The YOUTHShare project’s aim is to reduce youth unemployment in coastal and island regions of the Mediterranean European Economic Area by boosting young NEETs’ skills in resilient economic sectors, for example the agri-food production and related circular economies, in a trans-local level. Through a multi-scalar methodology and practice it will enhance the potential of social entrepreneurship and sharing economy, with the aim to mitigate economic disparities on the one hand and empower social integration.
One of the YOUTHShare project outputs is the preparation of a documentary film that entails interviews both from beneficiaries and people working for the project, illustrating their hopes, fears, obstacles that they met and had to overcome, and overall experience with the training programme that the project offered. The documentary “NEET” is an almost one-hour long film, that shares with us the special stories of people who remained, for various reasons, out of the job market as well as any sort of training for a rather significant amount of time, but who succeeded to turn the tables by joining the YOUTHShare project and attending its training programme.
On the one hand, the documentary gives us an opportunity to listen to some of the beneficiaries’ stories relating to how they got involved in the project, what barriers they had to overcome and with what means. But it also allows us to see in which ways the training programme has actually helped them: being part of a workplace; feeling once more what it’s like to be in a stable environment; being part of a team; picking up new skills; meeting new people and building a personal network. And in some cases, of course, achieving the ultimate goal: securing a long-term job!
One of the stories that are unveiled in the documentary is that of 21-year-old Zaki, a refugee from Afghanistan residing in Mytilene island, having his asylum application constantly rejected and living in a status of insecurity. Despite the difficulties, he managed to get an internship at a local furniture refurbishment store and get familiar with the people and the art. Other beneficiaries that talk about their hardships in finding a job and how their participation in YOUTHShare’s training programme enhanced their skills are Alberto Vicente and Angel Bernal Mesa from the Spanish branch, Osman Konte, originating from Sierra Leone in West Africa and Maria Kaniklidou from the Cypriot branch, Monique Varano, from the Italian branch and Anna Saroukou, also from the Greek branch. They all share the same goal, to find a place in the labour market, a secure and fulfilling job; a goal which the YOUTHShare project brings them one step closer to achieving.
The official premiere soon to come!
