Mutual learning fosters the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in EU Member States

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The Youth Guarantee has reached millions of young Europeans and is helping more and more young people into work or training. However, challenges remain, and further work is needed to support young people who are furthest away from the labour market. The Mutual Learning Seminars in 2018 focused on two areas to address this challenge: improving outreach through tracking and mapping systems; and engaging young people through integrated services.

Keeping up with NEETs

Reaching young people firstly requires knowing who and where they are, to contact them and provide them with the right kind of support.

Croatia presented its own NEET mapping system at a Youth Guarantee Mutual Learning Seminar, ‘Tracking and mapping young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs)’ hosted by The Ministry of Labour and Pension System of Croatia in Zagreb, on 14 June 2018. Participants, including representatives from national ministries, public employment services, and non-governmental organisations from 16 Member States shared their experiences on developing mapping and tracking systems.

Collecting data from various relevant actors is the first step in identifying and tracking young NEETs that need support – all the while, respecting data protection legislation. Whilst this can pose a challenge, the seminar showed that there are ways to overcome it. 

The report from the seminar identifies further key elements of mapping and tracking and provides examples of different arrangements across the EU, as well as possible ideas for overcoming challenges.

Integrated service delivery

Recently, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee has given impetus to the development of new forms of coordination and cooperation, particularly between the Public Employment Services and other entities/services. 

Integrated services can take many forms, and various approaches were presented at the mutual learning seminar ‘Enhancing support to young people through integrated services’, co-organised by the European Commission and the Luxembourgish Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, held on 08-09 October 2018. Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy opened the seminar.

Over the course of two days, it provided an opportunity for Youth Guarantee coordinators, national stakeholders and experts from Member States and EU stakeholders to discuss and exchange practical experiences on how better integrated service delivery models could help to improve the coverage of the Youth Guarantee and to enhance the quality of the support provided. 

The report, which followed the seminar, set out key factors for success and highlights more key considerations when designing and implementing integrated services.