Brussels (B), 5 July 2011
The Assembly of European Regions (AER) organised this week the official kick-off meeting of its brand new project “Promoting Youth Employment” (PYE). The ultimate objective of the project is to support young people, especially disadvantaged ones, to access and retain jobs through improved public policies and enhanced partnerships between the public, community and private sectors.
A project supported by the European Union
While the unemployment rate of young Europeans has reached an alarming historical highpoint – an average of 21% of youngsters are currently unemployed in the EU Member States – AER has decided to develop a project aimed at tackling this transnational issue. Financed by the European Commission in the framework of PROGRESS, a programme established to support financially the implementation of the EU objectives in employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, PYE’s main goal is to support young people’s access to jobs through a set of innovative tools.
Countering youth unemployment
The PYE project gathers four regions – Açores (P), Hampshire (UK), Krapina Zagorje (HR) and Vojvodina (SRB) – which will take part in an intensive and in-depth series of peer reviews, allowing regional authorities to assess and improve their performance in a key regional policy: youth employment. Developed by AER, the peer review methodology has already been implemented in areas such as tourism, economy or renewable energies; it will now also constitute a key tool in the field of youth policies, bringing a new perspective on such issues. The PYE peer reviews will contribute to countering youth employment through supporting the exchange of experience and transfer of good practice between regional, local and national stakeholders.
“One Peer Review will be led in each one of our partner regions in order to develop regional action plans, outlining concrete policy recommendations in the field of youth employment. The conclusions will be presented during the project’s final conference, which will take place on the 23rd of May 2012 in Brussels” stated Justyna Hejman, AER’s Youth & Citizenship Officer, adding that “PYE is expected to prove that youth unemployment can be reduced if efficient regional policies are implemented”.
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