On the 7th of February, Fundación Privada Pere Closa organized the webinar, ”Let´s NEET Together!”, where more than 50 participants shared with us this useful space. Several professionals working in the field of social and labour inclusion in favour of vulnerable groups (migrants, the Roma community, and other contexts of cultural diversity) came together in this Zoom meeting to present the main results and challenges faced in their projects and programmes in Catalonia.
The purpose was to share good practices that, through learning and skills training, have helped to improve youth employability in Catalonia as well as identify the next steps/initiatives that improve the skills of young people to guarantee their rights in terms of improvement in employability.
With this aim in mind, we invited 4 professionals with a lot of experience in this field of work that could give us incentives in the right direction. These professionals were the following:
- Sandra Heredia, Responsible of the “Plan Integral del Pueblo Gitano”, Department of Social Rights, Generalitat of Catalonia
- Sara Casas Torrens, Coordinator of the Programme for Youngsters, “Dirección de Ocupabilidad Inclusiva i Formación”, Barcelona Activa, City Hall of Barcelona
- Jaume Puigpinós, Responsable of “Internacionalización y Agenda Europea a la Taula del Tercer Sector”
- Laia Navarro Herràndiz, Technician CNO Maresme-Vallès, Centre of “Nuevas Oportunidades” Maresme-Vallès
This meeting was an opportunity to come together with different professionals working towards the social and labour inclusion of vulnerable groups such as the Roma community and other ethnic minorities and have the chance to share perspectives, challenges, and feedback for further improvement. More importantly, one of our main aims is to continue this hard work, therefore, coming together and discussing as a team was a way to continue this joint effort in the promotions of rights regarding employability and thus create a more equal and inclusive world.
Moreover, what marks this occasion as especially important is the fact that this year, 2023, is the European Year of Skills which focuses on the importance of the development of competencies with the aim to leave no one behind while driving Europe’s path to recovery. Therefore, we took this opportunity to come together and remind not only ourselves but society that having the relevant skills is so important because it empowers people to successfully navigate changes in the labour market and fully participate in society and democracy.
