Description
NEET (young people not in employment, education or training) require, in many cases, support in overcoming this circumstance and in planning their future. The project promotes the employability of 100 of these young people in the district of Braga. It will employ an innovative teaching methodology, still little known in Portugal, to empower youth for employability resorting to a simulated business network. The goal is to improve the personal, social and employability skills through individualized support, skills training and direct contact with potential employers. A pool of mentors will be created, participants selected and working groups formed for the coaching processes and vocational guidance, and finally, each participant will follow one of several alternative training paths for employability.
Summary of project results
NEETs (young people not in employment, education or training) are characterized by a strong social invisibility and lack of participation in the labour market. This target group is unable to design and build autonomously feasible action plans for their futures and lack knowledge and ability to successfully manage the processes of insertion in higher education or specific vocational training or even in the job market (as employee or self-employee). The project addresses the need for preventive intervention based on signaling, monitoring, characterization and referral of young people who, having abandoned and / or completed compulsory schooling, did not move to another formally recognised institutional sphere. 245 NEETs and pre-NEETs (prevention action) were trained and got new skills to improve their employability and favour their social inclusion. 27 of them were further trained on entrepreneurship. A local network involving 24 entities was set up in the municipality of Braga (north of Portugal) to support youth employability. The first project phase was signalization of NEETs (212 were signalized). Then a diversified set of training and coaching actions was implemented, comprising sessions of training on soft skills (personal, social and intercultural competences), on personal marketing, on networking, on how to find a job, on setting tailor-made personal plans of insertion (76 plans were thus prepared) and on entrepreneurship and initiating a new business. A web platform to support youth employability was set up as well. Projects targets were achieved with the exception of employer’s involvement: training and awareness-raising was proposed to them – namely in order that they hire NEETs taking advantage of the benefits provided by public policies measures – but their availability was not secured. Both the promoter NGO and its partners report new skills and knowledge on dealing with NEETs.
Summary of bilateral results