Youth@Work “International Symposium on Youth Employment Challenges” ISYEC– “Crossing the Bridge’’- Special Edition

The Youth@Work Special Edition of the “International Symposium on Youth Employment Challenges” ISYEC is aligned within the objectives of the Youth@Work Partnership, of the new EU Youth Strategy (2019-2027) and with the European Youth Goals. The Symposium will promote among private sector professionals and youth workers an advanced level of cross-sectoral collaboration and networking for more effective and sustainable partnerships.  These new partnerships will be a tool to tackle youth unemployment, promote employability and increase the capacity of the private sector representatives through non-formal learning.

History of ISYEC 

The International Symposium on Youth Employment Challenges (ISYEC) is a premier international event for youth policy makers, educational representatives, corporate professionals, youth workers, social entrepreneurs, and experts to learn about/share good practices. After the successful 3  editions of the event, ISYEC Special Edition will be organized in İstanbul in 2021. The first edition was held in June 2014, the second took place in May 2016 and the third one was held in February 2018, in Kayseri, Turkey. The concept of ISYEC was developed through the partnership of the Abdullah Gül University, SALTO-YOUTH Euromed Resource Centre and the Turkish National Agency. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ISYEC will be held after 3 years after the previous event, as a special edition in İstanbul, Turkey.

Over the last few decades, awareness and interest in youth employment has been growing. Due to the global economic, financial, demographic and social factors, youth unemployment has grown at an even more rapid pace. As young people have been facing severe problems, proactive attempts should be taken by different sectors to find solutions. 

ISYEC provides an excellent opportunity to the business and non-formal education sectors for cooperation on a broad range of areas related to youth employment. Due to the negative effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the rate of youth unemployment has grown around the globe. The youth employment challenge has its own dimensions and confronts countries worldwide regardless of  their stage of socio-economic development. This is why the International Symposium on Youth Employment Challenges aims at outlining the dimensions of the issue, the motives for intervention, and the possibilities of improving youth employment through cross-sectoral partnership.

Aim: The aim of this special edition of ISYEC is to increase the cooperation opportunities for non-formal education and business sectors in Europe through designing innovative partnership and collaboration models.  

Objectives:

• To strengthen ties and increase cooperation between non-formal education providers and the business sector in the post-pandemic period;
• To share existing opportunities for young entrepreneurs, business actors and non-formal education providers and showcase good practices of cross-sectoral cooperation. 
• To support the recognition of competence development through non-formal education by the private sector 
• To support business actors and non-formal education providers to design and implementing collaborative training strategies centred on life-skills development.

Partnership on youth employability and entrepreneurship of Erasmus+ National Agencies

ISYEC is part of the Youth@Work Partnership, which is an institutional alliance of 16 Erasmus+ National Agencies and SALTO-YOUTH Resource Centres. 

In 2018, a consortium of 11 Erasmus+ Youth in Action National Agencies (NAs), 4 SALTO-YOUTH Resource Centres and the Resource Center for the European Solidarity Corps decided to take a new approach to support employability and entrepreneurship amongst young people and professionals. They, therefore, created the Youth@Work Partnership on Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship, with the aim to better address these areas by working collaboratively, based on a common strategy.

Youth@Work is an alliance of the NAs of Turkey (the leading NA), Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Republic of North Macedonia and Spain, with the support of the SALTO-YOUTH Eastern Europe and Caucasus (Poland), SALTO-YOUTH Euromed and Good Practices (France), SALTO-YOUTH South East Europe (Slovenia) and SALTO-YOUTH Training and Cooperation (Germany) Resource Centres, as well as the Resource Centre for the European Solidarity Corps (Austria).

You can learn more about Youth@Work at www.youthatworkpartnership.org and on our social media channels. 

Venue: İstanbul

İstanbul, with a population of 15.4 million, is Turkey’s largest city. Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, İstanbul’s cosmopolitan spirit –diverse and intercultural- is demonstrated by the fact that nearly 22 k international companies operate in the city. Businesspeople choose İstanbul as an investment destination since it has a supportive, stable, and competitive business environment.

İstanbul is the "industrial centre" of Turkey. It employs approximately 20% of Turkey's industrial labour and contributes with 38% of Turkey's industrial workspace. In addition, the city generates 55% of Turkey's trade and 45% of the country's wholesale trade and generates 21.2% of Turkey's gross national product. Istanbul contributes 40% of all taxes collected in Turkey and produces 27.5% of Turkey's national product.

By 2019, there were an estimated 865 entrepreneurial tech companies founded or headquartered in İstanbul. Between them, they employed over 25,000 people on a full-time, permanent basis. The sector has made a significant contribution to employment growth in the city. 

Target Group: 150 participants with the following profiles will come together: Employers, Employment counsellors, university staff, youth workers and trainers, young entrepreneurs, career coaches, youth leaders, policy makers, academic researchers, representatives of development agencies, techno parks, technology transfer offices, job centres, employment support agencies, start-ups., tech companies, chamber of commerce.