Description
Portugal currently has a youth unemployment rate of about 35%, and practical responses for professional integration are urgently needed. The object of this project will be the creation of the Driving License for Youth Employment, a way of validating individual preparation and training towards the goal of employment. It will include a theoretical component of "road code" and a practice component of "driving", in the work environment. It will cover employment as employee, green employment and entrepreneurship. A survey focusing on the main weaknesses experienced in accessing employment will be made, and then, textbooks for both young people (Road Code Book for Youth Employment and Driving Manual for Youth Employment) and for trainers. The training of 14 trainers is also planned. The entire methodology will then be tested and implemented, culminating in the award of the first 20 Driving Licences in Youth Employment. The project also envisages the creation of a web portal.
Summary of project results
Portugal has a youth unemployment rate of over 35%, which is more than 20% higher than the country's overall rate. The young generation, already nicknamed "neither," young people who neither work nor study, urgently needs practical answers that promote and facilitate their professional integration. The solution will certainly be in economic development and job creation, but it is also important to prepare young people for the jobs that actually exist in the economy, that is, to give them the skills needed to “drive” on the current “employment routes”. 78 young people were involved in training actions on employability and passed the “driver’s license” exam. By the end of the project they were deemed to own the necessary conditions and skills to join the labour market. The project involved the conception of a “driver’s license for youth employment”, the preparation of didactic and pedagogical tools, 5 training courses in 5 different areas of the country (to train and validate the skills of the 78 new “drivers”) resulting in the issuance of 78 driver’s licenses, the set up an online web portal in order to allow for dissemination and replication of the project (including exams to be passed on line) and the organisation of 5 awareness-raising actions and a congress on youth employment. The project surpassed its initial targets on driver’s licenses on youth employment but was not successful in enabling new entrepreneurs (the planned training actions did not take place due to concentration on employability). The promoter reports that the innovative methodology and the high acceptance by the young people made the NGO a significant player – with higher visibility – in the area of youth employment.
Summary of bilateral results