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Description
Project “PreseNEETi se” addresses the issue of NEETs, which deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic The analysis shows that in May 2020, as many as 12.6 million young people were unemployed, which is the largest share of unemployed young people in the last decade in the OECD area. Among them, the share of NEETs increased by almost 2%. In this context the project addresses the challenges of NEETs in Slovenia, namely: i) unclear methodology for identifying unregistered NEETs; ii) almost half of NEETs have never been in contact with the Employment Service; iii) 90% of unregistered NEETs have never worked; iv) only one out of the four unregistered NEETs is actively seeking employment; v) 65% of unregistered NEETs are inactive and not looking for work; vi) the largest number of unregistered NEETs are older youth who have no work experience and are less educated. In this context, the main goal of the project is the empowerment and social activation of NEETs, thus contributing to the establishment of support services for NEETs as well as to an improved education and social environment designed to support disadvantaged groups. The specific objectives are: (1) to empower and socially involve at least 30 NEETs in the labour market; (2) include 40 mentors in a two-tier mentoring scheme; (3) empower at least 100 stakeholders at the systemic level with a new methodology to identify the basic characteristics and needs of the NEET population and pave the way for the concept of early intervention. Project will systematically include all NEET young people under the age of 25 in a youth guarantee scheme, which acts as a cornerstone of European employment policy. Project will strive for the empowerment and social activation of NEETs, strengthening the existing mentoring schemes and skills of the Employment Service and Youth Council of Slovenia in their work with NEETs and act on the systemic level as an example of good practice in reaching NEETs and their integration on labour market.
Summary of project results
The project addressed the issue of NEETs (young people not in employment, education or training), which deepened during the Covid-19 pandemic. In May 2020, in the OECD area as many as 12.6 million young people were unemployed, which is the largest share of unemployed young people in the last decade. Among them, the share of NEETs increased by almost 2%.
In this context the project addressed the challenges of NEETs in Slovenia, namely: i) unclear methodology for identifying unregistered NEETs; ii) almost half of NEETs have never been in contact with the Employment Service of Slovenia, one of the key Slovenian labour market institutions and an independent legal entity with public institute status operating uniformly across the entire country; iii) 90% of unregistered NEETs have never worked; iv) only one out of the four unregistered NEETs is actively seeking employment; v) 65% of unregistered NEETs are inactive and not looking for work; vi) the largest number of unregistered NEETs are older youth who have no work experience and are less educated.
In accordance with this, the main goal of the project was the empowerment and social activation of NEETs, thus contributing to the establishment of support services for NEETs as well as to an improved education and social environment designed to support disadvantaged groups.
The main objective of the project was the empowerment and social activation of NEETs, contributing to the creation of a supportive and services for NEETs as well as to an improved educational and social environment aimed at supporting disadvantaged groups.
In the first phase, a comparative analysis of the situation of NEETs in Slovenia and Norway was carried out, a post-test with NEETs was carried out in Slovenia. The Slovenian project partners went to Norway to look for examples of good practice and took the inspiring ideas back home, where they developed an integrated empowerment and social inclusion programme, also based in the best practice examples from Norway. 30 NEETs were included in the programme. The programme consisted of educational workshops, soft skills workshops and, most importantly, career and psychosocial counselling. A manual titled Collection of Training Modules for NEETs was created.
40 mentors (from the youth sector and the Employment Service counsellors) were involved in the training for mentors. A manual for mentors for working with NEETs was written. Mentors were involved in a two-tier mentoring scheme (innovative element of the project) and mentored 30 NEETs who were enrolled in the developed programme
The development of a methodology to identify the basic characteristics and needs of the NEET population followed, which included interviews with representatives of relevant institutions working with NEETs. The interviewees were invited to join the consultation in order to identify synergies for more effective monitoring and targeting of NEETs.
The final phase of the project aimed to prepare and formulate recommendations for policy makers, based on the results of all the activities carried out and materials created. It entailed multi-stakeholder consultations, a publication presenting the recommendations and individual consultations where the recommendations were presented.
The project has produced the following results:
- An integrated empowerment and social activation programme for NEETs was developed and tested: 30 NEETs were included in the programme and thus empowered, all of them achieved positive outcomes – a manual of training modules has been written and as such represents a useful tool for effective empowerment of NEETs beyond the project.
- Comprehensive career and psychosocial empowerment of the NEETs enrolled in the new programme (see above): 30 NEETs took part.
- A two-tier mentoring scheme was set up and tested: 40 mentors were trained and empowered to work with NEETs – a handbook for working with NEETs was written to help all future workers who will come into contact with NEETs.
- The consortium partners'' skills in working with NEETs have been strengthened: 9 members of the consortium partners strengthened their skills in working with NEETs during the study visit and through other project activities.
- Strengthening of bilateral cooperation in the field of work with NEETs between Slovenia and Norway: good practices were transferred during the visits of the Norwegian delegations and during the study visit – contact was established for further cooperation between organisations from both countries working with NEETs.
- Empowering (more than 350) service providers and stakeholders at system level with a new methodology to identify the basic characteristics and needs of the NEET population: both service providers working with NEETs (counsellors, mentors, educators …) and government officials can use the new methodology and the recommendations for policy makers to improve their services for NEETs and thus enable early intervention. Since both documents (the recommendations and the methodology) are freely available they will be able to reach many more service providers and policy makers in the future.
Summary of bilateral results
The Norwegian project partner brought specific expertise to the project, which effectively improved the quality of the project. The project was also independently monitored by them and eventually evaluated by them. Bilateral cooperation has produced a number of results on which the project has built crucially, including a comparative analysis of the situation in both states and a study visit, which resulted in the transfer of a great number of best practices that have served as a basis for the development of efficient support programmes for working with NEETs, etc. During the study visit, the Slovenian delegation met ''''Fra offer til kriger'''', an organisation which, after exchanging experience, decided to learn from Slovenian organisations and institutions working with young people with mental health issues. They therefore came to Slovenia on their own initiative and expense and were joined by a representative of the Hå municipality. In addition, best practices and innovative approaches could be effectively exchanged with the Norwegian project partner and the presented Norwegian organisations. The study visit was conducted in an extremely professional manner and provided a large number of useful insights that were crucial in designing further activities and programmes in the project. Without the study visit the project would be far less innovative and successful.In addition, the international nature of the project also led to greater national attention, both during the visits of the Norwegian delegations and during the final event. In a long run the bilateral cooperation in the project will ensure a wider impact of the project on the target community.Plans for further collaboration with the Norwgian organisations are already underway. The organisation ''''Fra offer til kriger'''' is already planning a new project in which they want to collaborate with the Slovenian project partners.