European Commission



Thematic network on Youth EmploymentMinutes of the meeting held on 10-11 March 2016, BrusselsObjectives of the meeting:How can the Thematic Network help participants with the work in the Member States on youth employment?Support with the coordinated callsSharing good practicesSupport around sharing good practices – operational and policy relatedA number of contextual points are important:There is evidence of mismatches between the education systems and the labour market in many parts of EuropeThe transition from education to work is not a straight forward path for young people – varied pathway – e.g. function of voluntary work and to help codify skills and their transferabilityComplexity of the transition to employment can make young people drop out of the systemCooperation and the involvement of employers is vitalPecha Kucha on good practices: projects, programmes, policiesPecha Kucha is a technique to communicate using images and not words, to present complex messages in simple ways.Member State/presenterImageContentEddy Adams, Thematic ExpertAn economics graduate advertises himself in London.This picture tells us of the diversity of youth unemployment.‘Route 66’ project in Berlin: Young Turkish women are organising guided visits to the Turkish quarter: the tour is not just about culture but about the lifestyles of a whole community.Copenhagen, DenmarkYoung people walking the experience of other young people – to identify the barriers and bottlenecks. Importance of ethnographic approaches. Czech RepublicMap of areas of social exclusion in the CZ, showing location of Czech and Roma peopleProject is financed by the European Youth InitiativeFlandersProject: Rising YouthFunded by the national lotteryProject: WorkFunded by the PESThis project uses climbing techniques to work with young people, including refugee children. The ultimate aim is to lead young people into employment.The project is an urban game: young people are given a tablet and an avatar and they have to find a job for the avatar. There are various stops on the way, for example, at employment agencies, trade unions, etc.Andalucía, SpainCommunity and Social Cooperation InitiativeTo provide young people with professional working experience and thereby increase self-confidence.WalloniaUrban Renewal and Young People in CharleroiESF-funded projectThe project works with NEETs 18-25 years old. It teaches both technical and social skills and focuses on industrial painting, urban arts, graphic art, street art projects, etc.GermanyFederal Ministry of Labour and Social AffairsIdA projectThe project targets young people who are far from the labour market and not easily reached by job centres. The young people lack confidence and motivation, but these types of placements have had a very beneficial impact on overcoming barriers.GermanyState Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Affairs and IntegrationHamburg projectThe project works with NEETs and uses the integrated one-stop-shop approach.FinlandOne-stop shopsIn Finland, they carried out a survey of young people and asked them what support they needed to find the right educational courses and employment.Young people said that they do not know where to go for information.Therefore, one-stop-shops were set up, which have all the services under one roof.SwedenPLUG (a childish word which means school and studying).The project works with young people with health issues, for example, depression.Poland‘Equal on the Labour Market’ – to prevent the social exclusion of young people.Providing career guidance and vocational training. There is also awareness that young people in rural areas need special attention.ItalyEmployer Subsidy ProgrammeThe aim of the project is to reduce the unemployment of NEETs: traineeships should not be used by companies to exploit young people.The PowerPoint slide and completed pro-formas on each example can be found at DiscussionImportant to integrate gender mainstreaming into the work. In the Czech Republic, GM is important and there are women in decision-making positions: strong women’s rights are a positive legacy from Communist times.How do we engage with employers and incentivise them to offer opportunities to young people? In some Member States, employers get a bonus for hiring young people. There are pros and cons to such schemes: there is conflicting evidence to show this improves the employability of young people, as well as risks of deadweight (where employer would have taken on the person anyway) and potential for ‘revolving door’ which doesn’t lead to sustained outcomesTwo examples of sharing best practices at EU level shared by the European CommissionDrawing on recent research (also available in the shared Dropbox folder), Ulrike Storost shared some key messages on effective work with NEETs across Europe. She started by stressing the need to work with young people, and to identify ways of reaching them, for example, through social media and community-based approaches. AustriaYouth coaching for young people with learning difficulties: the aim is to bring these young people into mainstream programmes.Ballymena, IrelandImplementing the youth guarantee, the project consisted of offering local employers the opportunity to help young people through, for example, mentorship programmes. A focus group composed of NEETs was organised to consult young people on how to communicate with and reach young people.The presentation, which is contained in the shared Dropbox folder, stimulated further discussion around the most effective ways to support NEETs into sustained outcomes. It also raised the question of driving innovation in the supply chain, in order to contract service providers willing and able to work effectively with the most marginalised young people. Next stepsDrafting the baseline studyThe baseline study will be ready by early spring; it will be structured along the following lines:IntroductionEU Policy backgroundDrivers, challenges, good practicesStakeholder mapIssues to addressconclusionParticipants agreed with this proposed structure. Thematic focus is on youth employment, and the following sub-themes:Over the course of the two meetings of the Thematic Network, clear sub-themes have emerged under the umbrella of youth employment, these are:MobilityNEETs – outreach workHow we do it? Driving innovation and quality in the ESF supply chain ActivationService integrationChallenges identified by the participants, working in small groupsIssues:What challenges can you identify in relation to effective outreach?What root causes contribute to these challenges?Are you addressing these in your Operational Programme, if so how?Results:Regarding NEETs, there are different systems in the Member States: there is no systematic way to reach NEETs at the local level; there are different categories of NEETs; NEETS are not only far from the labour market, but also from social life.There is a core group in NEETs who are the same – that have the most difficulty in finishing school and accessing the labour market. When you have low youth unemployment in Sweden, these NEETs are the furthest from the labour market; they remain NEETs even when the economy is doing well. The problem is therefore chronic and systemic. In Sweden, colleagues are focusing mainly on migrants at the moment; people working with young people also need to have training – training of professions in Public Employment Services (PES), but who should finance this? Staff in PES need to improve their empathetic skills in working with young people. NB there may be resistance from professionals because of the challenges of change.France and Finland have between 20-25% and 18% youth unemployment:In Finland it is a question of geography: in rural areas there is low employment because people do not want to move, but are young people obliged to go to where the jobs are?In France, there will be two calls for proposals issued in each region:Integrated approach, guidance, accompanimentApprenticeship, guidance and accompaniment‘No one is impossible’: Sometimes the social problems facing young people are so bad that it is better to take them out of the system, for example, as the mobility programme has done.The development of ‘soft skills’ is importantEd Adams added that sometimes levers and incentives are needed for schools to tackle the problem of NEETs: schools can experience ‘no pain’ if they have NEETs. There is a need to track the rate of NEETs after school leaving; such figures could make the schools more aware of the problems.There are different figures for youth employment for north and south Europe. The NEETs who are far from the labour market are from low socio-economic backgrounds: in north Europe, NEETs are a high priority, in south Europe, not a top priority, thus, southern countries may have to put this higher up the priority list. (This led to an interesting exchange on the pressure to prioritise budgets in Member States like Spain where overall youth unemployment figures remain high).There is a lack of data on NEETs, who they are, what skills they have, if anyThe welfare system prevents young people from being dynamicQuestion of quality of jobs and traineeships on offer to young peopleQuestion of trust of young people in the systemRoot causesMismatch between education systems and the labour marketYoung people’s lack of trust in the systemSystemic discrimination: we need more data to track and combat this problemLimited human resource capacity in the public sector (numbers and skills) combined with fear of change in uncertain timesLimited innovation on the supply sideDemographic change; older people working longer, so limiting new job opportunities for the young NB the involvement of young people in all actions is vital to their success and can be summarised in the following slogan: ‘nothing about us, without us’, which has been used by discriminated groups to have voice and visibility.Structuring our future network activity – Ed AdamsMoving forward, it is important to identify how we think transnational activity can help us address these challenges at home. Who are the most likely beneficiaries of our work: policy makers? Managing Authority staff? Training provider staff? Young people? What kind of activities should we undertake to best support them and to get results?This led to a detailed discussion on the need for realism in relation to capacities and potential results. The group agreed that it was better to manage expectations and avoid promising on things we can’t deliver. Ed suggested that once we have agreed the core questions – potential added value from transnational activity, target beneficiaries etc – there is a range of activities we might undertake. Suggestions included:Good practice site visits and exchangePeer reviewsAdditional researchEvents with other relevant agencies (ILO, OECD, CEDEFOP, Eurofound etc.)At this point the Expert suggested that he develop and circulate options for members to consider based on the discussion. He acknowledged that there may be different levels of commitment and capacity within the group. It was also evident that decision-making structures vary between member States, so the optimum working model may be one where members can opt in to elements most relevant to them. A ‘One size fits all’ approach would not be appropriate going forward. How to design and deliver a good coordinated callThis session consisted of three Managing Authorities sharing their experience of co-ordinated calls. The PowerPoints are contained in the Dropbox folder. 7.1 Presentation by FlandersThe main selection criteria are based on mutual learning. There are two horizontal themes which are obligatory: gender mainstreaming and social innovation. Each proposal must have at least one Flemish and one transnational partner. Project proposals are to be innovative and improve existing services. The deadline for project promoters is from mid-January to mid April. After the approval of the project, the partnership should draft a ‘mutual learning plan’. Projects are recommended to have two transnational partners in case one does not work out. The ability to implement the project is an important element in the approval. Two evaluators assess each project proposal. For the preparatory phase, all projects have the same money: €15,000 for four months7.2 IdA mobility programme, Germany – Bettina ReuterThis initiative was inspired by the Erasmus and Leonardo mobility programmes to provide opportunities for disadvantaged groups. It only makes sense if it is linked to the local and regional labour markets. The first step is to find the young people who can benefit from the programme. Standards are established to ensure a minimum level of quality. IdA targets young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Partnerships can be changed if these do not work. TLN Mobility partner search database is ready to use.7.3 Poland – Paulina MarkiewiczThe duration of the projects will be 18 months and the deadline for submission of projects is October 2016: all the necessary documents are published three days before the calls are issued; there is no need to sign a Transnational Cooperation Agreement but a signed letter of intent is necessary. With regard to the section of young people, 50% must be from the long-term unemployed category. In the next call, will give points for placements with NGOs and the public sector.The presentations generated a number of procedural questions about the co-ordinated calls. Members asked for clarification on the phasing and on the pros and cons of a staged procedure. Aleksandra Kowalska confirmed that the Draft General Terms of Reference (V16 – November 2015) provided clear and accurate details. Decision made and follow-up to this meetingThe Thematic Expert concluded the meeting by confirming the next steps which will be as follows:Preparation and circulation of a paper setting out the options relating to the group’s future operations and the development of related workplansThe questionnaire asking for member feedback on these options will include a question asking Managing Authorities to clarify their plans relating to co-ordinated calls (beyond those already involved in Mobility)Drafting and circulation of the baseline study In terms of next meeting dates, it was suggested that we wait for clarification on future working structures. It was noted that AEIDL has two upcoming events scheduled for all of the networks – a seminar in the second half of June and a conference in the early autumn. Dates are being finalised and will be circulated ASAP. Annex: List of participants of the TN on Youth Employment, 10-11 March 2016LIST OF PARTICIPANTSESF Thematic Network Expert/ Eddy AdamsBelgium (nl)/ ESF Agency Flanders (MA/IB): Heleen VoetsBelgium (nl)/ ESF Agency Flanders (MA/IB): Anneleen DewitteBelgium (fr)/ ESF Agency Wallonia (MA/IB): Caroline Van der LindenCzech Republic/ Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MA/IB): Tomá? Trávní?ekFinland/ Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Central Finland (OP): Mika VillaFinland/ NS Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Central Finland: Tuija KauttoFrance/ Ministry of Work, Employment, Vocational Training and Social Dialogue (MA/IB): Na?ma HatiaGermany/ Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MA/IB): Bettina ReuterGermany/ (land) State Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Affairs and Integration (MA/IB): Ulrich WolffItaly/ Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MA/IB): Giovanni di MentoPoland/ Ministry of Development (MA/IB): Paulina MarkiewiczPoland/ Ministry of Family, Work and Social Policy (OP): Rafa? BartochowskiSpain/ NS Public Employment Service of Andalusia (Spain): Fernando BlancoSweden/ The Swedish ESF Council (MA/IB): Louise Stiernstr?mSweden/ The Swedish ESF Council (MA/IB): Helena EklundSweden/ Ministry of Employment - Youth Employment delegation (OP): Susan ZanderEuropean Commission: Resa Koleva-DemontyEuropean Commission: Ulrike StorostEU Stakeholder/ European Foundation Network: Ali KhanEU Stakeholder/ European Youth Forum: Marianna GeorgallisESF Technical Assistance/ Antoine Saint DenisESF Technical Assistance/ Jyostna PatelESF Technical Assistance/ Aleksandra Kowalska ................
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