Promoting employment and training for youth NEETs in the Southern Mediterranean

While countries in the region have young NEET rates of up to 30%, with large gender gaps, policy priorities have progressed in recent years, and public employment services are gradually shifting the focus to include NEETs such as discouraged youth, early school leavers, and young women with family responsibilities, together the traditional focus on educated, unemployed youth.

The shift in strategy towards young NEETs needs to be accompanied by relevant legislation and policy and resourcing requirements, as well as a shift in mindset and a strengthening of capacity.

Main Components

The project will concentrate on three main outcome areas to achieve its objectives:

1. Improve knowledge and coordination;
2. Reinforce and /or develop innovative approaches to reach and support young NEETs; and
3. Pilot adapted approaches in reaching out and providing relevant employment services for youth NEETs.

The intervention will build on existing policies and initiatives. and will contribute to support, develop, enhance, coordinate, integrate and implement them.

For more information about the project, download the project brief:

Means of Action

In this project, the ILO will accompany public service providers and their partners to develop the awareness, knowledge, and strategies in order to more effectively reach young NEETs by offering a package of tools and training delivered through a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), with a:

• Demand-driven approach;
• Gender-sensitive approach; and
• Focus on green and digital economic pathways, and community jobs in rural areas as potential areas for future employment opportunities.

The TAF’s added value lies in its flexibility and tailored made approach that is crucial for a gradual adjustment to local contexts while ensuring a shared direction of travel for the region. The TAF will offer a menu of tools, diagnostics, guidance material and training services (in collaboration with the ILO’s International Training Centre in Turin) that will be adapted to partner-specific priorities.

The project also includes a regional window that will foster exchanges of best practices within the region, while drawing on global best practices in implementing Youth Guarantees and other youth-inclusion experiences in other middle-income countries.

© Diane Joanis

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