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Vidin District

The regional government of Vidin is a member of EARLALL and is part of the Ageing Population and Lifelong Guidance working group. Vidin is a regional administration located in the town of Vidin, Bulgaria. It has a population of 78,814 people (2021). During the last years, a deepening process of population aging has been reported, due to a continuous decrease in the number of persons under 14 years of age, and an increase in the share of persons over 65 years of age. Their distribution by age groups is as follows: 11.97% – population aged 0-14, 29.69% – population aged 15-64. and 58.34% – the population over 65 years old.

The level of the population in the individual municipalities is uneven and is determined by the corresponding economic development. The number of the urban population is increasing at the expense of those living in the villages. This is due, to the demand for higher income and education in cities by the population.

Main economic activities of the region:

Services dominate the economic structure of the region. With the largest share is the “Trade and repair of cars and motorcycles” sector, which includes 39.73% of the enterprises in the region, followed by the “Agriculture, forestry and fisheries” sector with 9.63%, the “Hospitality and restaurant industry” – 8.19% and “Transport, storage and mail” – 7.65%.

Vidin and Lifelong Learning

The Regional Education Management, Labour Bureau Directorate (Vidin, Kula and Belogradchik) and Angel Kanchev University of Ruse are responsible for lifelong learning in the region. According to the strategic document guiding the region’s policies, the priorities in lifelong learning are:

  • Integrated territorial strategy for the development of the North-West region of level 2
  • Equal access to quality education and training
  • Acquisition of skills in line with the labor market
  • Modernization of the educational infrastructure

Regional Employment Programmes

  • READY FOR WORK – Activation of young people up to the age of 29 inclusive who are neither in education or training nor in employment are not registered as unemployed in the Employment agency and improve their employability and career opportunities. Motivation for active labor market behavior of inactive young people from the target group, with follow-up activities to facilitate inclusion in employment and training. Economically inactive young people aged 15-29 who are not in education, training or employment and have not been registered with the Labor Office Directorate;
  • YOUTH EMPLOYMENT – Enhancing the competitiveness of young people by providing opportunities for apprenticeships or on-the-job training that will facilitate the transition from education to employment and will lead to the accumulation of professional experience needed to fill vacancies declared by employers;
  • TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE – Integration of unemployed youths up to 29 years of age, registered in the Labor Office Directorates at the Employment Agency, in employment with an employer by providing trainings and a subsidy for long-term employment. The operation will contribute to facilitating the transition from education to employment for unemployed young people who will get a first or new job opportunity, new or advanced occupational knowledge and skills acquired in the workplace as well as the acquisition of professional qualifications and key competences in a foreign language and digital competence (if needed for the particular employer).

For the implementation programs and measures for training, employment and vocational qualification in Vidin during 2019, a total amount of 2,044,651 BGN were paid. Employment includes 476 persons, of which 372 are newly employed. A total of 265 people are enrolled in training, of which 217 are unemployed and 48 are employed. Funds paid are 98.85% of the allocated funds for the year, which are 2 068 402 BGN.

The Vidin Regional Governor Albena Georgieva participated in the establishment of the “Regional Innovation Center Northwest” on January 8th, 2020 in Sofia. The Regional Innovation Center is an association for supporting, promoting, representing and protecting the regional capacity to introduce and develop innovation, through the enhancement of cooperation between business and scientific research organizations, universities and other scientific and educational institutes. The creation of the “Northwest Regional Innovation Center” is another step towards improvement of the business-science partnership, for the benefit of the regional economy. From its foundation, the association has set itself the goal of building and developing a modern research and innovation infrastructure. This will help towards the acceleration of the economic and social development of the area. The Innovation Center will manage projects involving the implementation of industrial scientific researches and experimental development for promotion of the innovations.

Albena Georgieva, the Regional Governor of the Vidin region, has established the Regional council for the implementation of the policy on the rights of persons with disabilities of the Vidin region. The Council was established on the 29 Novemebr 2019, with Order №RD09/155 from the same date. The first meeting of the Council, was held on the 9 December 2019. The first decision of the Council was the adoption of the Statute, by which, the council will function. The aim of the Regional Council for the implementation of the policy on the rights of persons with disabilities of Vidin region is to create equal opportunities and rights for the people with disabilities and to ensure, that they lead a complete and full way of life.

Main Institutions for Lifelong Learning Policies

Schools in the Region

Most of the primary schools and vocational high schools in Vidin are working under the EU program “Erasmus +” for support of education, training, youth and sport in Europe. List of the schools and information about the projects under implementation:

Examples of projects in the region

National Coordinators for the Implementation of the European Agenda for Adult Learning, 2017 – 2019

The goal of the project was to provide effective coordinated interaction of all interested parties in the elaboration and carrying out policies for enhancing participation of the population in lifelong learning activities and for common progress in the adult learning sector. The specific objectives were:

  • Providing permanent and effective mechanism for coordinated interaction of all interested parties in the adult learning sector on a national, district and local level.
  • Progress assessment in the implementation of the national goals for development of the adult learning

The project targeted: the members of the National coordination group for lifelong learning – the national entities participating in the planning, organization, assessment and promotion of adult education and training;                the district coordinators for lifelong learning and members of the district coordination groups for lifelong learning – the district entities participating in the planning, organization, assessment and promotion of adult education and training; employers’ organizations and trade unions on a national and district level, individual employers; district and local administrations; the employment services on a district level; statistical offices on a district level;               the regional administrations of education; adult education and training institutions – Vocational training centers, Vocational Secondary Schools, General evening schools, prison’s schools, centres for migrants, career development centres  and others; cultural institutions – libraries, museums and “chitalishta” (community centres); civil society organizations, which implement non-formal adult education activities, or are working for the integration of migrants and Roma, incl. voluntary activities; adult learners over 16 years of age; unemployed and employed persons.

More information is available here

Survey of Employers Labour needs, yearly

Each year a survey is conducted at a national level by regions by the Employment Agency and the Employment Commissions of the Regional Development Councils. The goals of the survey are: Revealing employers’ workforce needs and adequately responding to the needs of the labor market; Obtaining real and concrete information about the scope, professions, competencies, knowledge and skills of the required cadres. It creates a basis for planning the state plan for admission to secondary education and trainings for qualification and retraining at the Labor Office. More information is available here.