Erasmus+ programme for boosting skills and employability of young people Youth cooperation with Eastern Partnership (EaP) and Western Balkan countries Giorgi Kakulia Academy for Peace and Development (APD)

Erasmus + Budget allocation (14.7 Billion EUR)

Erasmus+ contribution to Youth Key aspects Key competences of young people; Participation in democratic life in Europe and the labour market; Active citizenship, intercultural dialogue, social inclusion and solidarity; Quality improvements in youth work; Policy reforms at local, regional and national level; Recognition of non-formal and informal learning; International dimension of youth activities.

Open to all young people > priority youth with fewer opportunities; Aims at youth empowerment and confidence- building; Mobility as a tool for wider, positive and diverse experiences; Developing competences through not traditional, rather experiential and holistic learning approaches – Non-formal education No direct guarantee for youth employment, rather focus on youth employability!

Youth Mobility projects (young people and youth workers) –Youth Exchanges –European Voluntary Service –Structured courses: training courses, contact- making events, study visits abroad –Job shadowing or observation period in a youth organisation abroad Key activities

Key Action 2 : Cooperation and innovation for good practices Key Action 3 : Support for policy reform Not all actions are directed to the cooperation to the neighboring partner countries

Programme “Youth” Programme “Youth in Action” And now Erasmus EU Youth programmes in neighbouring partner countries

Western Balkan youth window (2007 – nowadays) Eastern Partnership youth window ( ) Additional funding

Realities in the youth field in the neighboring partner countries in recent history Lack of efficient youth policies; Lack of recognition of youth work and non-formal education; Lack of funding available for youth work activities; Lack of professional development opportunities for youth workers; Lack of cross-regional and international cooperation funding schemes from national governments; Lack of capacity-building opportunities for youth organisations.

Why? All these aspects were and very often still are the new dimensions of the youth field in neighboring partner countries! Mainly due to the transition from socialism to democracy!

Youth unemployment rate in EaP countries Source: EaP Youth Policy Analytical Report

Youth unemployment rate in Western Balkan region Unemployment in the western Balkan region as a whole hovered around 24% in 2013, unemployment among youth averaged over 49% - with this figure escalating as high as 55.3% in Kosovo and 62.8% in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Source: World Bank

Role of Youth in Action/Erasmus+ in the neighboring partners regions Significant impact on the strengthening of civil society in EaP and SEE countries as beneficiaries of Youth in Action programme have very diverse profiles and deal with various target groups and themes in all social, economic, political and cultural spheres. Contributed strongly in legitimizing youth work and youth policy as credible and important sector of civil society. Great support for beneficiaries from the youth sector to develop important financial capacities, allowing them to access other types of funding, notably larger grants provided by international donors.

Benefits of participation in YiA for individual young people such as intercultural competence; social competence; improved communication in foreign languages. For youth workers, the main benefits are Increased motivation, intercultural competence and professional development Different methodologies and approaches to non-formal learning; Stronger capabilities to participate in political discussion about decisions concerning youth and often a shift in perspectives about youth work. Conclusions from Youth in Action programme evaluation in SEE region

Main benefits for organizations were establishment of international networks and capacity building through sharing of best practices. Influences in the youth policy field through the level of recognition of youth work and in transfer of concepts from the YiA programme to national-level youth policy documents. Conclusions from Youth in Action programme evaluation in SEE region

Conclusions from EaP Youth Window evaluation Eastern Partnership Youth Window has successfully addressed most of its planned objectives and has significantly contributed to addressing socio- economic needs of young people in the EaP region. EPYW was most useful in supporting young people’s needs in the area of participation and active citizenship. Intercultural learning and mobility were considered as major benefits followed by employability and empowerment.

EPYW has clearly enhanced awareness about the nature of youth work to a very high extent in the EaP countries. EPYW was the largest funding instrument in this field in most EaP countries (except Azerbaijan) Training & Networking projects were identified as key instruments and spaces for sharing good practice in the sphere of youth work. Conclusions from EaP Youth Window evaluation

EVALUATION OF THE COOPERATION WITH SOUTH EAST EUROPE WITHIN THE YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAMME ( ) /SEE%20Impact%20Study%2C%20Final%20Report.pdf EVALUATION OF THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP YOUTH IN ACTION WINDOW (2014) evaluation-youth-in-action.pdf EASTERN PARTNERSHIP YOUTH POLICY ANALYTIC REPORT (2015) uth_policy_report.pdf Sources:

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