On 14 and 15 February, regional correspondents of AER’s flagship programme Eurodyssey gathered in the sunny city of Barcelona for a 2-day Website and Communications Training. The event was kindly hosted by Catalonia’s Employment Office –Servei Públic d’Ocupació de Catalunya (SOC)–.
Redesigned website for flexibility and efficiency
The new Eurodyssey website features stunning new looks and a better user experience thanks to various new functionalities that will significantly improve the day-to-day management of the programme via the website. Andrés Muñoz Rojo, AER Programmes Coordinator & responsible for Eurodyssey, together with Audric Delcour, WordPress Developer, conducted a two-round training session which consisted of a role-play simulation from the different user’s profile –namely, the region, the company and the young trainee/candidate– starting from registration until the end of the traineeship. Participants could therefore witness the website evolve right before their eyes while discovering the main features of the new website.
Furthermore, Eurodyssey regional correspondents provided the AER team with suggestions regarding the user experience, most of which will be taken into consideration to conclude the project before the final website is launched.
Communicating Eurodyssey
Erica Lee, Communications Coordinator at AER, delivered a practical presentation of how correspondents can promote, in a joint coordinated effort, the programme from their respective home regions.
Participants had a chance to reflect on the communications strategy for Eurodyssey as well as to pro-actively engage in a number of group exercises. The aim of the workshop was to reinforce the need for culture of communication throughout the Eurodyssey programme, from posting offers to sending and receiving trainees, there are ample opportunities to communicate about our work.
During the communication tools workshop, participants were afforded the opportunity to think through the Who, What, When and Whys of communicating a programme such as Eurodyssey. In the second session, they took part in an incubator workshop where the focus was to reflect on the different target audiences for the Eurodyssey programme and to generate tailored messages that really speak to these audiences.
In sum, the workshop was successful in achieving its aims to showcase the unique selling points of the Eurodyssey programme and in providing the attendees with the means to better communicate about Eurodyssey in their home regions.
See the presentation and outcomes from the discussions here!
Harmonizing procedures
On 15 February, the participants took part in a number of workshops on the operational implementation of the programme in each region. Eurodyssey correspondents were engaged in fruitful discussions sharing best practices, coming up with practical solutions to overcome obstacles and difficulties in managing the programme.
Eurodyssey in numbers: 2018 Statistics
Ugo Poifol, Eurodyssey Programmes trainee at AER, presented the main findings regarding the 2018 Statistics, including the programme’s evolution since 2017 and graphics that shed light on the impact and reciprocity in the exchanges between regions.
With more than 260 total participants in 2018 and AER being currently in touch with a number of regions that shared their interest in joining Eurodyssey, 2019 seems to be pointing to another promising year!
The session in Barcelona was also the opportunity to share with partners the 2017 Trainee Employability figures. According to the surveys, 61% of the youth participating in Eurodyssey found a steady job within 4 months after their internship. This very positive figure could become a key selling point to attract new regions.
Click here to download the 2018 Eurodyssey Statistics Report. A more detailed version of the report, will be published very soon.
What’s next?
The event closed with a Steering Committee Meeting, where members discussed the next steps to take regarding the definite launching of the website, the organisation of the next Eurodyssey Forum and other important matters for achieving the Eurodyssey’s goals ahead.
On the whole, the two-day event in Barcelona brought together people from 19 regions across Europe. This goes to show that Eurodyssey not only brings young people from different regions together, but also those working with the young people – yet another benefit of interregional cooperation at European level.
Visit the event page to get all the presentations, documents and pictures.
Photo credits: @ServeiPúblicd’OcupaciónDeCatalunya(SOC)
