The Fund for Youth Employment was established in 2017 to contribute to sustainable and quality youth employment in Europe. Unlike the ordinary programmes funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, this Fund has a transnational focus – it helps entities across Europe pooling their efforts to find new ways of reducing youth unemployment.
Challenge
Almost 14 million young people in Europe are not in employment, education or training. Unemployment among youth is a shared European challenge. It puts young people at risk of poverty, prevents them from fully participating in society, and it can take a toll on their health, wellbeing and professional future. Besides being a waste of human potential and talent, youth unemployment poses a serious threat towards an equal social and economic development in Europe. Young people with disabilities and mental health disorders are especially vulnerable in the job market, as they have usually been unemployed for long periods of time and discouraged from seeking work.
Fund for Youth Employment
The EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms 2014–2021 are set up to contribute to the reduction of social and economic disparities in Europe. Recognising the strong link between social and economic equality and participation in the labour market, measures addressing youth employment are encouraged throughout the various programmes of the EEA and Norway Grants.
The EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment specifically aims to support transnational project initiatives that promote sustainable and quality youth employment. The main idea of the Fund is to help entities across Europe pooling their efforts to find new ways of dealing with urgent, common concerns such as youth unemployment. This is in line with the Europe 2020 strategy and the EU cohesion policy that takes account of the crucial role the regions and cross-border cooperation play for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The Fund supports this policy by funding transnational consortia that work together on common challenges, and learn from each other through dialogue and the exchange of good practice leading to mutual and accelerated learning and the replication of successfully tested solutions.
The €60.6 million Fund for Youth Employment also complements the Youth Employment Initiative, which is the main EU funding programme to facilitate the roll-out of the Youth Guarantee – a commitment by all EU Member States to ensure that young people receive good quality offer of employment, continued education and apprenticeship.
The target group of this Fund is young people between 15 and 29, with a special focus on the 25-29 year old.
Projects
The 26 projects funded with participants from 25 countries aim to enrol 15 000 young people in education or training, support 14 000 young people in active job search, create 3 000 jobs in NGOs, social enterprises and the ordinary labour market, and help 1800 young people start up their own businesses. The projects focus on innovation and exploration, transfer of know-how and good practices, and analysis and research – including transnational research.
Project outputs, results and objectives will also be shown in Slovenia, since Slovenian participants are cooperating in the following 5 projects, either as a lead or beneficiary partner.
SOCIALNEET_From civil society organizations to social entrepreneurship. Combating youth unemployment and addressing the needs of NEETs
1.7 million EUR | 9 partners | 36 months (12. 4. 2019–30. 9. 2021)
The SOCIALNEET project partners have established a transnational expert cooperation network in seven countries and are preparing young people for jobs within social enterprises, by offering training and capacity building services to civil society organisations and businesses belonging to the social economy. The following sectors are targeted: culture and tourism, health care, agriculture, IT and Open Source software and alternative energy sources. The project will result in increased awareness of the impact and the function that social innovation and entrepreneurship can have in tackling youth unemployment.
eNEET Rural: Facilitating entrepreneurship and improving skills of NEETs living in rural areas
1.5 million EUR | 7 partners | 36 months (01. 10. 2018 – 30. 09. 2021)
The eNEET Rural project focuses on innovation and technology in the agricultural sector in order to create a Toolkit for young people, who are no longer in the education system, not working or being trained for work (NEETs). The Toolkit includes online and on-the-spot trainings, youth competition, staff exchange and mentoring services. The project partners are offering training and preparation for two distinct groups: those with a secondary school diploma receive entrepreneurship training, while those without a diploma receive training that prepares them for jobs.
Individual Placement and Support for NEETs through Education Youth Technology Platform (EYTP)
1.2 million EUR | 6 partners | 36 months (1. 9. 2018 – 31. 8. 2021)
The project partners are improving the counselling competence in their countries through combining a two-step model consisting of the Maturing Model (MM) and Individual Placement and Support (IPS) from Norway. In combination with an Education Youth Technology Platform (EYTP), young people get support towards vocational education or a permanent job. MM consist of an individual coaching period, which is used for motivation and preparation for the more formal counselling work using the systematic IPS model.
Social Innovators
1.1 million EUR | 4 partners | 46months
The project partners focus on the non-governmental sector as an attractive working and learning environment for young people. In NGOs, young people gather work experience and become involved in some of the most relevant initiatives and programmes dealing with social challenges in Europe today. As a result, the participants are supported to create their own jobs within the social sector, where their educational background is essential for further development.
Social Innovatiors – Factsheet
Direction Employment
1,9 million EUR | 7 partners | 42 months
By uniting partners from different sectors – NGOs, universities, companies – from the participating countries, who have a proven track-record of working for the social and labour market inclusion of young people from highly marginalised minorities, the project will create and test an educational model with an experimental and innovative curriculum, establish a mobile classroom model to train trainers at regional level and apply assessment tools that will demonstrate the impact of the methodology on the participants as well as on their close environment (extended family, peer group, etc.) and on employers.
Direction Employment – Factsheet
For more information, please visit Fund for Youth Employment, Fund Operator Ecorys Polska or EEA and Norway Grants.
All questions about the Fund for Youth Employment should be addressed to the Fund Operator Ecorys Polska: eeagrants@ecorys.com