Based on previous experience in cooperation with target groups, especially those considered vulnerable groups, all partners have detected deficiencies in the professional and career orientation of students and young unemployed individuals. They also noticed shortcomings in the modest cooperation between educational institutions and local employers, one of the conditions for quality professional and career guidance. All this, in turn, leads to greater unemployment among members of vulnerable groups, which is a constant problem for partners from both countries. With the Guide to Success project (hereafter GutS), partners will first investigate and then appropriately address the needs and challenges in this area. They see the need for cross-border cooperation primarily in the many similarities in the challenges faced by various educational programs and activity providers.

The general goals of the GutS project are:

• To train pedagogues and other experts in education for professional and career counselling for pupils, students and adults, who are classified as vulnerable target groups.
• To reduce the dropout rate in the secondary education program area.
• To increase the employability of those classified as vulnerable target groups.
• Provide a domestic workforce for occupations that the labour market needs by reducing the unemployment of the target group. We have therefore planned the cooperation in great detail and in a meaningful way, based on the project activities, based on the experience and strong areas of each partner organization to help and complement each other.

The expected results of the GutS project are:

• A research report on the current situation in the field of professional and career orientation of school-going youth and young adults from groups of special social concern. With the help of this, the partners will get direct information about the current needs of the target groups, which will be the basis for the following activities of the project.
• An activity strategy for professional and career orientation of school-going youth and young adults from groups of special social concern. This will help the project partners in the design of the training program and also all those interested in the field of professional and career guidance who would like to use the innovative approaches of this project.
• A training program for teachers/other professionals in education who provide professional and career guidance. With this, we want to have a long-term impact on the quality of professional and career orientation in the local environment of partner organizations and also influence changes in their policy at the national and international levels.
• Group and individual activities of professional and career orientation of school-going youth and young adults from groups of special social concern. Through the direct implementation of vocational and career orientation activities, we will be able to test innovative methods in this area and evaluate them.
• Adapted plans for the implementation of professional and career orientation of school-going youth and young adults from groups of special social concern. This will serve as a guide for the implementers of pilot activities in WP3, and at the same time, it will be available to all those interested in the field of professional and career guidance who would like to work according to the GutS project plan.
• A strategy for further monitoring of those involved in project activities and dissemination of project results. Since the true results of DP2 and DP3 will only be visible in the long term, the partners will monitor the effects even after the completion of the GutS project. In this way, we will be able to truly evaluate the success of the results and activities of the project and their impact on the quality of life of the target groups.
• Continued cooperation of organizations that implemented project activities.

The innovativeness of the project lies primarily in the fact that traditional vocational and career orientation activities used by educational organizations are modernized and supplemented with planning, implementation and introduction of targeted solutions for young and unemployed adults, who are classified as vulnerable target groups. Partners also see the greater involvement of service and manufacturing employers in the region as an innovation, as their role is often too small or overlooked. The innovation of the project is also in the involvement of parents in the activities of professional and career orientation of young people, which is important, because in this way they obtained information about the possibilities of further education of their children and, consequently, about the possibilities of employment after the completion of education.

Project end date:

31.7.2026