A Place for Youth in Mediterranean EEA: Resilient and Sharing Economies for NEETs
Many of the Mediterranean regions of the European Economic Area face significantly high unemployment rates. Among the general unemployed population, the young NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Training) face pressing economic and social problems. Up to date, lack of coordination between actors and interventions, as well as absence of personalized support, have been hindering any prospect of solution. In addition, southern European countries belong to the cluster of the ‘very-hard-hit’ economies from the recent economic crisis. Specifically, Greece, Italy, Spain and Cyprus face a ‘toxic mix’ of high unemployment and anemic growth in the aftermath of the recession. On top of that, Greece, Italy, Spain and Cyprus have become the entry points of mixed migration flows.
The Mediterranean societies, however, have been enduring extremities for thousand years, presenting, not only a remarkable resilience, but indeed the development of several civilisations. Trans-local communication and transfer of know how has been the cornerstone of that resilience. The same principles need to be employed to tackle such a poly-parametric problem. Within this context, the YOUTHShare project aims at reducing youth unemployment in coastal and island regions of Mediterranean EEA by advancing young NEETs skills in trans-locally resilient economic sectors, such as the agri-food production and related circular economies. By means of an integrated multi-scalar methodology and practice, it will boost the potential of social entrepreneurship and sharing economy in order to reduce economic disparities and increase social integration.
YOUTHShare partners include the University of the Aegean (Lead Partner, Greece), the Neapolis University Pafos (Cyprus), the Catholic University of Murcia (Spain), the Sistema Turismo (Italy), the Network for Employment and Social Care (Greece), the Centre for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology (Cyprus), the GAL La Cittadella del Sapere Srl (Italy), and the Educational Association for Integration and Equality (Spain).
The project proposal has been granted funding by the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment. The budget of the project amounts at 2,125,000 EUR and its duration is 42 months (2018 to 2022). The project has been selected to get an extra funding of approximately 600,000 EUR from the EEA and Norway Grants, in order to extent its duration to January 2024. Further information on the project can be found at: http://www.youthshare-project.org/
