth workers aged 18+ who support Roma youth and want to strengthen their mentoring, digital-guidance, communication, and community-engagement skills

Secondary Target Groups

  • Roma organisations, NGOs, youth networks, schools, universities, and other organisations supporting outreach, learning, and inclusion
  • Local authorities, educational institutions, employers, business representatives, and community stakeholders involved in employment and social inclusion
  • Wider Roma communities that may benefit from stronger local support, accessible employability resources, and increased awareness

Expected Results

Main Outputs

  • Research Findings and Multilingual Employability Toolkit

    Research findings on the employability and digital-literacy needs of Roma youth, used to create a practical Toolkit with guidance on CV writing, interviews, online job applications, professional emails, career planning, confidence building, and personal development.

  • Youth Worker Training Curriculum and Practical Resources

    A structured collection of training materials, mentoring methods, workshop resources, and practical guidance that youth workers can use to support Roma and Roma-origin youth in employment and digital-skills development.

Capacity & Impact

  • Improved Career Readiness and Digital Confidence

    Roma and Roma-origin youth gain practical employability skills, stronger digital competencies, increased confidence, and greater readiness to pursue education, training, and employment opportunities.

  • Stronger Mentoring Capacity

    Youth workers improve their ability to provide inclusive career guidance, digital support, practical coaching, and sustained mentoring for young people facing social and economic barriers.

  • Stakeholder Engagement and Continued Use

    Stakeholder workshops, national dissemination events, translated resources, and continued cooperation support wider use of the project’s methods and results across the three partner countries.

Project Timeline

  1. October 2025

    Project Launch & Kick-Off Meeting

    Kočani, North Macedonia

    The partners launched THRIVE, confirmed responsibilities and working methods, and established the coordination framework for the project.

  2. November 2025 – February 2026

    Research & Employability Toolkit Development

    Online collaboration across all partner countries

    The partners researched the employability and digital-literacy needs of Roma youth and used the findings to develop the multilingual Employability Toolkit.

  3. March 2026

    Youth Workers Training and Capacity Building

    Sliven, Bulgaria

    Youth workers from the three partner countries took part in intensive training on employability mentoring, digital guidance, soft skills, inclusive youth work, and practical support methods.

  4. April – June 2026

    Youth Employability and Digital Skills Workshops

    All partner countries

    Practical workshops supported Roma and Roma-origin youth in developing CV-writing, interview, job-search, digital-application, communication, and career-planning skills.

  5. June – July 2026

    Stakeholder Workshops for Employment and Inclusion

    All partner countries

    Local stakeholders discussed barriers to employment and inclusion, reviewed project approaches and resources, and explored opportunities for stronger local cooperation.

  6. July 2026

    Second Transnational Partner Meeting

    Serbia

    The partners reviewed project progress, workshop results, dissemination work, remaining responsibilities, and preparations for the final project phase.

  7. Q3 2026

    National Dissemination Events

    All partner countries

    National events present the Employability Toolkit, training resources, project methods, findings, and experiences to organisations and stakeholders who can continue using and promoting the results.

  8. September 2026

    Evaluation, Sustainability & Project Closure

    All partners

    The partnership completes final evaluation and reporting, documents lessons learned, supports continued access to project resources, and defines opportunities for future cooperation.