SDG8 - oriented projects and Best Practices

Libraries are already intensively working towards the attainment of SDG 8. Some of them act as liaison agents between employers and job-seekers. Job desks where librarians or experts help the unemployed to file job applications are frequently hosted in libraries and free access to Internet, as well as other cutting-edge technology provided by libraries, encourage people to make use of advanced technologies.

SDG 8-oriented work would mean for libraries to intensify the quality of their activity in times of stagnation and poor job opportunities, in collaboration with the private sector. A possible activity, for instance, would be to act as an information centre in relation to the European Social and Investment Funds, thus increasing citizens’ awareness on how sustainable European expenditure is.

There is a substantial overlap between SDG 4- and SDG 8- oriented activities running in libraries. The organisation of sustainable development workshops on robotics and 3D in the Madrid library system as well as in some other libraries in Spain is an example of the link between quality education and sustainable economic growth since it enhances job-seeking. In Madrid, children too are encouraged to have fun by using new technologies in an appropriate way. (See: Madrid city libraries and 2030 Agenda, https://bibliotecas.madrid.es/UnidadesDescentralizadas/Bibliotecas/BibliotecasPublicas/Noticias/ficheros/ManualAgenda2030.pdf#page=82)

Similarly, Global Libraries - Bulgaria Foundation (FSBB) is a partner in the “Get Your Facts Straight! Media Literacy for All” in Bulgaria - a program co-funded by the European Commission which provides media literacy training to students and young people from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as to their parents and / or grandparents. The Global Libraries - Bulgaria Foundation also implements “E-skills for E-inclusion” project, whose main purpose is to develop a computer literacy training program for vulnerable groups and facilitate their access to the labour market.

This project is being implemented in partnership with 5 other organizations from Northern Ireland, Spain, Italy and Romania and is funded by the European Erasmus + program. The E-Portal of Memory and Knowledge is dedicated to the European history and science; the Tech Lib offers a Mini Technology Centre at the Regional Library "Hristo Botev" – Vratsa: children and teenagers get acquainted with the opportunity to experience new technological wonders.

 

• SDG8-oriented projects in Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia and Spain

 

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