How many LPs/BPs you managed to involve?
Bucovina Institute, Lead Partner within 058 – SEPAL (Supporting Employment Platform through Apprenticeship Learning) managed to organize until the present moment three online events under the series entitled ”Let’s NEET together!” as it follows:
- 16th of November 2020;
- 9th of March 2021;
- 6th of May 2021.
In this regard, we gathered 15 out of 25 projects funded by EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment in the European webinar in which they exchanged best practices, by showing to the specialists from different domains participating, the innovation, the tool they are using and some success stories from the lifetime of their project. Over 200 participants from 16 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Ukraine) attended the three online events organised during the last six months.
More than this, the 15 projects that answered to our invitation so far are:
- 058 – SEPAL – Supporting Employment Platform through Apprenticeship Learning, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – BUCOVINA INSTITUTE(Suceava, Romania) through Petru-Vasile Gafiuc and Valentina-Alina Adomnicăi;
- 008 – Youth employment partnership, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – INSTITUTE FOR STRUCTURAL RESEARCH (Poland) through Karol Madoń;
- 152 – EYTP – Individual Placement and Support for NEETs through Education Youth Technology Platform, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – PUBLIC UNIVERSITY OF PTUJ (Ptuj,Slovenia) through Andrej Korosec;
- 053 – RAISE YOUTH – Rural Action for Innovative and Sustainable Entrepreneurship for Youth, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – GTF – INITIATIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH (Zagreb, Croatia) through Mary Ann Rukavina Cipetic;
- 455 – LEAD – Labour market Employment for young Adults with a Disability, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – HEALTH ACTION OVERSEAS FOUNDATION(Bucharest, Romania) through Nicolae Dobrescu;
- 083 – NEETs in entrepreneurship, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT ROMANIA (Bucharest, Romania) through Dorin Călin;
- 134 – DARE – Day One Alliance for Employment, represented by the LEAD PARTNER SEAL CYPRUS – CYPRUS ORGANISATION FOR SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION & ACTIVE LEARNING(Nicosia, Cyprus) through Anna Dalosi;
- 351 – SOCIALNEET – From civil society organizations to social entrepreneurship. Combating youth unemployment and addressing the needs of NEETs, represented by the BENEFICIARY PARTNER – CONFARTIGIANATO IMPRESE TERNI(Terni, Italy) through Corrado Bordoni;
- 277 – Mommypreneurs, represented by the BENEFICIARY PARTNER – UNIVERSITY ”ȘTEFAN CEL MARE” SUCEAVA (Suceava, Romania) through Ana-Maria Cozgarea;
- 414 – CODE – Competence Opportunities for Digital Employment, represented by the BENEFICIARY PARTNER – SAVE THE CHILDREN ASSOCIATION IASI (Iași, Romania)through Adrian Pricop;
- 203 – YENESIS – Youth Employment Network for Energy Sustainabilty in Islands, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – CYPRUS ENERGY AGENCY (Nicosia, Cyprus) through Myrto Skouroupathi;
- 192 – FOLM – From Outdoors to Labour Market, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE EDUCATION(Warsaw, Poland) through Jorge Gimeno;
- 315 – eNEET Rural Facilitating entrepreneurship and improving skills of NEETs living in rural areas, represented by the BENEFICIARY PARTNER – FRUTO CONSULTANCY LTD.,(Budapest, Hungary) through Patrícia Mérei;
- 086 – L.I.K.E. – Life Investment is the Key to Employment, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – ASSOCIATION “SUSTAINABILITY OF PROGRESSIVE AND OPEN COMMUNICATION”(Sofia, Bulgaria) through Mihaela Angelova;
- 027 – Find your way to the world of work, represented by the LEAD PARTNER – AUTONOMIA FOUNDATION(Budapest, Hungary) through Marton Illes.
Therefore, we had 11 LEAD PARTNERS and 4 BENEFICIARY PARTNERS participating in the ”Let’s NEET together!” webinars.
Alina Adomnicăi – Communication Manager
SEPAL – Supporting Employment Platform through Apprenticeship Learning
Did you have difficulties in involving the projects?
«We did not see the process of organizing the “Let’s NEET together!” series of webinars as a difficulty, but as a challenge and an opportunity to interact with various specialist from different domains, to exchange best practices to get to know what approaches the other colleagues from the other 24 projects are using in their work with the young people, to discover innovative instruments and methods that could be adapted in our country and in our organisation, and last but not least to highlight the successful stories of each participating partner. It was a challenge, in the beginning, in regard of building the concept of a movement that with each webinar organised, it raised in popularity, being promoted at European level. More than this, we have been raising during the last six months the visibility of our project and the other 14 projects that shown their interest in our online events. We cannot say that it was easy to organise such a comprehensive series of events, but the contentment after each one was our reward».
Which kind of projects were you able to interact more with?
«We cannot affirm that we had a more intensive interaction with some specific projects involved in our events, because we had something to learn from each of them, because each partner focuses on different aspects in the employment of the NEETs and has different approaches and innovative models and methods they apply in supporting the young people. We have been collaborating with some of them: at national level with Health Overseas Foundation (455-LEAD) and the University ”Ștefan cel Mare” Suceava (277 – Mommypreneurs), and at European level with SEAL CYPRUS (134 – DARE) and Public University of Ptuj (152-EYTP), but we also kept in touch with all of the projects, which answered positively to our invitations in our second and third editions of ”Let’s NEET together!”.
It is important to mention that the success of our collaboration within our first three events is also based on the meetings organized by the FO, which took place in Athens, Greece, when the short list was announced and in Warsaw, Poland, when we found out the winners. This and the fact that the people and teams remain the same had a defining role of a partnership that started with an idea and continued with the project implementation. We can say it is not only about the work meetings, but also about exchanges regarding values, beliefs, and cultural aspects of each partner country. We strongly believe that our collaboration will continue beyond these projects. This is why we have to highlight the fact we have already discussed about future partnerships and projects, for example, with the Norwegian partners from FONIX. As a conclusion, the series ”Let’s NEET together!” started as a curiosity and turned into a bridge of cooperation whichwill exist even after the completion of these projects. Last, but not least, we are considering to organize another two online events with the other 10 projects that have not participated yet in our webinars».
Mihaela Angelova, Association „SPOC“ (Bulgaria)
L.I.K.E. – Life Investment is the Key to Employment;
Which was the “key” – and therefore the main goal achieved in terms of consciousness – do you believe have characterized this initiative?
«The main key in the project L.I.K.E. is the multidimensionality of the program, directed at young people with mental health problems. The “Hidden Likes” youth house, under the project, aims at complexity, which includes working with the target group, periodic communication with their parents and relatives, and mentoring and mediation of employers. The modalities in the program include individual consultations and group activities that provide a safe environment and guarantee measures in the process of motivation, inclusion and self-realization of young people. The holistic approach contains mechanisms for creating an appropriate work culture and atmosphere, the opportunity to receive feedback and emotional support, good communication of the target group. The recovery-oriented biopsychosocial practice, with group sessions, music and animal therapy, gardening, art activities and psychological support, is a fundamental change in the way unemployed young people with mental health problems live. In the “Hidden Likes” youth house, with the inclusion of volunteers and students, we work to change public attitudes through an anti-stigma campaign, stimulating higher awareness of the needs and capabilities of the target group. Team activities support the development of social and communication skills, as well as tolerance to differences. The rules established in the house support the building of skills for cooperation, synergy and a sense of equality between all members. Young people included in the program say that they feel comfortable and at ease in the house. The environment that we strive to maintain in the “Hidden Likes” youth house is a safe space for sharing and receiving support. A place where personal competencies are freely developed, increasing NEETs’ confidence in getting a job and their effective coping with professional duties at the next stage. The system is already yielding positive results – we have a number of young people who have overcome their mental suffering and their barriers to social inclusion. We are also happy for the first NEETs who returned to work or education».
Which could be the next “keys” to employment if one continues to follow the spirit of “NEET’s together”?
«The exchange of good practices and evidence-based achievements is extremely useful for the work of all projects. Every good idea implemented by individual organizations is ready to implement a mechanism that has proven successful. The L.I.K.E. project is the only one in the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment scheme that is focused on NEETs with mental health problems, depression, addictions and eating disorders. As a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, there has been an increase in complaints related to the mental health of the individual and post-Covid disorders. The methodologies and practices included in the L.I.K.E. project program offer efficiency and effectiveness of the recovery process. The team of specialists in the program “Hidden Likes” can be useful to other colleagues who implement projects in youth employment, sharing their experience and approaches leading to mental stability and opportunities to achieve the next stages – internship, education, employment».
Myrto Skouroupathi from Cyprus Energy Agency (Cyprus) –
Yenesis – YOUTH EMPLOYMENT NETWORK FOR ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY IN ISLANDS;
Let’s NEET together was thought thinking about NEETs: how could be a “Let’s country together?
«In our approach for our project, the geographical element was very important since we were focusing specifically on islands. Thus, in many instances, experiences from central European countries don’t apply to the case of Cyprus. Focusing on the country level for an alternative to the “Let’s NEET together” events could be quite valuable and promote synergies between the various local projects under this call»
Did you ever think about an analysis country by country? If yes, which could be the challenges?
«The first part of our project was a research phase analysing the current situation country by country in terms of green jobs. This was a very valuable step for the following steps when we needed to engage the main target group. Currently, we are also analysing the legal framework and governmental support schemes for NEETs at the country level in order to propose policies to improve NEET situation. These are limited only at the consortium countries but an expansion of this analysis to all participating countries would be extremely valuable»
Patrícia Mérei, Fruto Consultancy Ltd. (Hungary)
eNEET Rural Facilitating entrepreneurship and improving skills of NEETs living in rural areas;
In that general framework and considering the spirit of the project you represented, how skills for NEETs living in rural areas could be further improved through a strict exchange of best practices (such as the Let’s NEET together)? Do you believe that though those inspiring practices NEETs living in rural areas could feel “less alone”?
«We strongly believe that the NEETs involved in our project activities have acquired new knowledge, skills and higher self-confidence. We have more or less changed the direction of their thinking and the perspective for their development. In addition to competences, the NEETs, living in the rural areas of our target regions improved their social skills, because during the project activities they communicated with young people from different social levels and professional realization. From now on, these young people must continue to be supported by us in their new endeavors by constantly sharing their achievements on social media and channels. One such example is the creation of the “Success Stories of Our NEETs” series in order to share the experience, confidence and motivation gained after their involvement in the Soft skills & Agro-professional trainings, coaching and mentoring activities at farms, start-up competition. It is also very important to involve the NEETs in further occasions and to invite them to take an active part in events such as the Let’s NEET together»
Karol Madoń, Institute for Structural Research (Poland)
Youth employment partnership – evaluation studies in Spain, Hungary, Italy and Poland;
Do you think it could be possible to evaluate the results of those “clustering” initiatives? How much do you think they could be important in terms of finding solutions to common challenges?
«In principle, one can evaluate almost all policies and initiatives. In my opinion, it is a good practice to measure the outcomes of both public and non-government actions. However, one should think about evaluation even before the project starts. It is crucial to define, what are the goals and what we consider as success. Then, we must find out how to measure it. Unfortunately, there is no golden rule for proper evaluation because every case is very different. However, counterfactual methods are always a good place to start with policy evaluation, but these must be carefully designed to deliver credible results».
Is it possible to evaluate the results of those “clustering” initiatives?
«As I already mentioned, every case is different. If organisers of the initiative did not think about measuring the outcomes at the planning stage, the evaluation of the results could be more difficult, but not impossible. For sure, evaluating such initiatives could be useful in term of finding solutions to common challenges. The evaluations help to choose the most effective policies. On the one hand, if something does not work or is ineffective, we will find out about this. It helps us to identify bad ideas, so they will not be repeated in the future. On the other hand, if some initiative is very successful, why shouldn’t we organise it again on a bigger scale? Resources are always limited, so maybe it is better to implement a few smaller pilot projects and then repeat the most successful one instead of implementing one big project from the very beginning?».
Marton Illes, Autonomia Foundation (Hungary)
Find your way to the world of work.
To call NEET or not to call NEET?
«It might be important to better define our target group when working with young people who face various challenges. Whom are we working with and why? It is also important to be able to name our target group, both for being able to effectively communicate with them and also to better focus our targeting. People prefer to form identities along positive characteristics. Most of us also prefer to be approached by other people in a personal way. Similarly, the young people we work with do not find it attractive to be called “disadvantaged” or “NEET” (Not in Education, Employment or Training) – as these kinds of identifications focus on negative aspects. It might be advisable to target people along their positive or neutral characteristics – e.g. young people, kids living in this town or street. Targeting people by focusing on their disadvantages when communicating towards them might often lead to their alienation – they probably prefer to choose communities where they can feel more comfortable as opposed to the communities offered by us. Everyone likes to feel different, special and individual and would like to be approached in a personal way. Take it into account when designing communication targeting individuals. You are Steve, and you have special needs and strengths as an individual and we do not see you only as a member of a given social group. If we focus on the personal potentials of each person, they will also believe in themselves much more as compared to being called a NEET or a disadvantaged person.
About the same aspects could be considered when we decide how to talk about our target group. Beside, of course we have professional aspects as trainers, youth workers or developers, and we should also take into consideration their objective social characteristics in our professional work. However, I would also challenge the word NEET in this aspect. Do we need to support all NEETs? Someone who doesn’t belong to the group of NEETs surely doesn’t need our work? Let me give you some examples. Sarah is coming from a well-off family, has just graduated from the university of economics and before applying for a position at a consultant company she decides to have a couple of month break. She is NEET by definition, but since she well off by financial, social, economic aspects and have strong mid-term perspectives, have a marketable degree and strong competences, as well as a rich social network she probably doesn’t need our support. How about Jane, who frequents a vocational school, but she is not interested in the profession she studies and where she will receive a degree that will not have a strong market value. She is in education – but probably she needs our support to have a better job orientation, have ideas about her further education or training. Tom might be in a similar situation: he completed a vocational school but works in a position which doesn’t require any qualification. He probably would like to change to a position which is relevant for his education level. These are not just the perspectives of the young people but also how society sees them. We must acknowledge that many educational institutions do not provide marketable knowledge and skills and many of their students do not want to work in their learned
