Eco-entrepreneurship and development of Green sector skills for inclusive Employment of NEETs and women - YOUTHECO

<< Background >>17.6% of 20-34-year-olds across Europe are neither employed nor in education/training (NEETs), with women disproportionately affected. High NEET rates, particularly among young women, hinder economic participation and exacerbate social inequalities. The green transition offers a unique opportunity to address this. Skills Training for NEETs and women to acquire green skills are scarce or non-existent in many countries, including Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Malta, and Poland. Finally, limited data exists on the extent of green sector training among young people, particularly for NEETs and women, hindering effective policy development.YOUTHECO with its focus on cross-sectoral collaboration of youth workers and participatory action research aims to address these shortcomings by providing well-matched education and training through the right combination of skills; entrepreneurship, green career, and leadership development training to ensure that NEETs and women will be in a stronger position to be employed in the green sector. By upskilling them in this way they can be empowered with in-demand skills, which not only tackles youth unemployment but also contributes to climate action. << Objectives >>O1: Upskilling and/or reskilling NEETs and women by equipping them with the skills needed for the growing green economy through training in green sector areasnamely, Forest-based care, Waste Reduction, Social agriculture, Energy supply, Urban green care, Eco-tourism and Green EntrepreneurshipO2: Connect NEETs and young women with the education, practical experience and relevant stakeholders to transition out of unemployment and jumpstart their career path in the green sector through a combination of training materials and digitalised resources, work-shadowing placements, and networking roundtables to share recommendations for better practiceO3: Increase cross sectoral and transnational cooperation to promote the social and economic inclusion of disadvantaged NEETs and women among organisations and practitioners active in the field of youth employment and support.O4: Adopt participatory action research methodology to apply co-creation in the design and development of the project activities through a User-Scrutiny panel consisting of 30 youth practitioners, green sector professionals, NEETs and women<< Implementation >>1. Project Management: Quality Assurance; Risk & Performance Management; Budget Control & Time management Activities; 3 in person transnational meetings and 9 virtual project meetings; Impact & evaluation.2. YouthEco Training Package & Implementation Activities: development of a User scrutiny panel; development and translation of a 7 module youth worker training package and an open source e-toolbox for NEETs and young women; pilot testing; hybrid capacity building of youth workers and issue of Youth Pass Certificates to YOUTHECO Ambassadors.3. Online YOUTHECO Hub Development Activities: development of instructional design templates; digitalisation of YOUTHECO Training Package; Online Platform development; Language adaptations and localisation; Functional & User testing & delivery.4. Knowledge Acceleration via Work Shadowing & Co-created Policy Recommendations Activities: YOUTHECO Workshops with NEETs and young women; Work shadowing Methodology & Placements; Transnational Virtual Dialogue Roundtables; Co-created Practice & Policy Recommendations guide5.Dissemination & Communication: development of plan and visual identity kit; Social media campaign;User-led videos; Local awareness actions; Final European hybrid event.<< Results >>3 in person and 9 virtual transnational project meetings held..30 User scrutiny panel members including youth workers, NEETS, women & green sector specialists Youth Worker Training package and online course in 6 languages (EN, DE, GR, MT, SL, PL) for youth workers and educators, in Forest based care, Waste Reduction, Social agriculture, Energy supply, Urban green care, Eco-tourism, Green Entrepreneurship together with an Open Resource e-Toolbox for NEETs and women Hybrid Training of 78 YOUTHECO Ambassadors issued with YouthPass CertificatesOnline YOUTHECO Hub, with a Green sector Database of 45 green sector organisations/companies and e- learning platform with 600 registered users.18 workshops carried out with 180 NEETs and young women.30 NEETs prepared for work shadowing placements in organisations on the green sector database Co creation of a Policy and Practice guide resulting from virtual roundtables with 40 target users across EuropeFive local awareness-raising activities and an international hybrid conference in Germany reaching 365 target users and stakeholders A social media campaign with18 user led videos and dissemination and communication activities reaching a total of 250,000 people across Europe and Africa.