The Active Youth Annual Thematic Seminar through the eye of the eNEET Rural consortium
The 1st Annual seminar was held on 25-26 November 2019 in Brussels with 55 representatives of lead, beneficiary and expertise partners of all 26 projects implemented under the Active Youth call for proposal present. The seminar was an opportunity to discuss the common challenges, share best practices, exchange experience in three thematic sessions covering topics that are important to all project promoters. All participants had an opportunity to discuss issues related to outreach, inclusion of vulnerable groups, competence and skills development, job creation, entrepreneurship, inclusion of the social economy in workplace learning, working with stakeholders, etc. But the seminar’s goal was also to strengthen the sense of community of Active Youth projects. Being part of this huge, Europe-wide team, means we are not alone when facing difficulties, we can count on each other’s advice and support and we have lots of people around to celebrate our achievements.
Mr. Matjaž Fras and Mr. Stefano Guardati both from STYRIAN TECHNOLOGY PARK – Business Support Centre and Incubator & Regional Centre for Technology Development (our Slovenian partner) represented the eNEET Rural consortium on the event in Brussels. Upon invitation from the Fund Operator, our Consortium’s representatives were invited to take part as speakers to last panel of the event entitled “Challenges for European youth – working together towards a more inclusive and cohesive society in rural, coastal and island communities”. The focus was mostly on practices and methodologies implemented within the EEA and Norway Grants funded projects and touching upon different aspects like outreach, skills development, approaching and working with stakeholders, job creation and entrepreneurship.
This was a great opportunity for the eNEET Rural project to be presented from the very practical point of view, while explaining what exactly we are going to do and what our NEETs will learn within our upcoming training activities in 2020.
At the same time, the panel was very interactive; all participants were asked to give their own opinion on each of the thematics via a mobile app, leading to even more interesting discussions and different points of view.
The joint seminars were proposed by the Financial Mechanism Office during the development of the Fund for Youth Employment framework and are considered an important component of the Fund’s setup.
