Deadline for Applications to OpenVillage Academy: November 4, 2017

[nadia]

The Open Village Academy is a program in which participants who wish to develop new skills, professional experience and networks do so by contributing to existing open source projects dedicated to the common good. These are projects lead by peers with more experience, who in return for the contributions to advancing their projects, mentor participants - helping them to identify and develop the skills needed to be good contributors and colleagues. Deadline for applications: November 4, 2017.

Eligibility Criteria

You are from Tunisia , Egypt , Lebanon, Morocco or Jordan ,You have recently graduated from University or School and are looking for an opportunity to build your skills, professional experience and network. You have at least a basic level in one or more of these skills and would like to put it to work on one of these projects for three months in the OpenVillage Academy: Open Source Optical Coffee Sorter, Open Insulin, RealStarter.

Financial support:

• Travel reimbursement for up to USD 500
• Free Room and Board in the OpenVillage House in Morocco, for the duration of your participation

How to apply

1. Create an account on edgeryders.eu
2. Tell us about your experience and goals -fill in this form.
3. Join the Count On Me list
4. Make an appointment to participate in an online chat to help us matchmake Project Leaders and Contributors

The deadline for the first round of applications to the OpenVillage Academy is November 4, 2017. The result of the matching process and the final list of participants will be communicated through a post on Edgeryders platform on November 10, 2017.

DETAILED INFORMATION & FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

OpenVillage academy is the result of fieldwork and encounters with more than 200 young people from the MENA region, mainly Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt.

This region suffers from a high unemployment rate, from countries in transition to democracy to others encountering economic crises. Countries with different cultures but meeting the same challenges: Reduction of the unemployment rate, economic development and more equality between the different regions of the country. The striking resemblance of young people in their countries is their big ambition and determination to change the reality of their country and contribute actively to its economic development..

In the 7 workshops we conducted in the region where we adopted methodologies specifically designed to help participants design their professional projects, we were able to identify the following three issues:

• Companies recruit mainly experienced profiles, making access to the job market difficult for juniors and young graduates
• Business creation / entrepreneurship has been presented to its young people as an alternative to unemployment however bureaucracy and lack of resources prevent some from embarking on the entrepreneurial adventure
• The environment and working conditions in local businesses do not stimulate the creativity of its young talents, some of them seriously think about leaving their jobs.

To provide an alternative that meets the needs of the majority of the participants, we have integrated the OpenVillage academy, a new component of the large OpenVillage project. The academy offers a three-month period which allows young people to develop their talents by working on existing open source projects lead by more experienced, entrepreneurial, peers. This means they develop hard and soft skills by building meaningful things in a supportive and multicultural environment, while supporting one another to move for good projects forward.

In addition to the practical part of the internship that will be provided by the project leader (Edgeryders Community Entrepreneur) and his / her team, the OpenVillage Academy offers participants workshops and activities to strengthen their skills to make them more employable in the labor market. At the end of his / her course at the open village, a certificate validating the participant's personal qualities, aptitudes, skills and professional know-how will be awarded.

How to get yourself or your project in the OpenVillage Academy:

1. Create an account on edgeryders.eu
2. Tell us about your experience and goals -fill in this form.
3. Join the Count On Me list
4. Make an appointment to participate in an online chat to help us matchmake Project Leaders and Contributors

Results of application process: Matching Project Leaders & Project contributors to work together in The OpenVillage Academy in Morocco.

En Francaise

OpenVillage academy est le résultat d'un travail de terrain et de rencontre avec plus que 200 jeunes de la région MENA ,principalement la Tunisie, le Maroc, le Jordanie le Liban et l'Egypte .

Cette région qui souffre d'un taux de chômage élevé, des pays en transition démocratique d'autres rencontrant des crises économiques. des pays avec différentes cultures mais rencontrants tous les mêmes challenges: Réduction du taux de chômage , développement économique et plus d’égalité entre les différentes régions du pays.

Le point de ressemblance frappant des jeunes de ses pays c’est leur grande ambition et détermination de changer la réalité de leur pays et contribuer activement au développement de leurs pays .

Au cours des 7 ateliers que nous avons menés dans la région où nous avons adopté des méthodologie spécialement conçues pour aider les participants à concevoir leurs projets professionnels, nous avons pu identifier / relever les trois problématiques suivantes:

• Les entreprises recrutent principalement des profils expérimentés ce qui rend l'accès au marché de l'emploi difficile pour les juniors et les jeunes diplômés
• La création d'entreprise / l'entrepreneuriat a été présenté à ses jeunes comme alternative au chômage cependant la bureaucratie et l'absence de ressources empêchent certains de se lancer dans l'aventure entrepreneuriale
• L'environnement et les conditions de travail dans des entreprises locales ne stimulent pas la créativité de ses jeunes talents , certains parmi eux pense sérieusement à quitter leurs emplois

Pour remédier à ces problématiques et proposer une alternative qui répond aux besoins de la majorité des participants, nous avons intégré l'OpenVillage academy, une nouvelle composante du grand projet OpenVillage.

L'académie offre une période d'échange de trois mois qui permet aux jeunes de développer et renforcer leurs compétences en contribuant au développement des projets déjà existants de certains membres de la communauté qui ont plus d’expériences techniques et managériales .

L'académie offre ainsi un environnement de travail multiculturelle stimulant la créativité l’échange et l’innovation. Ce qui permettra aux jeunes de développer non seulement des compétences techniques mais aussi des compétences en soft skills ,tout en se soutenant mutuellement pour faire avancer les meilleurs projets.

En plus de la partie pratique du stage qui sera fournie par les leaders du projet (Edgeryders Community Entrepreneur) et son équipe, l'Académie offre aux participants des ateliers et des activités pour renforcer leurs compétences pour les rendre plus utilisables sur le marché du travail. À la fin de son parcours au village ouvert, un certificat validant les qualités personnelles, les aptitudes, les compétences et le savoir-faire professionnel du participant sera attribué à la fin de la période d’échange .

1. Créer un compte edgeryders
2. Parlez nous de votre expérience et de vos objectifs professionnels ici
3. S’enregistrer sur Count On Me
4. Participer au interview d’orientation

Résultat de la sélection: Matching candidat / project leader

[matthias]

[johncoate]

I suspect the long term challenge of this will be maintaining a steady supply of the right kind of project leaders. In the US, part of the legal definition of an intern is that they work in a situation that is more designed to help them learn than to get inexpensive or free labor on a project or job. Thus, in our context, the "more experienced, entrepreneurial, peers" who will do the teaching need to be good at teaching, as well as skilled in their given field.