Developing a new model to deliver youth work and support disadvantaged young people in the community with Erasmus+ partners.
The latest figures available from the Office of National Statistics showed that 808,000 16 to 24-year-olds in the United Kingdom were not in education, employment or training (NEETs) between January and March 2018.
That was a rise of 14,000 from the last quarter of 2017 and initiatives to address this issue are being encouraged.
One such project is West Lothian Chamber of Commerce's (WLC) Employable Young People programme, which was funded by Erasmus+.
“We support our local community by engaging and collaborating with businesses and schools," said Linda Scott, Chief Executive of WLC. "But we recognised there was a need to support the young people in the community who find themselves excluded, who are not in employment, education or training.”
The big issue
Linda explained the problem surrounding the high number of young people classed as NEETs.
“Being disengaged from the labour market in younger years can have negative long-term social consequences, not only for the young person but also for their community, in the form of nuisance and crime, leading to long-term costs in increased criminality, welfare dependency, housing and a wide range of social and economic factors.
"These young people are also at higher risk of being socially and politically alienated, they have a lower level of interest and engagement in politics and lower levels of trust.
“We believed that current short-term programmes, concerned with generic skills and employability, were not working so we set out to establish the EYP programme and produce a toolkit that will offer a new way of delivering youth work activities while supporting the personal and professional development of these young isolated people in our communities.
"WLC led the Key Action 2 project with partner organisations from Italy, Spain, Greece, Romania and Turkey, including training providers, teachers and business professionals, bringing together a varied range of skills, cultures and backgrounds.
"Our EYP programme was designed to improve self-esteem, interpersonal skills, behaviours and attitudes and to help young people overcome practical barriers, signpost appropriate vocational education and training (VET) providers and ultimately move them into training or employment. By looking at the whole person, the programme was also intended to create a more positive mindset among young people, as a basis for their future ambitions."
Linda pointed out that the project was also aimed at trainers, employers and influencers working with these young people furthest from the workplace.
Project activities
The project partners met in Torino, Athens, Murcia and Edinburgh, where they developed a model to support disadvantaged young people.
"The model was developed over the two-year project duration, with over 150 young people from local communities taking part in camps, workshops and other project activities. These include guidance on topics such as communication, entrepreneurship, English, interview and CV skills and team work," explained Linda. "They also developed tools to help youth workers to implement the EYP camps with wider groups of young people. A strong support network of local companies, public institutions, social services and VET providers was created in the process."
A group of 27 selected young people and youth workers also attended a week-long transnational exchange in Scotland, which gave them a better understanding of each other’s culture and helped them to develop a tolerant and inclusive attitude towards youngsters from other countries. WLC also organised a visit to the Scottish Parliament to inform young people on the different approaches to democracy and the Scottish political system.
The final project event was held in Livingston, where the group was able to share its achievements and the young people talked about their experiences in front of an audience of their peers, parents, teachers and youth workers – as well as business leaders and policy-makers and representatives from the Italian and Romanian consulates and Scottish Government.
Boosting confidence
“We have seen a great improvement in the behaviours, skills and attitudes of the young participants," said Linda. "EYP will ultimately help them to re-engage with social life and prevent them falling back into the NEET situation. The activities boosted their confidence and they were able to handle the job interviews at the end of the project very well. EYP helped them to develop a core set of transferable life-skills that local companies identified as missing from many of the young people in the labour market.
"Participants felt they increased their employability thanks to the skills they gained, some of them were subsequently employed by the local companies who supported the project and one participant even went on to prepare his own occupational musical project; all inspired by EYP!
"During the project we promoted young people’s rights to access the services they need, offering them a concrete way to get support from local organisations that can help them in their personal and development process.
"EYP has also helped the youth workers, improving their competences and abilities and helping them to engage and work with these young, disadvantage people. It has given them a broader understanding of practices, policies and systems in youth work across different countries, increasing their opportunities for professional development as well as their motivation and satisfaction in their daily work."
Into the future
The Erasmus+ project that was created by the six partners provided an innovative way to encourage collaboration between the local community and local enterprise in support of young people’s personal and professional development. The materials produced for EYP will enable the programme to extend its reach, allowing others engaged in youth work across the EU to integrate it into their organisation and future work.
We have seen a great improvement in the behaviours, skills and attitudes of the young participants. EYP will ultimately help them to re-engage with social life and prevent them falling back into the NEET situation.
“By working on programmes such as EYP, we can ensure that our young people have a clearer pathway which will benefit them in the social and employment aspects of their life equally,” said Linda.
Interested in applying for youth funding? Find out more about the range of opportunities for youth organisations under Erasmus+.
