The joint seminars were proposed by the Financial Mechanism Office during the development of the Fund for Youth Employment framework and are considered an important component of the Fund’s setup. We held our first annual seminar on 25-26 November 2019 in Brussels with 55 representatives of lead, beneficiary and expertise partners of all 26 projects implemented under the Active Youth call for proposal present.
The seminar was an opportunity to discuss the common challenges, share best practices, exchange experience in three thematic sessions covering topics that are important to all project promoters. We had an opportunity to discuss issues related to outreach, inclusion of vulnerable groups, competence and skills development, job creation, entrepreneurship, inclusion of the social economy in workplace learning, working with stakeholders… And many more. We shared success stories and failures (after all, we learn from our mistakes) that motivated us to change the approach and try once more. We gathered also the volunteer contributors to Baseline Study, who had the unique opportunity to first discuss the approach and preliminary results and then share them with other seminar participants.
But the seminar’s goal was also to strengthen the sense of community of Active Youth projects. Being part of this huge, Europe-wide team, means we are not alone when facing difficulties, we can count on each other’s advice and support and we have lots of people around to celebrate our achievements. We strongly believe that creating a space for information exchange stimulates synergies between projects, inspires collaboration and encourages networking within and beyond the contractual partnerships and project activities.
For me it is especially important that the seminar was shaped by its participants and I would like to take this opportunity to thank our speakers once again for sharing their thoughts with our audience and engaging us all in inspiring discussions that continued throughout the breaks. So, what would you like to discuss next year?
Małgorzata Nowak
