The significant increase in youth unemployment in different parts of Europe caused by the economic crisis has led to the European Council Recommendation on establishing a Youth Guarantee (2013). It is a political commitment taken by the Member States in April 2013 to give every person under the age of 25 a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.
However, in the years 2014 and 2015, a Eurobarometer survey showed that the programs of the Member States included in the framework of the Youth Guarantee initiative suffered from a lack of ‘awareness’.
NEETs on Board was an initiative of the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity in cooperation with the municipality of Piraeus and the Regional Development Company of Parnonas that tried to tackle the abovementioned issue. It was funded by the Greek State and the European Union Program for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) and lasted for three years until 31/08/2018. The project was addressed to NEETs living in the municipality of Piraeus, the Argo-Saronic islands and the eastern municipalities of Peloponnese.
It aimed to inform and mobilise NEETS from 15 until 24 years old towards the direction of their integration into the labour market by exploiting the options that are provided by:
- The Youth Guarantee
- The Blue Economy sector
- Social and Solidarity Economy sector
The project also tried to connect the partners of the project to improve their cooperation and suggest policies for the integration of NEETS in the labour market.
The main actions included the networking and the connection of various stakeholders to research the business environment of the regions that were affected by the project and better apply the Youth Guarantee. Also, an e-game was developed to help NEETs find out more information about the Youth Guarantee, the Blue Economy and the Social and Solidarity Economy sectors. An application was also launched that helped match the job offerings with the job demand.
Two helpdesks and six info-kiosks were created to better inform the NEETs. A promotion campaign was launched with mobile information units, three career days and a lot of content in the social networks.
NEETs on Board had a positive impact by helping reach hundreds of NEETs informing them about the various youth employment plans supported by the Greek state and the European Union.
Find out more on http://www.neetsonboard.gr/