Anna Lindh Foundation

Work integration social enterprise EDUJOC LTD

National Network

Romania

Address

Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, Petru Zadnipru 15, off 42

Country

City

Cluj

Mobile Phone

+37369355244

Telephone

+37369355244

E-Mail

novacvictoria@gmail.com

E-Mail (2)

edujoc.eu@gmail.com

Year of Establishment

2012

Facebook

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Contact Person1

Victoria Novac-Hincu

Job Title 1

Director

Contact Person 2

Igor Hincu

Job Title 2

Co-founder

Organisation Type

Private Company

Fields of Activity

Arts, Environment/Sustainable development, Heritage, Youth and education

General Information

EDUJOC company is a social company, with an official statute of work integration social enterprise.
The company was established in 2012 by Igor Hincu and Victoria Novac.

Victoria has been volunteering since she was 15 years old, and in 2018 she was named volunteer of the year in Moldova. Then she followed her student years in Cluj and Bucharest, at the same time she continued to volunteer and work at a children's center.
Igor was a successful engineer in Bucharest, he managed to become a forensic technical engineer with the necessary authorizations.
Both of them really wanted to bring home educational toys that were very hard to find back then or were in Russian and very expensive. That's how they decided to organize a play workshop for children and parents, initially it was as a pilot project and research to better understand the needs of parents and children. Igor and Victoria gathered around them a beautiful community of parents who needed play equipment.

The educational system is not adapted and updated to our needs, nor to the economic, social or cultural model. Our children grow and develop focused on mistakes, in fears and comparisons, spending too much time in front of screens.
This business started mainly from the desire to support educators and parents, but also to offer the little ones the most beautiful childhood and the most "colorful" memories.
The fast pace, daily worries and new technologies have made us forget what it's like to play, that's why we started this beautiful adventure, EduJoc to (re)teach the world to play.

Mission and Objectives

From the beginning we set out to promote continuous and active learning among children and to come up with healthy alternatives to screens and online games. We started as a pilot project and now we have been delivering education in Moldova and in every corner of the world for 12 years. Everyone can find their favorite toy at EduJoc, because we offer toys for all age groups. Any child from 1 to 99 years old can find the right toy at EduJoc.
Our mission is to give every child in the country the chance to have at least one educational toy in their home, suitable for their age, temperament and needs. The economic model of society, individual mindsets and the way people understand their emotions have changed. Parents' demands towards the educational system have also changed. For this reason, we decided to contribute to adapting the school to the social, economic, cultural, but especially emotional model of society because we want children to go to school with motivation and the joy of learning.
Dependence on screens is another major problem that we have undertaken to solve by offering effective alternatives in the fight against gadgets, by developing children's creativity and intelligence. Formal education covers only part of the training required for a good pedagogue. We decided to deliver a series of quality, well-prepared and interactive trainings free of charge that would give teachers and parents the opportunity to accumulate practical knowledge, alternative methods and effective techniques in a very short time. Through the techniques offered after the workshops, educators and parents form essential skills for children, to help them plan every step in life from an early age, to be aware and identify their own mistakes and learn from them. The game rationally guided by the trainers contributes to the multilateral development of the child's personality, through storytelling or the art of telling stories, children learn to express their emotions and become good speakers.

We save the planet through play! That's what we set out to do when we launched the creative recycling campaign. We believe it is very important to teach our little ones to protect the planet we live in. That is precisely why we launched the challenge and the invitation to creatively recycle cardboard waste.

We invite the world to the workshop to creatively recycle the cardboard, we offer the laser monster and the visitors bring the cardboard waste! We've turned recycling into play and we've noticed that our kids love being given responsibilities because it makes them feel mature and important! We receive weekly visits to the workshop where we instill in the children care for the environment and train them in creative waste recycling skills.

We are a social business with impact in three directions: environment, education and community. We use only natural materials in production and have a 99% reuse rate of scraps. We organize recycling and reuse workshops, developing creativity and critical thinking.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we reoriented our activity towards the production of visors, distributing over 10,000 visors absolutely free of charge. At 6 o'clock in the morning the ambulances were already at the gate of our workshop.
During Christmas we created a "flying" sleigh and brought joy to hospitals, especially to the children's windows where Santa Claus delivered presents. We also manufactured the peace toy, distributed to over 5000 refugee children. Hollywood actors such as Katja Riemann and Orlando Bloom have joined our initiatives.
We always try to get involved in projects that challenge and stimulate our creativity and inventiveness. This is how we manage to create new items and services and how we stay afloat. Also thanks to the involvement and participation in different projects we learn to evolve. More recently, we decided to launch an eco-builder of cardboard bricks, because during the crisis we learned that we are able to reprofile and even produce medical protective equipment. Now, however, we want to become more environmentally friendly - that's why we're ready to re-profile ourselves once again to promote love for the environment and the concept of cardboard toys.

Main Projects / Activities

- First Toy Museum in Moldova
- visit tours in the toy factory, where children create their personalised toy, and have fun in our inclusive playground, and also see the process of creation of a toy
- recycling and up cycling workshops for children and families
- wellbeing and relationship between parents - children
- inclusive working team, 60% of employees are retired people
- workshops on storytelling and experiential outdoor learning

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

I would be more than happy to launch the network in the Republic of Moldova, as I have experience in both NGO sector and non-profit private sector.

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

We are change-makers in our community, I feel how much I can contribute to my country and I believe that being part of ALF Network will grow me and give a lot of value to the initiatives that will be launched.