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Description
The Young Service Steward (YSS) focuses on two areas:
- Support to unemployed youth by a 360° competence upgrade in a blend of digital skills, life skills, counselling and employment in a flexible delivery system, and
- Establishment of local employment agreements among the key stakeholder of PES/public/private activation to enforce the 360° competence upgrade.
YSS aims to prevent the growing competence gap between activation programs and the digital and soft skills needs of the labour market and to mature employment within welfare and environmental services. With the 360° NEET competence upgrade we aim to widen the employment and vocational possibilities for the NEET group. The outputs of the program will come as tools to improve digital skills training, life skills training, counselling, mapping tool and an innovative Impact Prospect to show how the NEET youth can become a part of the solution, and not the problem of weak local communities. The target group is the unemployed youth of both genders with diverse challenges in 12 different locations in four countries, with a special focus on youth with social and mental challenges and long-term unemployment.
The project will reach out also to activation programs (EU-wide), which can benefit from tools, methods and cases developed within YSS. Tackling the challenge of high youth unemployment requires innovative solutions and shared values as we are facing the same global challenges.
Summary of project results
The overall aim of the projest was to improve the living conditions and employment opportunities of young people in local communities. Under the “umbrella-term,” NEET exist a very diverse group of citizens. So no “one-size-fits-all” strategy would work. It stretches from single mothers, to people with serious behavioural challenges e.g; people who did not fit into the institutionalized education system or who had other aspirations. The NEETs’s situation also reflects their communities, where resources of job and training possibilities are low or not exist. Especially this is crucial for young adults with learning disabilities or who need special attention to raise motivation.
At the beginning, project partners sent an open invitation for all potential participants and stakeholders in the involved communities to give them the opportunity to express their needs and what content would be of help in their present situation. This process gave the project an understanding of the diversity of participants, how the program elements and training material should be used and with what intensity.
The project developed a complex set of tools to provide a 360-degree support to the target group, including the development of their life skills and digital skills, strengthening their participation in local community services, offering them an opportunity to gain work experience, and providing them with counselling and mentoring support throughout the entirety of the YSS programme. 253 young people participated in the local programme according to their needs. At least 187 people have supported or expressed their support for local programme implementation (this doesn’t include the number of implementing experts, trainers, and consultants) This made the term NEET and the core of their difficulties and possible solutions be understood locally.
The YSS Project not only aimed to give a boost to the lives of the NEET through local project implementation. In Spain, Romania and Hungary, e-learning opportunities to reach more NEETs and develop their digital competencies were provided.
Based on the experience of local implementation, the project have produced an Adaptation kit, making the key learnings and tools available to other organisations that wish to support youth to find their place in the community.
The project significantly impacted the lives of hundreds of NEETs by providing comprehensive life skills training, digital competence development, and employability support. This led to notable improvements in self-efficacy and empowerment among participants, enabling them to take proactive steps towards personal and professional growth.
At several locations, the project was a valuable add-on to the available PES. By integrating YSS activities with local service needs, the project supported local economic and social welfare and provided tangible examples of how local services could be optimized to better serve the community and address specific local challenges.
The partnership, representing different cultural, legal and practical experience and its collaboration, fostered a rich exchange of knowledge and best practices. This cooperation was important in program delivery and enhancing the overall effectiveness of the interventions. YSS created pathways for increased national and transnational cooperation, particularly through its focus on transnational knowledge exchange and the development of common strategies for tackling youth unemployment across borders. The YSS program produced a range of professional outputs which could be utilized by other initiatives and programs beyond the YSS as the OER, MOOC and Adaptation kits to support it are available.
Summary of bilateral results
Having a donor project partner, such as Prios Kompetanse from Norway, played a crucial role in the success of the project. While not directly involved in on-the-ground implementation, Prios as an expertise partner provided expertise and professional support throughout the project lifecycle. They closely followed the project''s progress, offering advice, signing potential challenges, and doing professional development tasks. Prios actively participated in preparing for local implementation, conducting workshops on stakeholder engagement, supporting the development of impact prospects, and providing developed a Mapping tool to be used to support the NEET participants.One of the significant contributions from Prios was the development and provision of training materials, including the "train the trainer" content, which helped ensure the quality and effectiveness of the digital competence and life skills development program. Their involvement extended to taking over tasks related to digital competence program development following the departure of another partner, ACEFIR. Additionally, Prios conducted the project evaluation, leveraging their deep understanding of the project gained through their role as an expert partner.Prios in-depth understanding of the project''s goals and processes, coupled with cultural insights gained from visits to each partner, facilitated smoother collaboration and enhanced project outcomes. The partnership has demonstrated its value in improving project outcomes and fostering transnational cooperation, making it a valuable asset for ongoing and future endeavors