Terremplo

Context :

All the countries in this partnership face deep and rapid changes in the world of work, driven by the digital and green transformations as well as population ageing, which has been associated with greater job instability, with potential costs for companies, workers, and society.

In Belgium, the unemployment rate for people with low levels of education reached 13.3% in the first quarter of 2023 (Statbel-fgov), while in Ireland the unemployment rate for early school leavers was 21% compared to 6% for others (CSO). In the Somme region, France, more than 30% of 15 to 24 years old are unemployed, with almost 33% of that age group not in Education, Employment or Training NEETs (INSEE 2020). This has been addressed by the Reinforced Youth Guarantee, European strategy to address unemployment and labour market integration of young people up to 29 y.o., who are the main stakeholder of Terremplo.

The “skills gap” describes a fundamental mismatch between the skills that employers rely upon in their employees, and the skills that job seekers possess. The response of our countries is to encourage and support vulnerable groups to reskill or upskill. However, welfare and employment services are rather focused on quick job placements for their beneficiaries.

The lack of communication and inter-agency collaboration between public employment services, VET providers, and the private sector, exacerbate the barriers faced by vulnerable groups to access quality employment.

Addressing the need for a co-constructed and alternative territorial cooperation strategy that promotes entrepreneurship innovations to support young people Not in Employment Education or Training (NEETs), is key to ensure inclusion and sustainable digital and green transitions, bridge skills gap and aging population challenges.

A transnational inter-agency strategy would allow exchanges of models and approaches, to integrate best practices between our countries, tackling the similar challenges outlined above.

Overall objective :

The Terremplo project will develop an inter-regional strategy to improve co-operation between public VET/FET providers and employment services through inter-agency collaboration. We aim to connect and sustain collective innovation networks with a view to preparing social, digital and environmental transitions, targeting young people not in Employment, Education or Training NEET. Our strategy considers the development of entrepreneurial competences and enhanced access to quality employment.

The strategy :

The Terremplo project aims to develop a joint strategy between the partner organisations, to connect and sustain collective innovation networks across Ireland, Belgium and France with a view to preparing social, digital and environmental transitions targeting young people NEETs, including young women and people with disabilities, as stated by the Reinforced Youth Guarantee policy. Our strategy will ensure more effective inter-agency collaboration to better address our target needs.

There is evidence on what hinders and what helps interagency working. Barriers include lack of senior management commitment and buy-in; differences between agencies in priorities, systems, culture and professional beliefs. Factors that facilitate interagency working include a coherent longterm vision; commitment to joint working at all levels; and strong personal relationships and trust to develop between partners.

The vision of the Terremplo project is therefore to tackle those barriers and establish common agreements between partner to enhance the employability of vulnerable groups from a holistic approach and demonstrate the effectiveness of inter-agency approaches among organisations with different target groups:

- Learning how our partners in Belgium certify work experience and experiment with social innovation approaches.

- Collaborating closely with our French partners with experience empowering NEETs, through an interesting model to address those entrepreneurial competencies and soft skills development with the Youth Co-op initiative, fostering co-design and collective project implementation to enhance employability.

- Integrating a client-centered career guidance approach from the project leader in Ireland (MEEG model).

The success of Terremplo relies on the active positioning of territories as catalysts and triggers for opportunities. Encouraging collective action and an inter-regional strategy ensures new initiatives and commitments at a sectoral and institutional level.