Union for the Mediterranean meets in Rome to share best practices on youth employment

 On 13 and 14 November, the UfM Regional Platform meeting focused on Youth Employment, the UfM Monitoring exercise, the state-of-play of the implementation of the 2022 UfM Marrakech Ministerial Declaration, as well as priority areas to be considered for the next Ministerial. 

There was a high number of UfM Member States represented (25 in total, including 13 EU Member States and 12 non-EU countries).

The UfM Co-Presidency, chaired by the Directorate-General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, acknowledged the importance of peer-to-peer learning and continuous dialogue to tackle the labour market’s challenges in the region.

Highlights

Mr Massimo Temussi, Director General for Active Labour Policies at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies of Italy started the meeting with a keynote speech where he presented the work undertaken by the Italian Government to promote labour inclusion and integrate NEETs into the labour market. He was followed by a presentation on the implementation of the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Discussions then focused on youth employment, which is one of the key priorities of the Marrakech Declaration. 

Two members of the UfM Community of Practice (CoP) on Youth Employment were invited to share their experience with the CoP meetings and the synergies facilitated by such meetings in terms of leveraging complementarities, close collaboration and peer-to-peer learning. 

The new UfM Grant Scheme to support employment promotion in the green economy was presented to members, with one of the five selected projects implementing partner attending: INCO Group with Orange Foundation. 

The afternoon of the first day included field visits to ITS Academy (Nuove tecnologie per la vita), and Porta Futuro – Spazio Lavoro Testaccio. The second day was dedicated to debriefing on the field visits, the implementation of the Marrakech Ministerial Declaration, as well as a discussion on the priority areas for the next Ministerial.

UfM Member States and Social Partners shared best practices to build meaningful complementarities. Best practices showcased included, among others:

• Albania’s pilot project on youth guarantee;
• Germany’s efforts for a seamless transition from school to vocational training and from vocational training to work;
• Egypt’s efforts in place to integrate young people and women into the labour market. 

As regards the UfM monitoring exercise, the voluntary UfM Member States have contributed to the data collection tool, which is currently being analysed in order to have an overview report ready for the next Ministerial.

Background

Twice a year, the UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour brings together representatives from employment and labour ministries and agencies of the UfM Member States as well as representatives from European institutions/agencies and international organisations to discuss the current realities and follow up on the implementation of relevant Ministerial Declarations