Description
In Italy, one of the main difficulties of the Youth Guarantee Programme in the course of the first phase was to reach and engage the most discouraged NEETs from social backgrounds characterised by high levels of poverty that affected their ability to enter and remain within training and education courses, to gain work experience and to find out about the possibilities offered by the Programme. To reach this target, the project seeks to activate/consolidate local networks of public-private organisations that cooperate to enhance local activation of NEETs in disadvantaged conditions and to support the integration of employment services (public and private), social services, and policies for the fight against poverty.
Beneficiaries
Young people considered as "vulnerable".
The targets are:
- Young person that benefit from the measures: Income of Inclusion / Citizenship Income (Legislative Decree 147/2017 - Law no. 26 of 28 March 2019)
- Young people reported by local services (Municipalities / Health care units / others)
- Long-term unemployed: Young people unemployed for at least 12 months who have never been the recipients of interventions under the Youth Guarantee Programme - PAR Veneto (phase I and phase II)
- Minors who have fulfilled their compulsory education, not included in school / training courses or apprenticeship
Countries
Level of implementation / Scope
Stage of implementation
Since 2019
Aims of policy/initiative
The primal aim is to intercept NEETs in families benefiting from anti-poverty policies, inform them about the opportunities offered by the Youth Guarantee Programme, register them, and offer them active policy proposals.
In addition, the project intends to reach other young NEETs aiming at raising awareness on Youth Guarantee, providing them with an opportunity to approach/enter the labour market in a short time.
This initiative takes place in complementarity with the other initiatives put in place by the Region of Veneto in the framework of the Regional Plan of the Youth Guarantee.
The project pursues the achievement of the following operational objectives:
- stimulate the creation/consolidation of a territorial network of public and private partners for the job placement of young people and the fight against the risk of social exclusion and poverty;
- create personalised activities that provide the most effective combination of measures made available by the Youth Guarantee, choosing the most appropriate ones to treat the specific user;
- increase the registrations to the Youth Guarantee especially by young disadvantaged NEETs;
- replicate actions of engagement and activation of disadvantaged subjects that have proven themselves effective in other best practices.
The assumptions of such an approach are:
a) that social aspects to ensure the holistic well-being of young people are a prerequisite for reintegration into education, training, and work
b) that the short-term approach for projects, measures, and network construction commitments must be overcome by a more systemic one with a medium-term perspective.
Features and types of activities implemented
The first part is the creation of a network of different organisations that provide both social and employment services. The idea is to have a system where holistic interventions are possible and the beneficiary can benefit from social supporting measures and measures for the integration in the labour market.
The “outreach” phase includes the following activities:
- information, contact by telephone / by email / in presence;
- appointment for the completion of the Youth Guarantee registration;
- promotion of the opportunities
Referrals from social services to employment services and the other way round should be the norm.
Once the young NEET has entered the project, the activation phase, which includes signalling to all partnership organisations, is launched.
- Guidance
Guidance provision aims at exploring the previous experience of the young NEET in depth, to urge maturation, proactivity and autonomy in the active search for work.
This action also has the purpose of providing recipients with useful elements to frame their future training or professional pathway and orient them to the activities to be carried out during the internship experience, if planned.
It is divided into three phases:
- analysis of the recipient's needs and resources and definition of the objectives to be achieved;
- reconstruction of personal history with particular reference to training and work history of the young person;
- development of a personal project.
Personalised guidance is mainly realised through interviews aiming at discussing the young person’s competences and concluding to the personal project.
If an internship is to be started, it is considered necessary that part of the hours is dedicated to preparatory activities (providing also for a preliminary visit to the company).
2. Validation / certification of skills
3. Job seeking support
Actions envisaged
Activities aim at planning and implementing integration actions that support the young person in the phases of entry into work experiences.
For example, activities can consist of:
- scouting for employment opportunities;
- definition of active job search plans;
- promotion of the Young Person, skills and professionalism to the companies;
- accompaniment of the young person in the first phase of insertion.
Extracurricular internships
This activity aims at facilitating the professional choices and employability of young people, as well as their job placement and reintegration, through training in direct contact with the world of work.
The expected duration of the internships carried out under this initiative is between three and six months.
Resources
The project has been funded under the “Network for the activation of young NEETs” – a directive for the financing of projects under the Youth Guarantee initiative in the Veneto Region (Project code: 325-0001-1037-2019 Lead partner ENGIM Veneto)
Youth Guarantee
Evaluation of the measure
Not available yet.
Success factors
This initiative included several elements and practices regarding participants’ engagement that further improved the effectiveness of employment-related policies in this context, thoroughly understanding the target group's "social scenes", identification of trends regarding participants’ backgrounds, on the spot contact with the target group, in collaboration with a wide network of organisations able to organise informal assistance and innovative solutions, increasing attractiveness through non-school and non-educational activities, be attractive by giving the opportunity to participate, building a reputation for reliability, for having the ability to find solutions, building trust with the beneficiaries, principle of "not-measure": using resources flexibly according to actual needs rather than following a fixed schedule.
