On September 23, the document was signed by representatives of 15 Ukrainian employers, Minister of Youth and Sports Vadim Gutsait, acting Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Shkarlet; Minister of Economic Development and Trade Igor Petrashko; Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine Jaime Nadal; and Head of the Board of the Center for CSR Development Marina Saprykina. On behalf of Metinvest, the Pact was signed by Svetlana Romanova, Director of Legal Support of the Group.
The purpose of the Pact for Youth 2025 is to create conditions for the realization of youth in Ukraine. Since 2016, the initiative has been combining the efforts of the state and business to solve the problems of education and youth employment. It is the largest public-private partnership initiative, bringing together 148 employers who have created 45,000 jobs for youth. The initiative was recognized by CSR Europe as one of the best practices for youth in Europe, and the UN global initiative Decent Jobs for Youth named the Pact as one of the best examples of implementation of Sustainable Development Goal # 8 in the world.
The signatories of the document pledged to create 20 thousand places for internships and work for young people by 2025, organize 1 thousand partnerships between business and educational institutions. In addition, it is planned to create an All-Ukrainian Mentoring Platform to help young people, especially from vulnerable categories, build a career. More than 1,000 business representatives will become mentors in matters of professional implementation for 1,500 young people.
Svetlana Romanova, Director of Legal Support, Metinvest Group:
- Joining the Pact for the sake of youth is a logical step for Metinvest Group. We have been working with pupils, students and alumni for a long time to show the attractiveness and possibilities of technical professions. The Ukrainian enterprises of the Group annually employ about 1.3 thousand graduates of educational institutions. More than 4 thousand students every year undergo practical training at our enterprises. This year alone, Metinvest will spend over $ 1.5 million on youth work programs. Our internship programs enable young professionals to get their first job. For example, over seven years dozens of young lawyers have completed internships at the enterprises and the management company of the Group, and the best of them are already working at Metinvest. We are ready to share our knowledge and experience in order to raise the education system to a qualitatively new level and to interest young people to study and work in Ukraine.
Metinvest Group participates in the creation of educational programs for young people and the description of state standards for technical professions, and also supports competitions of professional skills.
In particular, this year the company for the fifth time will act as the general partner of the "Olympiad of blue-collar jobs", the WorldSkills Ukraine competition, which will be held from September 29 to October 13 in five cities of Ukraine. Pupils, students and employees of enterprises aged 18 to 22 years old will compete in professional skills. Thanks to the competition, the best world practices are introduced into the education system, the efficiency of vocational guidance work, the prestige of blue-collar occupations increases.
Metinvest has been supporting the Steel Freedom architectural competition for seven years, where students of specialized universities develop projects using steel structures for customers from all over Ukraine. This year's competition started on September 1, and its final will take place on November 28. The company will award the most interesting architectural solution from the participating teams with a special prize - a trip to the Expo 2020 exhibition in Dubai.
Since 2017, the Group has been holding M.Student CHAMP - a competition for solving real business problems for university and college students. Each team is assigned a mentor from Metinvest and a curator from an educational institution. Excursions to production facilities, expert consultations, lectures and trainings on current topics help to develop the competencies necessary for the future profession. The winners will receive valuable prizes, and the best will receive an invitation to work at Metinvest.
