Moldova Energy and Biomass Project
is funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme

Initial and ongoing education and training have the same twofold objective to contribute to the employability of youth and to the economic growth and to respond to the broader challenges facing the society, in particular promotion of social cohesion. Both should provide to youth and adults alike attractive career opportunities and equally attract men and women, the people with higher potential and those who, for whatever reason, are at risk of exclusion from the labor market.

The use of biomass for energy production involves using modern technologies and skilled staff in areas which until recently were not part of the specialized education in Moldova. To respond to this challenge, the Energy and Biomass Project designed and launched on September 1, 2015 a pilot project for teaching the Energy Crops – a Renewable Energy Source module in the vocational schools in Orhei and Cuhurestii de Sus village in the Floresti district and the Solid Biofuel Boilers module in the vocational school no.3 in Chisinau. In the first project year, these modules were taught to 75 students.

To identify the teachers’ training needs for proper teaching of the Solid Biofuel Boilers and Energy Crops – a Renewable Energy Source pilot modules to future boiler operators and foresters, the Energy and Biomass Project conducted research among teachers and foremen and the students of the vocational school no.3 in Chisinau and the ones in Orhei and Cuhuresti village in Floresti district, which are participating in the pilot program.

To do this, it drafted two specialized questionnaires for the vocational instructors, whose answers helped the project experts draft a training action plan for the teachers of the vocational schools. A survey was also conducted to assess the quality and availability of the training materials, including the modular curriculum, framework education plan, course book and others. The teachers and the management of the three vocational schools were invited to participate in special workshops aimed at guiding and supporting them in the implementation of the pilot project.

The results and progress of the pilot project are systemically monitored through separate questionnaires filled in by the teachers, managers and the students of the participating schools, the teacher self-assessment form and “agenda of the teacher experimenter”.

With the support of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry the project experts organized workshops for the companies operating in the industry and agriculture sectors and asked them to fill in a questionnaire which facilitates identification of the job-related tasks for the solid biofuel boiler operators and producers of energy crops.