First year report of activity project “Enhancing Competences to Meet Young's NEETs Needs - ECMYNS” – Erasmus + by Lynx territorio sociale (may 2015 – may 2016)

First year report of activity project “Enhancing Competences to Meet Young's NEETs Needs - ECMYNS” – Erasmus + by Lynx territorio sociale (may 2015 – may 2016)

1.    Name of organization:

Lynx territorio sociale (for - profit organization – social research, Project Management, Human Resource Consultancy, Monitoring and evaluation of funded projects)

2. Assumed  tasks in ECMYNN project

Lynx territorio sociale coordinated the research activity and edited the reports indicated abowe

Social Research analysing NEETs needs in Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland and Romania (intellectual output 2 – IO2)

Report on existing services within organisations involved and European best practices applicable to NEET methodology -(intellectual output 3 - IO3)

3.Objectives /scope of the activities

Social research activities are useful for generating an overview of  NEET phenomenon is the  territories of the 5 partner countries

Research activities will furnish a needs analysis related to NEET status, revealing  perspectives, motivations, attitude and lifestyles of the target, as well as remaining need for local of local offices facilitating access to the Labour Market

The identification of best practices that directly or indirectly involve the project partners, as well as the application of these in their own territories, by other organization, both public and private

4.Activities (list intellectual output 2 – IO2)

Study of the source

Design and research strategy

Definition of research panel

Field research

Field validation of results

Data acquisition and analysis by partners

Final research report IO2

5.Activities (list intellectual output 3 – IO3)

Survey of best practice, tool and methodologies adopted

Recognition practice and service in use for NEET’s for each countrys

Identified good practice

Final report

Design of training actitivies

6. Description of each activity indicated in Items 4 and 5 , the group/groups targeted, results , impact on the target group

IO2 – A transnational overview of NEETs issues –

Originally, reasearch would turn to 18-24 years old neets. Due to EUROSTAT Neet definition and after a briefing with all partners during the first transnational meeting, it was planned to extend research to 18-29 years old Neets.

As a first step of IO2 research, the researcher from Lynx Territorio sociale, shared with all the partners an excel grid to collect all the requested data, useful to build up the context of the research and to have a first recognition on unemployed and NEET’s numbers in each of the partner countries.

After the collection of quantitative data, Lynx shared with partners a sort of free text form to be filled in order to deepen: context analysys at national, regional and local level; legislation on unemployment issue and NEET condition at all territorial levels; Policy addresses in matter of unemployment and specifically NEET condition, with a particular regard on national degree of Youth Guarantee policy’s implementation; a first overview (with a low degree of specification) of Good Practices in matter of NEET condition developed in each of the partner Countries.

Once the collection of quantitative and informative materials were collected, Lynx territorio sociale started to manage the qualitative collection, in order to deepen the main NEETs’needs directly by the target.

Especially, to better structuring the planned Survey aimed at NEETs, Lynx Territorio Sociale togheter with all involved partners prepared a sort of checklist to be shared with all researchers from each partner Countries, in order to manage a face to face interview cycle aimed to a panel of n°10 NEETs for each Country. The face to face interview cycle was managed by the snowball sampling approach, as well as the NEETs was reached directly in their own meeting places (pub, bar, squares, etc.) and, in some cases, dated by social networks.

The last step of IO2 was the managing of a WEB SURVEY that Lynx Territorio Sociale structured mainly on the basis of the most relevant outputs of face to face interviews. As task to carry out this step, lynx prepared the contents of questionnaire, after sharing with partners that proceeded to translate it in each of their own national languages, and upload all domestic questionnaires on the Google Drive tool.

The questionnaires links were spreaded into all the national contextes of ECMYNN partners, thanks to contributions of interested stakeholders (such as public and private agencies for youngsters and unemployed people) that partners took care to contact for dissemination of them.

Especially, the WEB survey on the NEET target aimed to get a structured and meaningful representation of the rationale and the practical difficulties concerning the NEET condition, as well as the critical issues concernig the systems for facilitating access to the labor market and the needs related to the overcoming of such social status.

Overall, nr 1655 youth people were reached. Between them 826 was NEETs, coming from the Partner’s Countries.  

Concerning the Web Survey, the main gathered evidences of NEETs ‘ condition was:

·         Medium/high level of education

·         Over 1 year unemployment

·         Confidence in school and education

·         A lot of reached NEETs were unactive, at the same time they are looking for a job and immediately available to work. 

·         No economical indipendence; support from parents. 

·         In Italy there is a lack of confidence compared to training courses, the vision is quite positive in the other Countries. 

·         In all the contextes, NEETs could not plan a professional project.  

·         Work is seen as a tool for economical indipendence and self realization

·         PEAs are not so effective and they don’t support well the NEETs in the job search. They would like to get from them effective services such as alert, customized projects, strengthening of training activities. 

·         NEETs are generally reluctant to start up companies, due to high taxes and the lack of capital. They prefer imagine themselves as employees rather than freelance or entrepreneurs. They ask for safety

·         The future is positive, NEETs perceive their condition as just temporary.

Compared to preliminary interviews carried out to a sample of 10 NEETs before starting the web survey, the following points were confirmed:

·         Generally, NEETs have got a worried and, in some cases, unhappy mood 

·         NEETs use the WEB and especially the social networks as favourite places for their interaction and participation in community interests, as well as for the job search.

·         The school is not able to give a real support to the job search, and it is not able to transfer knowledge to be simply spent in the labour market.

·         Compared to “external world” youth feel like a sense of abandonment  and discouragement.

                                                               

Based on the knowledge gained through the survey, the partners got the groundwork for setting up a "right approach" to the planned training activities directed to "operators" target, which concerns the next phase of the project. Especially emergerd as follows:

Ø  The Neet condition is very emotionally connoted and the operators’approach must follow this direction;

Ø  Training activities should be enhanced, giving more value to skills and soft skills to be concretely spent in the labour market;

Ø  Customized professional projects support must be strenghthen, to mitigate the NEETs’ sense of abandonement;

NEETs must to learn how to use correctly the WEB for the job search

As relevant impact concerning the IO2 work, it can be underlined as follows:

·         For what concerns ECMYNN partners: both quantitative and qualitative data collection work, gave to Ecmynn partners an example of managing the Neet issue starting from research activity, furnishing them useful tools to be replyed in the future. 

·         For what concerns reached NEETs: the invitation to fill the questionnaire would contiribute to make them feel “important”. The acknowledgment of their conditions could represent for NEETs a sort of hope, the awareness that someone noticed them. The good level of response given, considering the difficulties to reach this particular target, highlights that.

  

IO3 - Report on existing services within organisations involved and on the adoptable elements for NEETs

IO3 was been a preparatory step to II Transnational meetin learning activities, addressed to social workers from each of partners, called to operate to support NEETs through the planned innovative services.

Lynx Territorio Sociale prepared the structure of the Report, sharing it with the greek partner (ATOM). On this base, Lynx sent to all partners a format to be filled in order to furnish informations and feedbacks concerning:

·         experience of services related to neet’s in which ecmynn organizations are involved directly

·         experience of other best practices related to neet’s in ecmynn territories   

·         useful contributions from ecmynn partners to project the training workshop in patras

Once Lynx Territorio sociale researchers collected this informations, they proceeded to analyze them to write contents into the report and to give a first recognition of possible common models to be developed during the II Transnational Meeting. in Greece.

On the basis of what emerged from the collected data, ATOM designed the structure of learning activities to be done during the greek workshops, underlining the general approach, learning methods, themes to be deepened and methodologies for evaluation of learning activities.

 The results of IO3 were shown to all partners during the II Transnational Meeting and they were used to deepenin’ the problems and the possible solutions to face the NEET issues, concerning the manage of innovative service aimed to this target, starting from the direct experiences of partners. The problems-solutions dynamic, allowed to all partners the identification of specific innovative service to face the NEETs issues to be adopted in each of their domestic contextes.

The main impact of IO3 was to give to all partners the opportunity to compare their experiences of NEETs service management with others from the other ECMYNN partners. This generate a sort of “mindedness” that facilitated the identification of innovative activities to be implemented by the whole partnership.

First year report of activity for ECMYNN project in the organization CARITAS Archidiecezji Gdańskiej

CARITAS Archidiecezji Gdańskiej is charity organization of catholic church, working since 1990 in the area of social help. Main receivers of this help are poor people, children, teenagers, handicapped people, elderly and ill persons. Making use of European Social Found Caritas help disadvantaged people who are at risk of social exclusion – handicapped, long unemployment, to get in or back to work.

The roles of CARITAS in Ecmynn Project:

·         design and management of the platform

·         analysis of documents about the NEET issue

·         analysis of procedures, tools and services in support of NEETs

·         design and implementation of training courses

Objectives /scope of the activities

The scope of the activities carried on - as partner  organization - are the study of the phenomenon of NEET, the individuation of best practices, tools and methodologies adopted all over in Europe, in order to face the problem and finally, in the next six months, the testing of the services planned by each organization.

Activities:

·         participating in kick off meeting in Italy - In the first project meeting the representative of CARITAS  participated and got information about the project objectives , activities and its role in the project.

·         Put information about project on the homepage www.gdansk.caritas.pl http://gdansk.caritas.pl/programy/27/enhancing-competences-to-meet-needs-of-youngs-neets/

·         recruiting people to the team working on the project

·         design the platform http://ecmynn.eu/

·         participating in transnational survey – getting to the target group by putting sending link with questionnaire FB profile and sending it to Voluntary Labour Corps and  labor offices in Poland

·         analysis of NEETs best practices – research on the best practices

·         participating in learning activities in Greece http://gdansk.caritas.pl/ogloszenie/5301/spotkanie-szkoleniowe-w-ramach-projektu-ecmynn/ 

First year report of activity in ASCETIS-(Association for Science , Culture, Ecology, Youth and Social Integration)

1.       Assumed  tasks in ECMYNN project

The project Enhancing Competences to Meet Young's Neets Needs (E.C.M.Y.N.N.) therefore wishes to focus on the youngsters aged between 16 and 29 that are not in employment education or training  needs:

- The need to improve the capacity of staff of organizations active in the youth sector to operate in favor of specific at-risk social exclusion and marginalized groups

- The need to overcome the traditional mold of the services offered for guidance, and the most popular professional consultation between the organizations active in the youth sector, whether public authorities, employment services, institutions and training organizations, support services .

The project activities will pursue two specific objectives:

- Improve the skills of the operators working in contact with that part of young users and the associated configurable as NEETs, and updating their services to be more suitable to the specific target

- Devise, promote and make arrangements for a range of new guidance services, professional advice and personal support that can prevent the evolution of young students or employees into NEETs , contain and respond to the emergency situations for " young NEETs " in its many facets.

The activities proposed to achieve the project specific objectives are :

• Design and online publication of Open Source Software ( O1 ) ;

• Survey on the problems faced by NEET ( O2 ) ;

• Analysis of the practices , to support the NEET tools and services ( O3 ) ;

• Design and implementation of training programs ( O4 )

• Experimentation and institutionalization of service ( O4 ) ;

• Dissemination of new services ( A3 )

The roles of ASCETIS in Ecmynn Project are : participation in the project as a  partner and organization of project activities in Romania, Neamt county,  collaborating to the achievements of project Intellectual Outputs. Specifically, the organization collaborated to I.O. 2, "Neets in Europe: a transnational Analysis", to the I.O. 3 “Survey” and, finally, the organization is going to start the implementation in Romania of I.O. 4 “Pilot Test”.

ASCETIS association is dedicating its activity to the education of youth with a special attention for NEETS.

The current activities of the association are : Formal education of youth for qualification ”Designer of web pages”; Nonformal education trough art , communication and volunteering ; Informal education for environment protection by publications, workshops, cultural events. We integrated our learners, teachers , youth workers and volunteers that been participating in our current activities into ECMYNN project first year activities.

Activities (list)

1.Participation in transnational meetings

2.Creating ECMYNN pages on social networks : Facebook , Linked-in and Blogspot

3.Calibration of the survey

4.On line diffusion of Survey and project goals

5.Research on the best methods that can met the NEETs needs identified by the survey and recruitment of the youth workers able to participate to the ECMYNN training for youth workers

1.In the first project meeting the project manager participated and got information about the project objectives , activities and assumed ASCETIS role in the project. In the second international project meeting we analyzed aspects of the project internal and external communication platforms and we participated to the improvement of our communication tools. A wiggio platform of the project was created . The manager participated also in a series of skype calls, during which internal documents had been created(i.e. agreements, monitoring guide, annual and monthly timesheet, internal communications etc). He made external communication activities also, as press relese , promotion of the project in local events  and released the link to Ecmynn Web Site, on ASCETIS  Home Page (www.ascetis.ro)

 

2. A Facebook group page was created for the project , on Linked-in the project was created also as a group . A blog on blogspot was created also for ECMYNN project .

https://www.facebook.com/groups/648436881924567/?fref=ts

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8531537

http://ecmynn.blogspot.ro/

2.      3.  We started with a preliminary analysis of the project context and we addressed with a preliminary research to a group of 10 of our NEET learners by using  specific tools as structured interviews and Open Space Technology. The socialization network Facebook offered us a very good way of study of  NEET needs.

We also found local silent partners that are suitable for sustaining us in the implementation , dissemination and follow up of ECMYNN project. We signed partnership agreements with ”Gheorghe Cartianu” High-school , Scoala Postliceala Sanitara Piatra Neamt and we got support also from the County Institute of Statistics Neamt .

3.       4. Another important step for ECMYNN project implementation in Romania was ECMYNN survey applied to 901 persons out of which 519 were NEETs. The big audience of our survey was gained trough the socialization network Facebook . Here we posted links to our survey on 1 groups created on Facebook for job placements , career counseling or just youth entertaining.

4.       5. After receiving the results of the survey applied at partnership level we started in our community a research on the best practices that can be used for a most efficient prevention and diminution of the NEET phenomenon . We found as good practices the multiple intelligence calibration of the learning activities , the coaching in the use of e-learning platforms , the volunteering activities . We recruited 3 youth workers from our volunteers that had experience in using of this good practices and we prepared them in order to participate to the project training program in Patras Greece .

Objectives /scope of the activities

The scopes of transversal activities are project management, financial and physical monitoring, evaluation, internal and external communication.

The scope of the activities carried on - as partner  organization - are the study of the phenomenon of NEET, the individuation of best practices, tools and methodologies adopted all over in Europe, in order to face the problem and finally, in the next six months, the testing of the services planned by each organization.

First year report of activity in the organization Comune di San Giovanni Teatino (IT)

.       

2.       Assumed  tasks in ECMYNN project :

The roles of San Giovannni T. in Ecmynn Project are partnership lead partner and organization collaborating to the achievements of Intellectual Output. Specifically, the organization collaborated to I.O. 2, "Neets in Europe: a transnational Analysis", to the I.O. 3 “Survey” and, finally, the organization is going to be the lead partner of I.O. 4 “Pilot Test”.

But, above all, the activities of S. Giovanni Teatino - in the last years - dealt about Ecmynn project management, evaluation, financial and physical monitoring. In order to achieve these tasks, the organization made a monitoring and evaluation plan (Power Point Presentation and Emynn Scheda in annex), 2 project manager meetings, a series of skype calls, internal documents (i.e. agreements, monitoring guide, annual and monthly timesheet, internal communications etc). He made external communication activities also, as conferences press, participation to the Italian National Agency Events (1, in Pescara the 30 of March 2015) and 2 in Rome (the 30 of June 2015 and 2 of May 2016) and released the link to Ecmynn Web Site, on San Giovanni Teatino Home Page (www.comunesgt.gov.it/ecmynn)

IMAGES 1

3.       Objectives /scope of the activities:

The scopes of transversal activities are project management, financial and physical monitoring, evaluation, internal and external communication.

The scope of the activities carried on - as collaborating organization - are the study of the phenomenon of NEET, the individuation of best practices, tools and methodologies adopted all over in Europe, in order to face the problem and finally, in the next six months, the testing of the services planned by each organization.

IMAGES 2

4. Activities (list)

·         -Conference Presse

·         -Transnational Meeting

·         -Ecmynn Platform lynk on San Giovanni T. Home Page

·        - On line diffusion of Survey and project goals

IMAGES 3

5.Description of each activity (2 sentences of presentation), the group/groups targeted ,results , impact on the target group

Conference Press, the 3^rd of February 2015, in the Regione Abruzzo Palace in Pescara, there was a presentation of the project, with the intervention of Asssessore Regionale al Lavoro, M. Sclocco

·         http://www.regione.abruzzo.it/portale/index.asp?modello=articolo&servizio=xList&stileDiv=mono&msv=articolo112038&tom=12038).

The local press spread out the news, also:

·         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bst7TeBA6Y

·         http://www.agi.it/regioni/abruzzo/2015/02/03/news/lavoro_al_via_progetto_transnazionale_ecmynn_per_i_neet-216832/

·         http://news-town.it/politica/6489-lavoro,-in-abruzzo-30mila-neet-per-loro-nasce-progetto-transnazionale-e-c-m-y-n-n.html

·         http://www.cityrumors.it/notizie-chieti/cronaca-chieti/105773-san-giovanni-teatino-al-via-il-progetto-transnazionale-ecmynn.html

·         http://www.ageabruzzo.it/tag/progetto-e-c-m-y-n-n-enhancing-competences-to-meet-youngs-neets-needs

·         http://www.ilcapoluogo.it/tag/e-c-m-y-n-n/

·         http://www.chietitoday.it/economia/giovani-lavoro-progetto-europeo-san-giovanni-teatino.html

·         http://www.google.it/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=22&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiNgvGx-cfMAhUJ1RQKHXGJDbw4FBAWCCowAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.regioni.it%2Fdownload%2Fdalleregioni%2F387999%2F&usg=AFQjCNGIsWpHZ1Pj0-Wf-JNU7x1wsNoRHA

·         http://itgenial.it/articolo/2015/02/03/28729-al-via-il-progetto-transnazionale-ecmynn

·         http://www.corrierepl.it/2015/02/03/eventi-di-oggi-in-abruzzo/

·         http://www.telenove.it/cms/news/item/16590-giovani-disoccupati-a-san-giovanni-teatino-parte-progetto-ue

1^st Transnational Kick off Meeting (the 30 of June to the 3^rd of July 2015). The news was spread out by the local media:

·         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8p0wumb2dc

·         http://ilcentro.gelocal.it/pescara/cronaca/2015/07/05/news/a-san-giovanni-un-meeting-internazionale-1.11730734

·         http://www.giornaledimontesilvano.com/chieti-e-provincia/a-san-giovanni-teatino-si-qlavoraq-per-i-neets

·         http://www.inabruzzo.com/?p=249715

The publication of a section dedicated to the project, on San Giovanni Teatino Home page and the diffusion of the link of the project web http://www.ecmynn.eu/. The section was used in order to made the survey, a questionnaire direct to neet was published.  The survey involved about 181 Italian institutions and organizations (list in annex 1).  At these subjects are been send:

·         Request of publicity of the Ecmynn Survey

·         Presentation of the project with all the elements dealing with the Ecmynn platform www.ecmynn.eu and the link of the on line questionnaires (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1D1k9mMG3rgSweyO5tt6M8zp73oaQ-1FGkQpwqbweyLM/viewform).

About 14 of the these organizations released the news, on their web site and social page, and 2 Provinces (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Vicenza) diffused the news through their newsletter, that are send to the young people registered to Programma Garanzia Giovani (about 5.000 receivers). Here there are images about these activities: