TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Dan Moxon
This conference was an international event for professionals from different sectors about creating better opportunities for young people in NEET situation in society and on the labour market. Young people in NEET situation is a rising issue across Europe and reducing this is a policy goal at European level.
The event took place in Bratislava, Slovakia between 13-16 April 2016. It was a follow-up to a seminar held in Finland in 2014 entitled ‘What is Your NEET’ (www.salto-youth.net/neetseminar) and to iNEETiative seminar which took place in Bucharest, Romania in May 2015- www.salto-youth.net/ineetiativeseminar, which both welcomed cross-sectoral stakeholders from formal, non-formal and business backgrounds to work together to find innovative and realistic methods of reaching and connecting with young people who are currently in a difficult life situation.
The conference focused on sharing and exploring good practices in working with people in NEET situation, coming from the SALTO Inclusion and participants’ experiences. Part of the activities involved participants visiting successful local projects in Bratislava, working with this target group. The participants had the opportunity to hear presentations from international and local experts as well as sharing their own good practice with the rest of the group.
The aim of the conference was to promote sustainable cooperation between professionals from different sectors in order to create better opportunities for young people in a NEET situation, to enable their active involvement in society and integration into the labour market. More specifically the objectives of the conference were:
To highlight variety of resources on young people in a NEET situation, including SALTO Inclusion study “On Track”.
To explore different NEET realities across Europe and different types of practices.
To exchange the possible ways to work together and stimulate development of cross-sectorial partnership projects for youth in a NEET situation.
To explore possibilities of the Erasmus+ programme, in addressing the issues that young people in a NEET situation are facing.
The seminar was organised and hosted by the Slovakian National Agency for the Erasmus+: Programme - in cooperation with the SALTO Inclusion Resource Centre and with support of the Turkish and Belgium-FR E+: YiA National Agencies. The conference gathered 42 professionals from different sectors: youth work, education, social work, employment, working on topic of NEET. Seventeen European countries participated in this conference: Belgium-FL, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the UK.
expert inputs, input from young people, group work, field visits, expert q and A, drama
The overall satisfaction of the participants rated 4.5 points out of 5. At the same time the satisfaction of meeting the objectives of the conference rated 4.34 out of 5.
Individual participants emphasized different aspects of what they take from the conference. Most of them testified they gained new insights about the variety of NEET situations and their effects on young people. Several noted there are a lot of similarities in tackling NEET issues in different European countries.
Almost all highlighted the value of sharing different approaches, methods and examples of good practice and appreciated the involvement of young people presenting their own experiences. Some participants stressed the importance of actively involving young people in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of all projects that target them.
The most appreciated information the participants received was about the Erasmus+ programme, including funding opportunities for projects targeting young people in NEET situations. Several highlighted the usefulness of SALTO resources. For some it was important to clarify basic terms in the very beginning of the conference, others appreciated discussions about the available resources and opportunities as well as challenges of cross-sectorial cooperation.
I worked with two other trainers to design and implement the programme