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Skills, motivation, success: 2 webinars announced!

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How to encourage young people and provide them with adequate support so they remain interested in learning in a global context that is particularly challenging? AER is proud to announce two webinars, which will provide an opportunity to share regional experiences and hear about support initiatives at EU level.

Enthusiasm for technical & vocational training

One of the challenges in Technical and Vocational Education and Training is that it is often associated with negative representations such as the difficulty to follow general education or attend university.

The objective of the first webinar, which will take place on 27 January 2021 at 10:00 CET, is to learn about regional policies and practices aimed at making young people more aware of the opportunities related to Technical and Vocational Education and Training, in order to:

  • avoid early school leaving because of the inadequacy of training pathways and the risks associated with the feeling of failure
  • encourage young people to see Technical and Vocational Education and Training as a pathway for success: for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training choice to be a positive choice
  • recruit talented young people in Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Kjerstin Torpmann-Hagen, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL) will provide an overview on existing support and funding opportunities for Vocational Education Training and initial training.

Boosting self-confidence

In order to help young people to thrive and prevent early school leaving, boosting self-confidence is instrumental as confirmed by projects such as JET-CD and detailed in the CEDEFOP VET toolkit for tackling early leaving under the intervention approach “Building motivation to learn“.

Trust is also essential to make positive choices or to believe that existing opportunities are actually accessible. In fine, that success is available. This is why self-confidence will also be addressed during the webinar.

Vocational Training in Times of Lockdown and Pandemic

In the context of the pandemic, it is not just learning modalities, which have been dramatically changed, it is the role itself of schools and teachers which was challenged. With lockdowns episodes across Europe, vocational education and training (VET) schools had to convert physical classrooms and work-based learning spaces into digital learning environments overnight. In this context, the virtual class became a place for community. Keeping the attention, motivation and good spirit of students became a major focus of teachers as global events increased uncertainty especially for young people.

Since Septembre European countries have implemented different measures to ensure the continuation of education and training. Teachers are faced with unprecedented challenges, as the abrupt move to digital environments increased social inequalities and the digital divide and often made learning particularly difficult for students with special needs.

This is why the second webinar AER is organising on 28 January at 10:00 CET, will focus on Vocational Training in Times of Lockdown and Pandemic. Experiences from the regions will be shared, with a focus on preventing early school leaving during the pandemic.

A toolkit to tackle early school leaving

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) is one of the EU’s decentralised agencies. It supports the development of European vocational education and training (VET) policies and contributes to their implementation. The agency is helping the European Commission, EU Member States and social partners to develop the right European VET policies.

Early school leaving has impacts in many aspects of life, including employment but also health, happiness, or civic participation.

In order to support stakeholders to address early school leaving adequately, Cedefop developed a VET toolkit for tackling early leaving. This toolkit is a source of support to policymakers as well as education and training providers. Irene Psifidou Expert at the Department for Learning and Employability of Cedefop will present this toolkit at the 28 January webinar. Indeed, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the risk of early school leaving increased substantially. A recent article by Cedefop underlines the impact of the pandemic and distance learning on dropout risk for vulnerable learners. The good practices, publications, toolkits, and recommendations of the Cedefop Toolkit for tackling early school leaving are therefore all the more relevant.

Go to the events!

The leaflet about the Cedefop toolkit is available in seven languages.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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Defining the new skills for an inclusive future at the Skillman International Forum 2020

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As a proud partner of the Skillnet project, AER is very pleased to provide an overview of the very first virtual 6th edition of the yearly SIF – SKILLMAN.EU INTERNATIONAL FORUM 2020, about redefining the future of learning, which took place on December 10th and 11th 2020. Practitioners, innovative academics, and industrial experts in the field of  Vocational Education and Training joined forces to promote an approach to curricula design based on skills foresight analysis.

This year the Forum adopted a holistic approach to face the new challenges risen during the pandemic in the context of skills and job opportunities. The underlying theme of the event was the importance of assessing and therefore providing key skills that people have to possess, especially in the Advanced Manufacturing sector, to actively participate in the society of tomorrow.

Let the curtain open!

The Skillman International Forum kicked off with the welcoming statements from Giovanni Crisonà, founder of the Skillman.eu consortium. The participants had the opportunity to hear that the skills mismatch between demands and labour offer, as well as the consequences of the pandemic, can be resolved by rebranding the Vocational Education and Training systems (VET). In this regard, it is instrumental to look at this shift of paradigm internationally by setting cross-sectoral collaborations and integrating the IT tools in any field of training.

Morning session

The morning session was the perfect venue to hear about the challenges for VET systems for the uptake of skills that can aid in the twin ambitions of the green and digital transition. In this context, providing a real on-the-job experience that makes it easier to acquire both hard and soft skills is instrumental, as well as strengthening collaborations between the public and private sector. Additionally, the pandemic is providing an opportunity to rethink how digital learning can be best integrated into VET curricula, by developing digital labs and web applications able to ensure that no one is left behind.

Afternoon session

During this session, participants had the opportunity to choose the pavilions according to their topic of interest: The IVETA pavilion addressed the issues that TVET stakeholders need to consider with regard to accessibility and inclusivity, from the work-life balance and wellbeing to the shift to the digital learning platforms. The EAPRIL pavilion focused on describing Skillman’s self-assessment tool for VET excellence, which detects labour market needs to foresight skills. The AER pavilion highlighted how VET programmes can support the transition towards a circular economy by boosting new skills in the population

The first day of the SIF 2020 ended up by expressing the instrumentality of virtual mobility in providing valuable opportunities both to participants and entrepreneurs, and the exchange of best practices from all around the world.

Second round!

Morning session

On the occasion of the second day of the event, participants turned the attention to the skills needed to master the challenges of the labour market of the 21st century. The impact of the pandemic has dramatically accelerated the need for VET systems to re-engineer certain parts to make them more responsive to changing labour market needs, and flexible to provide training to a broad audience, including adults in need of re-skilling.

Participants in the late morning had the possibility to attend different pavilions, among which the AER for those interested in the skills needed for the New Mobility Services sector, and break-out rooms listening to best practices, new assessments, curricula design and digital learning tools, such as SELFIE tool for digital-age learning in VET schools and companies, presented at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre break-out room.

Afternoon session

The final session of the event showed the importance of integrating training and engagement by using innovative technology learning devices. In this regard, the development of high-technological tools and applications play a key role in reproducing work and learning experiences while entertaining users, a key asset in increasing the interest in VET centres.

Participants promoted the “action-driven” model of vocational education centres where expertise and good practices are transferred also at the regional level creating synergies and collaborations, through a sustainable and multistakeholder approach. Eventually, the event presented the result of the discussions of the Peer Learning Clubs, the four groups of discussion which we are glad to invite you to join to shape the future of Vocational Education and Training centres, allowing exchange and empowerment via online and on-site activities.

Wrap-up!

The Skillman International Forum 2020 provided food for thought of possible initiatives to re-engineer the VET systems by changing the pedagogical approach, innovating the teaching method facilitating the all learning process with the right digital support, and last but not least by increasing the motivation and excitement of people to enact the right change. Building on discussions of the sessions and the overall findings, this is just another step to explore the pathways of VET may develop to address the future challenges that also the pandemic has posed. The transition should go beyond digital transformation and focusing also on the new models of work-based and community-based approaches that boost inclusive and lifelong learning.

Partnership in Focus

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Wrap-Up: Highlights from the first virtual AER General Assembly, Bureau Meeting and Eurodyssey Forum

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The first ever virtual General Assembly, Bureau Meeting and Eurodyssey Forum took place last week on 19-20 November. Owing to the Covid-19 crisis, these meetings scheduled to take place in Barcelona were moved online. Despite these challenges, AER members from across the continent tuned-in; making the most of the new format and ensuring the important work of the AER could continue in earnest.

The General Assembly

The General Assembly & Bureau meetings began with welcoming remarks from AER President, Magnus Bernttson. The President noted that the challenges posed by the pandemic have impacted the work programme of the AER, but stressed the need for optimism and noted the many achievements of the AER despite these difficulties. Most significantly, rumours of severe cuts to Cohesion funding in the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) have been avoided due in no small part to the AER’s successful lobbying efforts as part of the Cohesion Alliance. The pandemic has also meant that the AER has been able to arrange many more meetings with high-level policy-makers at our virtual events.

Looking forward, the President announced that the top priority for the AER will be providing expert-led training for member regions on how to make the most of new EU funding instruments in 2021, as well as continuing being the leading voice for regions at the EU level.

Following a presentation on responses to the consultation on the revised AER structure by Institutional Relations & Advocacy Coordinator, Vania Freitas, the General Assembly voted to get rid of Committees and replace them with Working Groups to carry out mutual learning activities. Members also voted in favour of a more streamlined Bureau procedure to draft statements on pressing matters, and to allow Working Group and Bureau meetings to take place in tandem.

The meeting was also the first opportunity for Christian Spahr, the new AER Secretary General to address the members of the General Assembly. In his maiden address, Christian thanked his predecessor, Mathieu Mori for his help in ensuring a smooth handover into the role. Outlining his vision for the AER’s future work, Christian emphasised the “interconnectedness” of AER priorities, noting in this context the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), health, digitalisation, citizenship and democracy. To this end, a key priority of the AER Secretariat going forward will be creating synergies and strengthening thematic connections between the internal AER bodies, and aligning the work of the AER more closely with the policy debates shaping the future of Europe.

The rest of the General Assembly was dedicated to voting on key statutory items. This included adopting the AER Action Plan, the 2019 financial accounts and budget for 2021, and the ratification of Bureau Members for 2020 to 2022. All statutory items listed for adoption in the agenda were ratified by the members of the General Assembly.

You can view all of the adopted working documents here.

Closing the General Assembly, Eurodyssey President, Esther Estany and President of AER’s Committee on Culture, Education & Youth, Radimir Cacic took the opportunity to raise a toast to celebrate thirty-five years of the Eurodyssey programme, and debuted the special anniversary video commissioned for the occasion, which you can view above. Radimir underlined the visionary nature of the Eurodyssey programme, which shows that regions “were way ahead” of other organisations in recognising the need for youth exchanges and intercultural dialogue. He also thanked all those involved in the programme for “making the European project real and bringing it closer to its citizens”.

In her speech, Esther noted that Eurodyssey has been a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, Eurodyssey as a driver of mobility and gainful employment will be crucial in ensuring young people can bounce back from the crisis. In closing, she expressed her hope that the success of Eurodyssey will be a source of inspiration, and “act as a model to other regions to invest in youth mobility.”

The morning session concluded with a Slide Show presenting the work of the AER Projects Team and a highlight video from the 2020 Regional Business Forum (RBF), which took place online and in Novi Said, Serbia. The RBF featured speeches from Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi and EU Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Sem Fabrizi; a model example of the AER’s increased engagement with top-tier EU policy-makers and representatives.

The AER Bureau Meeting

The busy afternoon continued with the first virtual meeting of the AER Bureau. As the primary political voice of AER, the important work of the Bureau has continued throughout the pandemic, and during the virtual Bureau meeting, members voted on the adoption of two position papers in line with the political priorities of the AER.

The two position papers under discussion were:

1 . Position Paper on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

Members of the Bureau unanimously adopted a position paper on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which underlines the relevance of the SDGs to achieving a sustainable and resilient future for everyone. This position stresses the key role local and regional authorities play in advancing the 2030 Agenda.

2 . Position Paper on Digitalisation:

Bureau Members also unanimously adopted a position paper on Digitalisation. The paper recognises the importance of digitalisation to ensure long-term prosperity across Europe’s regions. Regions and cities are key enablers of this transformation, and in the new digital reality created by Covid-19, it is crucial that Europe’s regions – urban and rural – have the means to seize the initiative and stay competitive.

Finally, Bureau members decided to establish a Taskforce on Climate, which will capitalise on the work carried out by the Taskforce on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Working Group on Energy and Climate Change.

Upon the proposals of the Executive Board and the decision of members of the Bureau, the key priorities for 2021 will focus on kicking off the Taskforce on Climate, re-starting the work of the Taskforce on Democracy, which will focus on shaping the discussions on the future of Europe; as well as starting the Taskforce on Sustainable Mobility and Connectivity.

AER members are invited to join these Taskforces, to do so, please contact Vania Freitas. You can find out more about the work of the AER Bureau, including all its position papers here.

The Eurodyssey Forum

The first-ever virtual Eurodyssey Forum took place on 19 & 20 of November 2020 following the General Assembly & Bureau. The Forum consisted of virtual sessions bringing together representatives from Eurodyssey regions, hosting companies and youth alumni. Participants discussed the overall status of the programme, and shared experiences and best practices on how to adapt Eurodyssey to the challenges of the pandemic.

You can read more on the Eurodyssey Forum in the dedicated article here.

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Join the Webinar ‘Circular Economy: Opportunities and Needs in the Labour Market’

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Save the date! We are pleased to invite you to the webinar ‘Circular Economy: Opportunities and Needs in the Labour Market’ that will be held online on 10th December from 15:30 to 16:30 as part of the 2020 edition of the Skillman International Forum focused on “redefining the future of learning in the advanced manufacturing sector”!

The event is part of the Skillnet series of 18 webinars designed to bring together experts in different fields linked to vocational education and training (VET) with the purpose of establishing relevant groups of collaboration and partnerships for future EU project proposals.

It will offer regions and stakeholders engaged with circular economy the opportunity to learn and exchange about how regions, companies, and VET organisations can support the transition towards a circular economy and exploit its employment potential by fostering the needed skills in the workforce.

The circular economy is among the core policy priorities of regional, national, and international policy-makers being a major tool to counter negative environmental trends while offering new opportunities for employment and social inclusion. The core pillars of the circular economy – reuse, repair, remanufactured, and recycling – imply a more labour intensive process than the linear economy where resources are wasted or lost. This results in an unparalleled potential for the promotion of employment, with the expected creation of approximately 700 000 new jobs linked to the circular economy (the so-called circular jobs) by 2030 in the EU (Cambridge Econometrics, Trinomics and ICF, 2018).

At the same time, the transition is a broad process involving an overarching redefinition of the economy as a whole, as well as requiring the readiness of all economic and sectors in order to be fully realised. To this extent, this year, the European Union has adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan for the achievement of a “cleaner and more competitive Europe in co-creation with economic actors, consumers, citizens, and civil society organisations”. As suggested in the document, the labour market plays a fundamental role in this process in that if able to anticipate and prepare for the transition, it can accelerate and maximise the potential of a circular economy. Hence, both the realisation of a circular economy and the effective uptake of its employment opportunities strongly depend on the readiness of the labour market.

In this context, the webinar aims to:

  • Provide information about what are the skills needed in a circular economy with particular regard to the advanced manufacturing sector.
  • Offer the possibility to learn from, and exchange with, experts about how VET can support the circular economy transition by developing new curricula tailored to skill and upskill the ‘circular workforce‘.
  • Create a space for debate and network for experts in the field in order to establish relevant partnerships that can be applied within future EU funding opportunities.

Agenda of the webinar

  • Introduction to the webinar and opening remarks: Eva Hallström, Regional Councillor of the Region Värmland and Chair of the Working Group on Environment and Climate change
  • Assessing the skills shortage of the circular economy: Findings from the PackAlliance project. Belén Gracia, PhD Area Coordinator at Campus Iberius and Coordinator of the Erasmus + Project PackAlliance
  • Competency Pilot: Addressing the competency needs of tomorrow: Øyvind Nordstrand, Advisor Innlandet County Council

Important: How to join the webinar?

Only one registration is given for all the events within the Skillman International Forum (SIF). Hence, to join the event, you have to register to Skillman International Forum and participants will be re-directed from the plenary (main room) to the various sessions in the course the event through break-out rooms.

After registration, you will receive the email with the list of separate sessions among which you have to choose 10 AER – PAVILLION d1.

If you cannot attend the whole SIF, you may access the event at least 15 minutes before the beginning of the webinar “Circular Economy: Opportunities and Needs in the Labour Market” (starting time 15:30) so that you can be re-directed to the session.

REGISTER HERE

This webinar is organised as part of the SKILLNET series of webinars on EU funding opportunities. SKILLNET is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission aiming to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s role and capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs through enhanced transnational and cross-sectoral partnerships.

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Intercultural Regions: Improving Labour Market Inclusion

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On November 10th, the Assembly of European Regions in cooperation with IOM and the Intercultural Regions Network hosted the webinar “Intercultural regions: improving labour market inclusion“. This was the second webinar co-organised within the framework of Includ-EU project which works towards building more inclusive and cohesive European Societies.

The webinar, which was moderated by Geertrui Lanneau, Senior Regional Labour Mobility and Human Development Specialist from the IOM Regional Office for the European Economic Area, the European Union and NATO, presented different experiences on how regions work to improve labour market integration policies and provided insights from IOM, and the European Commission.

Multistakeholder approach to support cultural diversity

Fereshteh Jalayer-Hess, co-chair of the Intercultural Regions Network, County Councillor of Värmland (SE) opened the webinar by sharing her personal experience of escaping a totalitarian regime and embracing a society which tolerates and appreciates cultural diversity.

The Intercultural Regions Network, she explained, is all about cultural diversity and encouraging all levels of government to better coordinate and adopt an intercultural approach. In this context, the multistakeholder approach is key to achieve a society where all inhabitants are included and given the chance to contribute and develop.

Ms. Jalayer-Hess explained how lowering barriers for the access to the labour market is instrumental in delivering on other objectives such as improved education, active participation, political engagement and social cohesion. The Intercultural Regions Network, provides teherfore a platform for regions to share knowledge resources, experiences.

Upcoming changes at EU level

Antoine Savary, Deputy Head of Unit, DG HOME, European Commission, provided the latest development in the field of integration of migrants in the labour market, announcing that on 24 November the European Commission is going to adopt the Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion.

This Action Plan will focus on inclusion as a whole instead of focusing on migration specifically. It lays out two key commitments in the area of integration: 

  1. Adopt a comprehensive Action Plan on integration and inclusion for 2021-2024;
  2. Implement the renewed European Partnership for Integration with social and economic
    partners and look into expanding the future cooperation to the area of labour migration.

The Action Plan on integration and inclusion for 2021-2024 will:

  • provide strategic guidance and set out concrete actions to foster inclusion of migrants and broader social cohesion;
  • bring together relevant stakeholders and recognise that regional and local actors have a key part to play;
  • draw on all relevant policies and tools in key areas such as social inclusion, employment, education, health, equality, culture and sport, setting out how migrant integration should be part of efforts to achieve the EU’s goals on each;
  • ensure migrants fully benefit from the European Pillar of Social Rights;
  • recognise in its actions that people with a migrant background often face similar integration challenges to third-country nationals;
  • directly support those active ‘on the ground’ and cover the full range of measures needed to accompany migrants and their families along the path to successful integration and social inclusion.

Mr. Savary stressed the importance of the partnership of cooperation with local and regional authorities in the preparation, implementation, and revision of the programme.

Experiences from the regions

The webinar presented three experiences from the regions

The Netherlands: a one stop shop for smoother integration pathways

Iris de Kok, Policy Advisor Asylum & Integration – City of Tilburg, presented the evolution of integration processes in the City of Tilburg. The new legislation to come into force in July 2021, allows a procedure where each migrant is guided throughout the program in order to make it easier to get familiar with the municipality they are living in. This approach combines the three-elements of participation activities, skills training, and language courses in order to enable migrants to be self-reliant.

This broader and interactive programme is developed in three phases:

Phase 1 – IntakeAn early-stage to choose the direction of integration, to understand talents & skills
Phase 2 – OrientationPractical and tailored approach with a Personal Integration Plan which stipulates the route for the Dutch labour market
Phase 3 – Work & Skills routeThe participative part were migrants actually work within the Dutch labour market

Greece: support towards self-reliance

Kostas Kousaxidis & Anastasia Arapidou, from IOM Greece, shared the example of the HELIOS project – Hellenic Integration Support for Beneficiaries of International Protection. It aims at increasing the beneficiaries’ self-reliance working on five areas of integration:

Integration coursesHELIOS provides courses at Integration Learning Centres (ILCs) on the Greek language and soft skills.
Accommodation supportHELIOS helps beneficiaries of international protection to find accommodations by providing economic contributions and through networking with apartment owners
Employability supportIndividual job counseling is provided to acknowledge strengths and weaknesses and prepare the Career Action Plan
Integration monitoringAssessment of the integration process to valuate the self-reliance of the migrant once the program ends
Sensitisation of the host communityThrough initiatives and activities, the interactions between the migrants and the host communities bring value to the integration process

Italy: the experience from the business sector

Several sectors of the labour market suffer from a shortage of skilled labour, especially in the informatics sector. In this context, Roberto Strocco, Head of Projects and Local Development Area, Unioncamere Piemonte presented the MATCH project – Migration of African Talents through the Capacity-building and Hiring is a 36‑month initiative funded by the European Union (EU) aimed at providing highly skilled talents from Senegal and Nigeria, where the IT, engineering and new technologies workforce is highly qualified, to private sector companies whose needs for qualified staff cannot be satisfied by the offer available on the EU labour market.

What can be done further?

Labour market integration is not only essential to migrants, but also to receiving societies: it reduces the costs to the welfare system, and ultimately the cost of the asylum system. Some of the barriers to the labour market highlighted during the session constitute a challenge, such as languages, and cultural differences, which can marginalise migrants. The recognition of qualifications was identified as a major obstacle to labour market integration. A stronger collaboration between both private an public stakeholders is needed for better results.

Next steps

The next webinar will be organised in March 2021 and will focus on active participation and social inclusion.

Regions interested in joining the Intercultural Regions Network should contact Vania Freitas [email protected]

This webinar is organised in the context of INCLUD-EU, an EU project funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration fund (AMIF) which contributes to building more inclusive and cohesive European societies by enhancing knowledge, driving innovation, and stimulating cooperation between local and regional authorities in the European Union. To know more about the project, visit the project webpage, and consult this info sheet.

Watch back Click here
AgendaClick here to download
HandoutsInclud-EU infosheet
City of Tilburg Netherlands
HELIOS project Greece
Click to discoverCorporate Social Responsibility Strategy
Unioncamere Piemonte homepage
MATCH project Piemonte
(in Italian)
Contact[email protected]

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Eurodyssey Forum 2020

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The first-ever virtual Eurodyssey Forum took place on 19 & 20 of November 2020. These online sessions brought together the correspondents from Eurodyssey regions, hosting companies and youth alumni. In these sessions, participants discussed the functioning of the programme, and shared experiences and best practices to adapt learning mobility to the “new normal” of COVID-19.

An online Eurodyssey Assembly

In the afternoon of 19 November, following the AER General Assembly and Bureau meeting, the Eurodyssey Assembly gathered representatives from 20 member regions. The Assembly provided members with an opportunity to assess the state-of-play of the programme and exchange views on the regions’ prospects of hosting Eurodyssey participants in 2021, given the COVID-19 pandemic.

In their opening remarks, AER President, Magnus Berntsson, and Eurodyssey President, Esther Estany, raised a toast to mark thirty-five years since the creation of the Eurodyssey programme. This was followed with the premiere of the anniversary video:

Eurodyssey facts & figures

The day continued with an assessment of the Eurodyssey programme by AER programmes coordinator, Andrés Muñoz, who delivered a presentation on the 2019 statistics, which underlined the significant, positive impact the programme continues to have on young trainees’ employment prospects.

The programme allowed a total of 303 young Europeans (+16% compared to 2018) to benefit from genuine professional experience and linguistic training in another European region. Other remarkable outcomes include the rise in the number of both the internship offers published (+30%) and the candidates (+33%) compared to 2018.

Looking at the employment prospects for Eurodyssey participants in 2018, regions can be proud that 40% of interns find a job within 1 month of completing their traineeship. What is more, 64% of the survey respondents declared that Eurodyssey was decisive in finding a job and 20% of them attributed such a fact to the language training received.

You can read all the 2019 statistical findings and 2018 employment results from the summary report HERE.

Sharing on social media is caring about Eurodyssey

The last presentation by the Secretariat was conducted by Justin Sammon, AER Communications Officer, who shared with member regions guidelines to harness the potential of social media for promoting the programme and to communicate Eurodyssey’s long-term positive impact on young people, regions and society.

View HERE the presentation Sharing is caring: making the most of social media.

Break-out sessions

On Day 2 of the Forum on 20 November, the Eurodyssey online break-out sessions provided members with further opportunities to exchange experiences and good practices to keep up learning mobility through the pandemic. For these events, we were also joined by hosting organisations and Eurodyssey alumni, who had the opportunity to share their testimonials.

The day kicked-off with an introductory talk by Safi Sabuni from Eurodesk and Manel Sánchez from the European Youth Card Association (EYCA), who provided a broader overview on how youth organisations are adjusting their work “to continue to be there for young people” who face unique challenges socially, economically and personally because of the pandemic. They also made a number of recommendations from their respective organisations on how to minimise the impact on learning mobility projects. Participants then broke-off into into multilingual ‘break-out’ sessions, where they had the opportunity to brainstorm ideas for keeping the Eurodyssey programme moving despite the pause on mobility caused by COVID-19.

Ackowledgements

Closing the Eurodyssey Forum, AER Secretary General, Christian Spahr thanked all those who had made “this visionary programme of cross-border professional learning a reality for thirty-five years”. In her speech Eurodyssey President, Esther Estany – speaking in French, Spanish and English – pointed to the spirit of optimism that fills Eurodyssey family and the “very bright future” that lies ahead. She called on regions to keep up the hard work for the decades to come and to defend mobility as an essential source of regional development.

Visit the 2020 Eurodyssey Forum event page to download all the working documents, presentations and other key takeaways.

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Partner Search: new project proposal to support youth employment across Europe

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Are you interested in joining projects within the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment Call? Maramures County Council, local public administration in Romania and member region of AER, is looking for partners to join their new project to support youth employment. 

About the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment 

EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment aims to support transnational project initiatives that promote sustainable and quality youth employment.

The focus on transnational cooperation reflects the view that unemployment among youth is a common European challenge and common European solutions should therefore be explored. This is in line with the Europe 2020 strategy and the EU cohesion policy that emphasize the importance of the regions and cross-border cooperation for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Eligible project partners within this Fund are entities (public or private, commercial or non -commercial and non-governmental organisations) established as legal persons in a Beneficiary State (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia), Ireland, Italy and Spain.

The maximum grant for a project is 2 million euros while the minimum grant is 1 million euro, having the grant up to 85% of the eligible costs. The deadline for submitting the project proposal is the 5th of January 2021.

About the Maramures County Council’s  project proposal

The project proposal developed by Maramures County Council “GreeNeeT- Growing skills for smart agriculture & sustainable food chain“ will address support area 2: Transfer of know-how and good practice: transferring know-how and good practice on youth employment initiatives across European countries.

The overall objective of the project is to stimulate youth employment and entrepreneurship by transnational transfer of good practices in the field of smart agriculture and a sustainable food chain. In that regard, the project foresees the setting up in Maramures of a pilot demonstrative centre in that field as well as an online cooperation platform accessible to provide training and get the necessary skills in order to foster the employment or start a business in the field of sustainable agriculture & food chain.

The target group includes 25-29 year old, who are not employed, and not taking part in education and training, the concept NEET (“Not in Employment, Education or Training”).

If you are interested in joining this project proposal and contributing to its further development, don’t hesitate to contact AER team by 30 November 2020. We would be happy to liaise you with Maramures County Council!

Contact: Agnese Pantaloni, European Projects Coordinator

E-mail: [email protected]

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

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Join us at the Skillman International Forum

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The sixth edition of the Skillman International Forum is getting closer! Do not miss the opportunity to learn more and contribute to ‘redefining the future of learning’!

On 10th and 11th December, the 2020 edition of the Skillman International Forum (SIF) will be held online. The event is a yearly appointment launched by the Skillman Alliance in order to provide a space for exchanges relevant for improving the framework of education and Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems. This year, the SIF will focus on redefining the future of learning in the advanced manufacturing sector through a variety of activities and contributions.

Through webinars, workshops, roundtables, pavillions, award ceremonies, and a VET cafè held and moderated by international speakers and experts in the TVET field, the conference will offer a space for discussing and analyzing the main challenges faced by the Advanced Manufacturing sector, specifically:

  • The identification of challenges and definition of new approaches in the design of new and innovative curricula during the pandemic
  • The conceptualization of a systematic approach to skills foresight for curricula development
  • The design of curricula balancing Skills for Life and Skills for Work.
  • How the Advanced Manufacturing sector can meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and what are its responsibilities in this regard
  • Social innovation, societal impact, societal challenges, and ethical issues
  • “Twin Transformation”, for a green, digital, smart, and sustainable growth.

The two-day event will be a valuable opportunity for exchanging ideas, keeping informed on publications and innovations, and networking for international projects and cooperation.

AER Pavilions at the Skillman International Forum

The Assembly of European Regions is glad to contribute to this event by hosting two webinars on EU funding opportunities, organised within the Skillnet project co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme. On the 10th of December from 15:30 – 16:30, the webinar on the “Circular economy revolution: Opportunities and needs in the labor market” will focus on the impact and opportunities that the circular economy brings about for employment and social inclusion and how VET programmes can contribute to effectively achieve the circular economy transition.

On the following day, 11th of December from 11:15-12:15, our next webinar “New mobility services: Anticipating skills and job roles” will aim at providing the numerous participants at the SIF with relevant information and examples concerning new jobs and skills needed as a result of the development of new mobility services.

Further information about the two webinars will be shared soon!

Visit the SIF Event Page
REGISTER HERE

Here you find the tutorial to register to the Skillnet webinars (1.15 min)

Photo by Skillman International Forum

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Committee 1 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

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The General Assembly is the highest authority of AER and convenes representatives of all its full members at least once a year. The General Assembly adopts among other things, the annual reports of the Thematic Committees.

This report is the compilation of actions developed and implemented within Committee 1 between the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaka (CY) and the 2020 online General Assembly.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the AER Executive Board decided to prolong the validity of the AER Action Plan in order to allow the continuation of knowledge sharing between regions in a structured way.

AER had to define ways to maintain planned activities and offer new opportunities for mutual learning in a radically different and uncertain context, where face-to-face meetings are not possible and all regional stakeholders are focused on fighting the pandemic.

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

Projects

In terms of knowledge sharing, the idea with projects is to provide a framework, where regions can go deeper in mutual learning and good practices exchange, while being co-financed by the EU. AER always negotiates its implication in projects in a way that will benefit all AER members. In the current situation where face to face events are cancelled, projects offer unparalleled opportunities for online knowledge and experience exchange.

SKILLNET

SKILLNET is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme aimed at improving Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems.

AER joined the SKILLNET project this Spring while most of Europe was in lockdown, specifically because of the opportunities the project is offering for online activities relevant to both Committee 1 and Committee 3. Indeed the project is organising a high number of webinars and offering online platforms for the exchange of knowledge. In order to make sure project activities provide value to members, the topics of SKILLNET webinars are chosen based on the AER Action Plan and further specified together with members which have expressed needs in the process of the definition of workprogrammes at Committee meetings

SKILLNET has launched a series of 18 webinars on EU funding opportunities. Each webinar is open to all interested parties and focuses on different areas of intervention upon which relevant partnerships can be launched.

As a follow-up of each SKILLNET webinar, a Partnerships in Focus bulletin is circulated and stored in the Partnerships in Focus hub on the AER website.

Additionally, the project offers the opportunity for regional stakeholders working on Vocational Education and Training to connect via the Peer Learning Clubs. Stakeholders learn from each other, and get access to relevant information and experts to be applied to develop future partnerships within EU calls.

  • AER members interested in sharing their experience in a webinar should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! finished

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. This project raised awareness on the importance of programmes, projects, and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. It also encouraged the participation of citizens and stakeholders to become active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy. AER coordinated the project and collected experiences on cohesion policy together with regions.

This project was officially launched during the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaca (CY). Six AER member regions were partners in this project: Varazdin (HR), Csongrád (HU), Trentino (IT), Timis and Alba (RO), and Catalonia (ES). The project also had an information stall dedicated to the Together for Cohesion project at 2019 Autumn Committee Plenaries.

Partner regions have organized several local events to raise awareness on Cohesion policy among EU citizens:

The first event of Together for Cohesion held, the “Apulum Agraria” Fair in Alba (RO) held from 20-22nd September 2019, promoting agriculture, the economy of Alba and local farmers and members of professional associations.

The project was also represented at the 37th session of the Local and Regional Authorities Congress, led by the Council of Europe between the 28-31st October 2019.

The project contributed to the organisation of a Career management fair in Alba (RO), which raised awareness on the use and benefits of the EU cohesion policy and funds – with a special focus on how to find employment opportunities and how to receive the appropriate career guidance.

The Forum for Mayors, on the 11th of December, in Szeged, Hungary, by the General Assembly of Csongrand County was an opportunity to learn more about why cohesion policy and funds are crucial for the social and economic development of the cities and towns led by the Mayors taking part in the Csongrad Forum

Regions have also prepared several trainings focused on developing communication skills and understanding of European cohesion policies. The first training, on Together4Cohesion: how to use social media to better communicate the EU cohesion policy took place on the 23rd of January, in Trentino, Italy.

In Varaždin (HR), the annual Gala Ball of Varaždin County on 24 January 2020 was an opportunity to promote the project. On 13 February 2020, Varaždin also hosted an event in the context of the Together4Cohesion Project called “ESI Funds beyond 2020”. On 5 March a third event will be organised, with a contribution by South Ostrobothnia on entrepreneurship education. It is connected with Cohesion Policy since schools will also present how they develop new curricula with the help of EU funds. The recommendations will be sent to AER and be at disposal for all interested members

More events organised in the context of the project can be found on the Together4Cohesion website

CUBES: Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities ongoing

The CUBES project was developed to create a bridge between cultural heritage, administrative bodies, and digitalization. The project will:

  • raise awareness
  • emphasizing the importance of culture
  • increase competitiveness and economic growth.

Target: local communities, public authorities, NGOs and CSOs. The kick-off of the CUBES project took place on the 25th of October 2019 in Lisbon, the project will end in April 2020

The experience of the CUBES project on grassroots approaches for sustainable regional development was supposed to inform the discussions at the conference “Territorial Approaches to Regional Development” in Covasna on 11 March 2020. As the plenaries were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an article was written on Culture, a pillar of sustainable regional development by the Lead partner of the CUBES project.

As the project is progressing, the Secretariat is exploring how to use the knowledge and outputs created in the project to benefit members in Committee 3.

Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe ongoing

AER and the International Organisation for Migration, together with several regional and local authorities have joined forces in the Includ-EU project. This project will improve transnational knowledge and experience sharing, cooperation and partnerships to build a more inclusive and cohesive Europe.

AER will organise 5 workshops to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing as well as to support the implementation of pilot activities around the 5 key priorities of the EU action plan: post-arrival support, education, labour market integration, access to services, citizen participation & inclusion.

In the context of the pandemic, AER anticipated the organisation of the webinars, which were normally planned for later. A first webinar was organised in collaboration with the Intercultural Regions Network, The Council of Europe and the International Organisation for Migration, to share experiences on access to services, especially health services.

The second webinar will take place on 10 November and will be focused on Labour Market Inclusion, with good practices from Greece and the Netherlands and a presentation by the European Commission on upcoming changes in funding for activities on integration.

E-health in rural areas: finished

Members discussed the possibility to develop a pan-AER regional e-health rural project based on innovation and digitalisation. This idea was not followed up by the development of a project.

As the topic is still relevant for many AER members, members were invited to participate in a webinar on integrated care in remote and rural areas, an activity organised in the context of the SCIROCCO Exchange project (see above)

Project development on farming, rural planning, and infrastructure: planned

Members of the AER working group on rural development would like to develop a project to compare and incorporate good practices in farming (cattle, dairy) and infrastructure.

  • Regions interested in developing such a project should share their idea during the development of the 2020-2021 work programme on 12 March in order to find regions who want to cooperate on this and start developing this initiative.

Project on rural development: planned

Members of the AER working group on rural development would like to develop a project on how to invest and develop basic infrastructure in rural areas. For example, water, waste, gas, roads, education, health care.

  • Regions interested in developing such a project should share their idea during the development of the 2020-2021 work programme on 12 March in order to find regions who want to cooperate on this and start developing this initiative.

Good Practice Exchange

2019 AER Autumn Committee Plenaries – Podčetrtek (SI): finished

The annual Autumn Committee Plenaries of the Assembly of European Regions took place on September 24-26 2019, in Podčetrtek, Slovenia.

The topic of the thematic event of the plenaries was Cohesion & Contrasted Regional Realities. The thematic event consisted of discussions with perspectives from all of Europe, with a special focus on Ireland and Slovenia. Despite the varying experiences and realities in the regions represented, it was agreed that a holistic approach to regional development is necessary

The aim was to share experiences, especially from regions with considerable disparities within their territories to learn about different strategies and practices as well as enablers and barriers to more cohesive regional development.

2020 AER Spring Committee Plenaries – Covasna: cancelled

The main focus of the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County (RO) between 10-12 March was to be territorial approaches. Urban-rural divides within regions were going to be in the spotlight.

While the Autumn 2019 plenaries “Territorial cohesion and Contrasted Realities” looked at how regions address territorial differences, this spring’s plenary should have been about taking stock of the situation in Europe. How to bridge the gap between theories on place-based policies and the actual implementation of effective and participative policies?

Members should have in particular, discussed the state of play of smart specialization strategies in Europe, health innovation and wellbeing, as well as brain drain vs brain gain.

In the context of the cancellation of face to face activities, AER tried to ensure that the content, which would normally have been shared at the plenaries, was still shared via the AER website. A series of articles was therefore published, featuring the speakers on the programme of the Covasna events, both from AER regions and from external experts with examples challenges and good practices: https://aer.eu/tag/event-2020-spring-plenaries/

While reading articles about a region don’t replace actually visiting it, special visibility was given to Covasna and the good practices to be presented on the spot on the AER website.

Committee 1 Vice President for Rural development, Energy and Environment, Nicola Campitelli, Abruzzo (IT) shared the Abruzzo governance for rural areas and their vision for the post-COVID-19 recovery

The topic of smart specialisation for inclusion and wellbeing will be further developed in the context of the webinar of the Digital Health network on 18 November 2020

Organisation of the Regional Business Forum

The Regional Business Forum (RBF) is an annual international forum to exchange on support for SMEs, promote business and commerce, incentive the possibility to collaborate and share best practices between regions. The event is organised by AER Vice-President for Regional Economic Developmen Damir Zobenica.

This 3rd edition will be a hybrid-event hosted in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina on 10 November. Following the success of last year’s forum, this year’s Regional Business Forum will focus on three main sectors: Agriculture & Food; the Construction Industry; ICT and Creative industries.

Through B2B (business-to-business) meetings, participants will get the chance to find partners according to their own interests and objectives

Interested candidates can register online for the B2B matchmaking, facilitated by the European Enterprise Network matchmaking tool.

Supporting members to use the TAIEX-Environmental Implementation Review: ongoing

The AER Secretariat disseminated information about the TAIEX-EIR peer to peer learning program and is supporting members to use this program to gain or provide knowledge on environmental policies on topics as diverse as air quality, waste management, water management, the circular economy. This program which is relatively easy and quick to access is a good complement to activities carried out within AER and an opportunity to access support from the Commission to carry out exchanges with other regions.

Gelderland (NL) and the European Commission organized a TAIEX-EIR workshop on “Maintaining and Enhancing Ecosystem Services in Urban Regions” on 4 and 5 July 2019.

In the context of the joint action to protect Romanian forests, the AER Secretariat has been in touch with DG Environment, to identify ways to use the TAIEX-EIR program. This should help improve legislation and practices for the protection of primary forests and biodiversity in Romania.

Mutual learning event on economy 4.0: Finished

On 4 December 2019, AER, the Brussels Capital Region and the Government of Catalonia organized a mutual learning event on economy 4.0. Economy 4.0 describes a new era of productive, industrial and economic development characterized by the implementation of big-scale automatization, artificial intelligence (AI) robotic instruments, computational big data analytics software, and high tech infrastructure. It aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions who are welcomed to share inputs and regional examples.
The report on the event can be found here.

Workshop ” connectivity vs sustainability?”: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenary meeting in Podčetrtek (SI), the working group on transports & mobility chaired by Martin Tollén organised a workshop on connectivity and sustainability. Speakers featured Matej Gojčič from the Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region and Sergi Alegre, President of the Airport Regions Conference.

New mobility services: ongoing

Good practices exchange on electric cars and infrastructure both at AER meetings and in events of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC), where Östergötland (SE) is representing AER.

Workshop on sustainable transport and mobility: cancelled

AER member regions Gelderland (NL) and Östergötland (SE) planned a workshop on sustainable transport and mobility during the European Sustainability Energy Week on Clean Energy from 18-20 June 2019 in the House of Dutch Provinces in Brussels.

Lowering emissions in transport: cancelled

AER member region Norrbotten (SE) would like to organize good practice exchange on identifying how to lower emissions in transports within the Working group on Energy and Climate Change.

Waste collection in rural areas: planned

Within the working group on rural development, members would like to have an exchange of good practices on how to raise awareness of recycling and waste collection in rural areas.
This topic could be addressed either in the context of a meeting of the working group on rural development or in separate events, such as Breakfast seminars in Brussels.

Webinar on agricultural cooperatives for more sustainable and resilient supply chains: cancelled

In the context of the changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of face to face meetings, the Chair of the Working Group on rural development Olimpia Neagoe, Dolj (RO) initiated the organisation of a webinar on this topic made highly relevant in the context of lockdowns in Europe. However due to regional elections in Romania, this activity was cancelled.

AER Delegation at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER took part in SCEWC19. The 3-day conference confirmed its role as the world’s greatest meeting point for cities and companies sharing the same goals as regards the future of cities. Different stakeholders gathered together in Barcelona and explored new innovative ways to make cities inclusive, efficient and sustainable.

Small hydropower plants: cancelled

Exchange of good practice on noise reduction with (small) hydro powerplants (finding a suitable location also from an environmental point of view). Lobbying and advocacy with NGOs and governments about the environmental point of view, partnership, and exchange of good practice. National stimulations for developing projects on national tourism strategy on a local and regional level. Members didn’t express interest about this topic anymore.

Creation of a working group on how to attract more workforce: planned

Several regions in AER have expressed the need to exchange experiences on how to attract more workforce to regions that are largely rural.
This action could be developed within the context of the working group on business and SMEs.

The 2020 Spring plenaries in Covasna would have specifically look at territorial approaches and the ways in which regions address challenges linked to regional development, innovation and rurality. Instead content was shared via the AER website and the article by Committee 3 President on a Regional Approach to reduce Brain Drain provides a number of proposals in that respect. Hrvoje Kovač, Chair of the Subcommittee on Youth also prepared a very clear video on the topic.

Effective legislative frameworks: cancelled

Tulcea would like to collaborate with other regions to elaborate good legislative frameworks for tourism, business, industry, research. The goal would be a simplification of administration and the reduction of red tape. No activity was developed on this topic, however, the topic of cutting red tape is the kind of topics which will be addressed by the AER civil servants exchange programme as the programme will aim at facilitating experience exchange on efficient public administrations.

Energy efficiency: planned

Good practice sharing on stimulating energy efficiency, for instance, competition between organizations and OECD. Indicators on energy efficiency and EC energy efficiency directive.

Advocacy/Lobbying

Building a Network of Intercultural Regions: ongoing

The Bureau Task Force on migration organized a Breakfast debate on the occasion of the General Assembly in Larnaca to examine the possibility of creating an intercultural regions programme, similar to the existing Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. The network will support regions for the design and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies. The Intercultural Regions Network was launched on 5th November 2019. The process to develop this network requires intense dialogue with institutions.

AER and the Council of Europe are now planning activities for the coming months, a first meeting was organised in 16 March. The Intercultural Regions Network is closely involved in activities carried out in the context of the Includ-EU project (see above)

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC: ongoing

AER is involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC). This framework is an opportunity for strategic intelligence, state of the art information, partnership building and influence.

Protection of Romanian forests: finished

Primary forests are rare in Europe and the ones in Romania are threatened by excessive logging. AER members, therefore, agreed at the Committee 1 Spring plenary meeting in Örebro, to support Romanian regions to protect this invaluable natural heritage.
At the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries on 26 September, the AER Working Group on Rural Development hosted a Breakfast Debate on European Biodiversity: Protecting Primary Forests. AER was pleased to be joined by some external experts on this topic, among them, Shiroma Sathyapala, Forestry Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food Security

-Task Force on Cohesion Policy

-Task Force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities that add value to their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committee’s work programmes. The work programmes are developed in spring each year and the 2019/2020 work programme is available here.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committee’s work programmes and the AER action plan. The action plan for 2019/2020 is available here.

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Committee 2 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

By

The General Assembly is the highest authority of AER and convenes representatives of all its full members at least once a year. The General Assembly adopts among other things, the annual reports of the Thematic Committees.

This report is the compilation of actions developed and implemented within Committee 2 between the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaka (CY) and the 2020 online General Assembly.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the AER Executive Board decided to prolong the validity of the AER Action Plan in order to allow the continuation of knowledge sharing between regions in a structured way.

AER had to define ways to maintain planned activities and offer new opportunities for mutual learning in a radically different and uncertain context, where face-to-face meetings are not possible and all regional stakeholders are focused on fighting the pandemic.

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

Projects

In terms of knowledge sharing, the idea with projects is to provide a framework, where regions can go deeper in mutual learning and good practices exchange, while being co-financed by the EU. AER always negotiates its implication in projects in a way that will benefit all AER members. In the current situation where face to face events are cancelled, projects offer unparalleled opportunities for online knowledge and experience exchange.

SCIROCCO Exchange project – Personalised knowledge transfer and access to tailored evidence-based assets on integrated care: ongoing

The SCIROCCO Exchange project, under the EU Health Programme, is based on the SCIROCCO project, which resulted in the development of an online self-assessment tool for integrated care. The project runs from January 2019 to August 2021. It supports regions, mainly health and social care authorities for the adoption and the scaling-up of integrated care. The Maturity Model, at the core of the project, offers a tool for regions to better deliver integrated care for their citizens while at the same time empowering citizens. With this tool, regions can assess their current status, revealing areas of strength and also gaps in their capability managing the many activities needed in order to deliver integrated care.

The lead partner is the Scottish Government. The consortium is composed of 14 organizations.

AER is leading the Working Package on knowledge transfer which started in autumn 2019, helping the regions in preparing the local environment for implementation and scaling-up integrated care.

The Institute of Social and Behavioural Medicine of Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice in Slovakia, one of SCIROCCO Exchange consortium partners, organized a local conference “Integrated care for people with chronic diseases” on 15 May 2019. The conference was organized as part of the European Public Health Week “Care4Care”. The objective of the conference was to raise awareness about the importance of integrated health and social care for people suffering from multiple chronic conditions. The conference was particularly useful to review the current progress with the adoption of integrated and long-term care in Slovakia and highlight the existing challenges such as change of culture, stakeholder engagement or political commitment

The project was presented at the Smart City Expo, which was held between 19 to 21st November 2019.
The project was also represented in the European Parliament at a debate, “EU 2019-2024: Health Champions Wanted”, held on 9 October 2019.

The SCIROCCO Exchange provides the opportunity to detail the methodologies and mutual learning approaches, which have developed by AER in over 3 decades of interregional cooperation.

The SCIROCCO Exchange also allows reaching some of the objectives set within the AER Digital Health Network.

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! finished

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. This project raised awareness on the importance of programmes, projects, and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. It also encouraged the participation of citizens and stakeholders to become active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy. AER coordinated the project and collected experiences on cohesion policy together with regions.

This project was officially launched during the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaca (CY). Six AER member regions were partners in this project: Varazdin (HR), Csongrád (HU), Trentino (IT), Timis and Alba (RO), and Catalonia (ES). The project also had an information stall dedicated to the Together for Cohesion project at 2019 Autumn Committee Plenaries.

Partner regions have organized several local events to raise awareness on Cohesion policy among EU citizens:

The first event of Together for Cohesion held, the “Apulum Agraria” Fair in Alba (RO) held from 20-22nd September 2019, promoting agriculture, the economy of Alba and local farmers and members of professional associations.

The project was also represented at the 37th session of the Local and Regional Authorities Congress, led by the Council of Europe between the 28-31st October 2019.

The project contributed to the organisation of a Career management fair in Alba (RO), which raised awareness on the use and benefits of the EU cohesion policy and funds – with a special focus on how to find employment opportunities and how to receive the appropriate career guidance.

The Forum for Mayors, on the 11th of December, in Szeged, Hungary, by the General Assembly of Csongrand County was an opportunity to learn more about why cohesion policy and funds are crucial for the social and economic development of the cities and towns led by the Mayors taking part in the Csongrad Forum

Regions have also prepared several trainings focused on developing communication skills and understanding of European cohesion policies. The first training, on Together4Cohesion: how to use social media to better communicate the EU cohesion policy took place on the 23rd of January, in Trentino, Italy.

In Varaždin (HR), the annual Gala Ball of Varaždin County on 24 January 2020 was an opportunity to promote the project. On 13 February 2020, Varaždin also hosted an event in the context of the Together4Cohesion Project called “ESI Funds beyond 2020”. On 5 March a third event will be organised, with a contribution by South Ostrobothnia on entrepreneurship education. It is connected with Cohesion Policy since schools will also present how they develop new curricula with the help of EU funds. The recommendations will be sent to AER and be at disposal for all interested members

More events organised in the context of the project can be found on the Together4Cohesion website

AMiD project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: finished

This project was led by the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities and aimed to improve the access to services for migrants with disabilities. AER was a partner and Valencia, Timis and Värmland were all members of the Advisory Board. The AMiD project provided opportunities for experience sharing and capacity building in this area for all AER members.

During the 2019 Summer Academy in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS), a workshop on AMiD was organized. Participants were invited to reflect on the challenges that migrants with disabilities face on a daily basis.

The final conference of the AMiD project was held on 5th November 2019 in Brussels. After a wave of presentations and questions, participants split into three groups to discuss and agree on recommendations. They concluded:

  • Improving capacity for CSOs – Civil Society Organisations working in the sector.
  • To set and spread the multi-stakeholder approach to inclusion.
  • Engagement to raise the topic of migrants with disabilities in the next Disability Strategy 2020-2030

Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe ongoing

AER and the International Organisation for Migration, together with several regional and local authorities have joined forces in the Includ-EU project. This project will improve transnational knowledge and experience sharing, cooperation and partnerships to build a more inclusive and cohesive Europe.

AER will organise 5 workshops to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing as well as to support the implementation of pilot activities around the 5 key priorities of the EU action plan: post-arrival support, education, labour market integration, access to services, citizen participation & inclusion.

In the context of the pandemic, AER anticipated the organisation of the webinars, which were normally planned for later. A first webinar was organised in collaboration with the Intercultural Regions Network, The Council of Europe and the International Organisation for Migration, to share experiences on access to services, especially health services.

The second webinar will take place on 10 November and will be focused on Labour Market Inclusion, with good practices from Greece and the Netherlands and a presentation by the European Commission on upcoming changes in funding for activities on integration.

E-health in rural areas: finished

Members discussed the possibility to develop a pan-AER regional e-health rural project based on innovation and digitalisation. This idea was not followed up by the development of a project.

As the topic is still relevant for many AER members, members were invited to participate in a webinar on integrated care in remote and rural areas, an activity organised in the context of the SCIROCCO Exchange project (see above)

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Good Practice Exchange

Autumn Committee Plenaries – Podčetrtek (SI): finished

The annual Autumn Committee Plenaries of the Assembly of European Regions took place on September 24-26 2019, in Podčetrtek, Slovenia.

The topic of the thematic event of the plenaries was Cohesion & Contrasted Regional Realities, and the aim was to identify strategies and actions to boost regional development and innovation in the face of contrasting realities.

2020 Spring Committee Plenaries – Covasna (RO): cancelled

The main focus of the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County (RO) between 10-12 March was to be territorial approaches. Urban-rural divides within regions were going to be in the spotlight.

While the Autumn 2019 plenaries “Territorial cohesion and Contrasted Realities” looked at how regions address territorial differences, this spring’s plenary should have been about taking stock of the situation in Europe. How to bridge the gap between theories on place-based policies and the actual implementation of effective and participative policies?

Members should have discussed the state of play of smart specialization strategies in Europe, health innovation and wellbeing, as well as brain drain vs brain gain.

In the context of the cancellation of face to face activities, AER tried to ensure that the content, which would normally have been shared at the plenaries, was still shared via the AER website. A series of articles was therefore published, featuring the speakers on the programme of the Covasna events, both from AER regions and from external experts with examples challenges and good practices: https://aer.eu/tag/event-2020-spring-plenaries/

While reading articles about a region don’t replace actually visiting it, special visibility was given to Covasna and the good practices to be presented on the spot on the AER website.

The topic of wellbeing and smart specialisation was addressed in two articles on the natural assets in Covasna (RO) and the smart specialisation strategy of Värmland (SE).

The topic of smart specialisation for inclusion and wellbeing will be further developed in the context of the webinar of the Digital Health network on 18 November 2020

Mutual learning event on economy 4.0: finished

On 4 December 2019, AER, the Brussels Capital Region and the Government of Catalonia organized a mutual learning event on economy 4.0. Economy 4.0 describes a new era of productive, industrial and economic development characterized by the implementation of big-scale automatization, artificial intelligence (AI) robotic instruments, computational big data analytics software, and high tech infrastructure. It aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions who are welcomed to share inputs and regional examples.
The report on the event can be found here.

Workshop of the AER e-health network (now known as “Digital Health Network”): finished

The AER e-health network has achieved the objectives it had set at its creation. It is time now to revamp the network, explore synergies with other initiatives and fellow networks around Europe. On the occasion of the Autumn Committee Plenaries the AER e-health network under the leadership of Donna Henderson, Scotland (GB), planned to hold a workshop to reinvent its way of working and set new goals.

While a discussion did take place on this occasion, only few members were able to attend, because of the exceptional circumstances in Slovenia, were Adria Airlines stopped activities during the AER plenaries. The group decided to change the name to “Digital Health network” and to cooperate more with other networks as well as with the European Commission. The SCIROCCO Exchange project is instrumental in this respect, as it positions AER on a very important topic.

Increasing collaboration on Digital Health between European Regions: ongoing

The Digital Health Network provides a platform for AER regions to share their experiences, knowledge, and resources that support the effective deployment of digital health solutions within their regional healthcare systems. The digital transformation of health and care requires further action in these areas:

  • citizen’s secure access to and sharing of health data across borders;
  • better data to advance research, disease prevention and personalised health and care;
  • digital tools for citizen empowerment and person-centred care.

 The Digital Health Network will:

  • Provide knowledge exchange opportunities for AER regions working to implement digital health.
  • Promote relevant policies to advance the implementation of digital health for all citizens.
  • Share good practices in the use of digital health in response to key health and care challenges for regions. 
  • Recognise the diversity of regions and identify key lessons from their different approaches to digital health.
  • Develop our shared understanding of how digital health can support increased citizen participation in and self-management of their own health and wellbeing.

Identify key events, in which members of the Digital Health Network will participate, to promote and raise awareness of the Network’s activities.

The activities planned for the Network in 2020 – 2021 are outlined in the roadmap below:

It is possible to join the Digital Health Network by filling this (

Webinar on Digital Health, Wellbeing and Smart Specialisation: ongoing

The webinar is organised by the Digital Health Network and will present the experiences of two AER regions on 18 November on :

  • supporting the development of digital solutions that support healthy living.
  • fostering collaboration between the public sector, universities; civil organisations, entrepreneurs, and businesses.
  • how we intend to achieve business growth and efficiency in public health services.
  • how digital health innovation fits with our regions’ smart specialisation strategies.

Breakfast seminar on innovation in healthcare design: finished

Värmland (SE), Scotland (GB) and AER organized a Breakfast Seminar on health innovation on 10 September 2019 in Brussels. The event looked at Health Innovation and User-centric Design and Digital Innovation in health and care. Kenneth Johannesson, Committee 2 Vice President for Health Innovation and Donna Henderson, Chair of AER eHealth Network, opened the event and provided background to it.

Sharing experiences on integrated care at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER facilitated a 1h discussion in the Agora of Smart City Expo World Congress on the topic of mutual learning & international cooperation for the deployment of integrated care systems in Europe.

Through this session, attendees explored the regional perspective of integrated care systems and the related challenges and benefits, high-level speakers showcased the latest solutions from West Slovenia, Catalonia and Scotland. At the same time, it was presented the Scirocco Exchange Project, a pillar project for AER, which embodies our values as it aims to transfer good practices in integrated care across European regions.

AER Delegation at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER took part in SCEWC19. The 3-day conference confirmed its role as the world’s greatest meeting point for cities and companies sharing the same goals as regards the future of cities. Different stakeholders gathered together in Barcelona and explored new innovative ways to make cities inclusive, efficient and sustainable.

All member regions and partners interested in attending the next iteration of SCEWC 2020 as speakers can submit an application here

Elderly care homes in rural areas: planned

Exchange experiences and identify solutions around the issue of isolated elderly people in rural areas

  • Regions interested in working on this topic should share their idea with the Secretariat in order to start developing this initiative.

Advocacy/Lobbying

Building a Network of Intercultural Regions: ongoing

The Bureau Task Force on migration organized a Breakfast debate on the occasion of the General Assembly in Larnaca to examine the possibility of creating an intercultural regions programme, similar to the existing Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. The network will support regions for the design and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies. The Intercultural Regions Network was launched on 5th November 2019.

The process to develop this network requires intense dialogue with institutions.

AER and the Council of Europe are now planning activities for the coming months, a first meeting is foreseen on 16 March. This meeting will be followed by a public presentation of the Network, and a training on tactics and strategies for effective intercultural messaging by Nigel Smith, media and communication expert at the Council of Europe. Regions interested to participate in the public meeting and the training should contact Gisela Guari Cañada

Engagement in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA)

AER is a member of the B3 Group for integrated care in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. Its contribution to the work is done via the SCIROCCO Exchange project and the AER Digital health network.

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of the existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions. The AER Secretariat will also organize Breakfast Briefings to help regions organize their advocacy activities.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Gisela Guari Cañada

-Task Force on Food Security

-Task Force on Cohesion Policy

-Task Force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities that add value to their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committee’s work programmes. The work programmes are developed in spring each year and the 2019/2020 work programme is available here.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committee’s work programmes and the AER action plan. The action plan for 2019/2020 is available here.

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Committee 3 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

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The General Assembly is the highest authority of AER and convenes representatives of all its full members at least once a year. The General Assembly adopts among other things, the annual reports of the Thematic Committees.

This report is the compilation of actions developed and implemented within Committee 3 between the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaka (CY) and the 2020 online General Assembly.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the AER Executive Board decided to prolong the validity of the AER Action Plan in order to allow the continuation of knowledge sharing between regions in a structured way.

AER had to define ways to maintain planned activities and offer new opportunities for mutual learning in a radically different and uncertain context, where face-to-face meetings are not possible and all regional stakeholders are focused on fighting the pandemic.

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

Projects

In terms of knowledge sharing, the idea with projects is to provide a framework, where regions can go deeper in mutual learning and good practices exchange, while being co-financed by the EU. AER always negotiates its implication in projects in a way that will benefit all AER members. In the current situation where face to face events are cancelled, projects offer unparalleled opportunities for online knowledge and experience exchange.

SKILLNET

SKILLNET is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme aimed at improving Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems.

AER joined the SKILLNET project this Spring while most of Europe was in lockdown, specifically because of the opportunities the project is offering for online activities relevant to both Committee 1 and Committee 3. Indeed the project is organising a high number of webinars and offering online platforms for the exchange of knowledge. In order to make sure project activities provide value to members, the topics of SKILLNET webinars are chosen based on the AER Action Plan and further specified together with members which have expressed needs in the process of the definition of workprogrammes at Committee meetings

SKILLNET has launched a series of 18 webinars on EU funding opportunities. Each webinar is open to all interested parties and focuses on different areas of intervention upon which relevant partnerships can be launched.

As a follow-up of each SKILLNET webinar, a Partnerships in Focus bulletin is circulated and stored in the Partnerships in Focus hub on the AER website.

Additionally, the project offers the opportunity for regional stakeholders working on Vocational Education and Training to connect via the Peer Learning Clubs. Stakeholders learn from each other, and get access to relevant information and experts to be applied to develop future partnerships within EU calls.

  • AER members interested in sharing their experience in a webinar should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius

Road to the Future: finished

Road to the Future was a project submitted under the Erasmus+ programme, within the Key Action 3 – Support for Policy Reform, and was designed around the European Parliament Elections in 2019. First, it encouraged debate among young European on the European elections to increase young voters’ turnout. This was implemented through training of youth activists, leaders and the development of tools and resources. After the elections, the project continued the training for trainers and mentors, based on the ideas collected during the first phase. This ensured that young people gain the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to be engaged for the future of Europe at the local level.

The lead partner was JEF Europe – Young European Federalist. AER represented local and regional authorities. The consortium was composed of 21 organizations, mainly national JEF associations.

AER was responsible to connect young people and decision-makers, especially via the involvement of the YRN. “Road to the Future” lasted 16 months, from October 2018 to February 2020.

The final conference took place on 20-21st of January 2020. Young Europeans from all over the continent gathered together with civil society organizations and representatives of the European institutions to reflect on the “I Choose Europe” electoral campaign implemented in the run-up to May 2019.

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! finished

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. This project raised awareness on the importance of programmes, projects, and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. It also encouraged the participation of citizens and stakeholders to become active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy. AER coordinated the project and collected experiences on cohesion policy together with regions.

This project was officially launched during the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaca (CY). Six AER member regions were partners in this project: Varazdin (HR), Csongrád (HU), Trentino (IT), Timis and Alba (RO), and Catalonia (ES). The project also had an information stall dedicated to the Together for Cohesion project at 2019 Autumn Committee Plenaries.

Partner regions have organized several local events to raise awareness on Cohesion policy among EU citizens:

The first event of Together for Cohesion held, the “Apulum Agraria” Fair in Alba (RO) held from 20-22nd September 2019, promoting agriculture, the economy of Alba and local farmers and members of professional associations.

The project was also represented at the 37th session of the Local and Regional Authorities Congress, led by the Council of Europe between the 28-31st October 2019.

The project contributed to the organisation of a Career management fair in Alba (RO), which raised awareness on the use and benefits of the EU cohesion policy and funds – with a special focus on how to find employment opportunities and how to receive the appropriate career guidance.

The Forum for Mayors, on the 11th of December, in Szeged, Hungary, by the General Assembly of Csongrand County was an opportunity to learn more about why cohesion policy and funds are crucial for the social and economic development of the cities and towns led by the Mayors taking part in the Csongrad Forum

Regions have also prepared several trainings focused on developing communication skills and understanding of European cohesion policies. The first training, on Together4Cohesion: how to use social media to better communicate the EU cohesion policy took place on the 23rd of January, in Trentino, Italy.

In Varaždin (HR), the annual Gala Ball of Varaždin County on 24 January 2020 was an opportunity to promote the project. On 13 February 2020, Varaždin also hosted an event in the context of the Together4Cohesion Project called “ESI Funds beyond 2020”. On 5 March a third event will be organised, with a contribution by South Ostrobothnia on entrepreneurship education. It is connected with Cohesion Policy since schools will also present how they develop new curricula with the help of EU funds. The recommendations will be sent to AER and be at disposal for all interested members

More events organised in the context of the project can be found on the Together4Cohesion website

CUBES: Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities ongoing

The CUBES project was developed to create a bridge between cultural heritage, administrative bodies, and digitalization. The project will:

  • raise awareness
  • emphasizing the importance of culture
  • increase competitiveness and economic growth.

Target: local communities, public authorities, NGOs and CSOs. The kick-off of the CUBES project took place on the 25th of October 2019 in Lisbon, the project will end in April 2020

The experience of the CUBES project on grassroots approaches for sustainable regional development was supposed to inform the discussions at the conference “Territorial Approaches to Regional Development” in Covasna on 11 March 2020. As the plenaries were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an article was written on Culture, a pillar of sustainable regional development by the Lead partner of the CUBES project.

As the project is progressing, the Secretariat is exploring how to use the knowledge and outputs created in the project to benefit members in Committee 3.

Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe ongoing

AER and the International Organisation for Migration, together with several regional and local authorities have joined forces in the Includ-EU project. This project will improve transnational knowledge and experience sharing, cooperation and partnerships to build a more inclusive and cohesive Europe.

AER will organise 5 workshops to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing as well as to support the implementation of pilot activities around the 5 key priorities of the EU action plan: post-arrival support, education, labour market integration, access to services, citizen participation & inclusion.

In the context of the pandemic, AER anticipated the organisation of the webinars, which were normally planned for later. A first webinar was organised in collaboration with the Intercultural Regions Network, The Council of Europe and the International Organisation for Migration, to share experiences on access to services, especially health services.

The second webinar will take place on 10 November and will be focused on Labour Market Inclusion, with good practices from Greece and the Netherlands and a presentation by the European Commission on upcoming changes in funding for activities on integration.

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Good Practice Exchange

Survey on measures in education during COVID-19 lockdowns

On the initiative of Radimir Čačić (Varaždin County, Croatia), Chair of the Committee for Education, Culture and Youth, regions were invited to share their experiences and lessons learned via a survey.

The aim of this survey is to provide valuable information about the organisation of classes in the exceptional school year 2019/2020, which will provide important and hopefully valuable information for the exchange of best practice examples, which could help other regions to improve the organisation of schooling and/or apply some new methods, within the competence of each respective region.

The collected information refers mainly to primary and secondary level education. It will provide an overview of the school year 2019/2020 and plans for 2020/2021.

The online survey is still available

Training Seminar 2019 – “Cities and Regions: New Actors of Change in Europe”: finished

In partnership with the European College of Cluny, AER organized a Training Seminar “Cities and Regions: New Actors of Change in Europe”, which took place in Cluny (FR), from 26 – 30 August 2019.

Local and regional authorities were invited to attend a 5 days Training Seminar to participate in conferences, round table discussions, study visits, and case studies to determine how to boost their influence multiply their innovation potential and increase their territorial resilience through interregional cooperation.

Training Seminar 2020 – “How can local democracy help with constructing European identity and citizenship?”: postponed

The 2020 Training Seminar in collaboration with Sciences Po is postponed due to the impact of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on public administrations.

Civil Servants Exchange Programme: ongoing

The AER Training Seminar in Cluny was also the first step for the Civil Servants Exchange program announced in September 2018 and coordinated by the President of Committee 3 Radimir Čačić, Varaždin (HR). The Civil Servants Exchange program will allow civil servants to spend a month in a partner region to learn about new processes and practices. This programme is being developed in close collaboration with the Eurodyssey network and should have started in 2020. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the programme is on halt until the situation improves in Europe.

Autumn Committee Plenaries – Podčetrtek (SI): finished

The annual Autumn Committee Plenaries of the Assembly of European Regions took place on September 24-26 2019, in Podčetrtek, Slovenia.

The topic of the thematic event of the plenaries was Cohesion & Contrasted Regional Realities, and the aim was to identify strategies and actions to boost regional development and innovation in the face of contrasted realities.

2020 AER Spring Committee Plenaries – Covasna: cancelled

The main focus of the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County (RO) between 10-12 March was to be territorial approaches. Urban-rural divides within regions were going to be in the spotlight.

While the Autumn 2019 plenaries “Territorial cohesion and Contrasted Realities” looked at how regions address territorial differences, this spring’s plenary should have been about taking stock of the situation in Europe. How to bridge the gap between theories on place-based policies and the actual implementation of effective and participative policies?

Members should have in particular, discussed the state of play of smart specialization strategies in Europe, health innovation and wellbeing, as well as brain drain vs brain gain.

In the context of the cancellation of face to face activities, AER tried to ensure that the content, which would normally have been shared at the plenaries, was still shared via the AER website. A series of articles was therefore published, featuring the speakers on the programme of the Covasna events, both from AER regions and from external experts with examples challenges and good practices: https://aer.eu/tag/event-2020-spring-plenaries/

While reading articles about a region don’t replace actually visiting it, special visibility was given to Covasna and the good practices to be presented on the spot on the AER website.

The topic of brain drain vs brain gain was given further attention in the framework of the July 2020 webinar of the Skillnet project on transnational partnerships for technical and vocational training.

The topic of smart specialisation for inclusion and wellbeing will be further developed in the context of the webinar of the Digital Health network on 18 November 2020

AER Summer Academy 2019 – “Youth is future, youth is Europe”: finished

The Summer Academy Organising Committee organised the 2019 AER Summer Academy Vojvodina (RS) on the theme “Youth is future, youth is Europe” in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS), the 2019 European Youth Capital. In the wake of the 2019 Elections to the European Parliament, the aim was to exchange innovative ideas and good practices in various fields. It was about the potential of young people to bring about a social transformation and rethink the way Europe can meet the challenges of the future. Hrvoje Kovac, Chair of the AER sub-committee on youth moderated the 1st Plenary Session: Youth is democratic participation and European citizenship.

Workshop on youth participation: finished

Discussions during the 2019 Summer Academy showed youth participation is still a very hot topic. The AER Subcommittee on Youth, chaired by Hrvoje Kovač, organised a workshop on the occasion of the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries in Podčetrtek (SI). The topic of the workshop was Youth participation in regional policy-making. It aimed at identifying steps to implement meaningful and impactful youth participation in regions.

Workshop on the future of education: finished

The Subcommittee on Education, chaired by Simon Johnson, Nordland (NO), planned a workshop on the future of education in an ever-changing professional life on the occasion of the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries in Podčetrtek (SI). Questions addressed would have been: How should education look like in a world where things happen faster than ever? How is it possible to organize knowledge acquisition or provision?

This workshop was canceled because of the exceptional circumstances in Slovenia, were Adria Airlines stopped activities during the AER plenaries.

Mutual learning on culture and health: ongoing

Regions agreed they wanted to engage in mutual learning around culture and health for all and how to, in particular, reach out to young people. As a first step, the Subcommittee on Culture organized a workshop at the autumn plenary meetings on rural touring an initiative to promote a culture for all (see below).

Workshop on culture in rural communities: finished

The Subcommittee on Culture chaired by Fereshteh Jalayer, Värmland (SE) organized a workshop on rural touring. The initiative was driven by the desire to overcome social, geographic, economic and psychological barriers that have historically inhabited the enjoyment of the arts by people in rural communities. The workshop featured a theater manager and a dance strategist.

Raise awareness on the Eurodyssey programme: ongoing

The AER Committees are supporting the communication around the Eurodyssey programme for youth mobility to increase the number of participants in Eurodyssee. This is done for instance by allocating slots at the Committees’ meetings to share achievements of the programme and by presenting the programme at events led by the Committees, such as for instance the Training Seminar in Cluny.

The Eurodyssey Assembly took place as part of the annual Eurodyssey Forum on 24 October 2019 in Cagliari, Sardinia (IT). The event brought together more than fifty representatives both from Eurodyssey regions and outside the programme to discuss the functioning of the programme, to share experiences and best practices and to explore future initiatives for Europe’s only regional youth mobility scheme.

The conference opened with two discussions on youth mobility, looking at both aspects of personal and professional development for young people as well as how youth mobility has a positive impact on regional development. You can read more on the topic of youth mobility in this article.

The Eurodyssey programme was presented in the September 2020 webinar of the SKILLNET project on Youth Partnerships

Mutual learning event on economy 4.0: finished

On 4 December 2019, AER, the Brussels Capital Region and the Government of Catalonia organized a mutual learning event on economy 4.0. Economy 4.0 describes a new era of productive, industrial and economic development characterized by the implementation of big-scale automatization, artificial intelligence (AI) robotic instruments, computational big data analytics software, and high tech infrastructure. It aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions who are welcomed to share inputs and regional examples.
The report on the event can be found here.

Exchanges around traditional cultures: ongoing

The 5th edition of FolkoFonija took place from 13 to 15 September 2019 and all AER members were invited to contribute to the development of this event. Initiated and organized by the Centre for Traditional Culture Varaždin, this festival could be the basis for a joint project to be developed in AER on traditional cultures in wider Europe.

The following international folk festival planned on 25-29 June 2020 was postponed to 25-30 June 2021 This event will feature 10 ensembles from 10 countries for 5 days of festivities. This European folk festival aims to contribute to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage by bringing together folk ensembles from all over wider Europe. AER members are invited to contact Maja Zuber, the seconded officer of Committee 3 President M Čačić.

AER Delegation at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER took part in SCEWC19. The 3-day conference confirmed its role as the world’s greatest meeting point for cities and companies sharing the same goals as regards the future of cities. Different stakeholders gathered together in Barcelona and explored new innovative ways to make cities inclusive, efficient and sustainable.

Mutual learning on early school leaving: planned

Share experiences on early school leaving and the issue of young people who are not in education and not in employment. In particular, explore practices around building confidence and encouraging young people.

  • This action could be developed within the context of the Subcommittee on Education. Regions interested in working on this topic should share their idea with the Secretariat in order to start developing this initiative.

From brain drain to brain gain: finished

Share knowledge, experiences, and practices to address the issue of brain drain and move from brain drain to brain gain.

Brain drain vs brain gain was to be the debate topic of Committee 3 during the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County, Romania, between 10-12th March 2020.

As the events in Covasna were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Radimir Čačić, President of Committee 3 wrote an article on a Regional Approach to reduce Brain Drain, and Hrvoje Kovač, Chair of the Subcommittee on Youth prepared a very clear video on the topic.

Moreover, Hrvoje Kovač also shared the experience of Varaždin County on skills development at the June 2020 SKILLNET webinar on implementing innovative TVET policies

Mutual learning on the loss of workforce: finished

Exchange around the issue of governments investing in education and “losing” their qualified workforce. The aim would be to identify elements of resilience or compensation for territories that “lose” qualified workforce.

This topic was to be the debate topic of Committee 3 during the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County, Romania, between 10-12th March 2020.

Initiatives to address and mitigate brain drain and turn it into brain gain, brain regain or brain circulation are addressed in the article by Radimir Čačić, President of Committee 3

Lifelong learning for 50+ people: finished

Special training for 50+ people in for example IT, in order to improve wellbeing and employability.

In order to address the need expressed by regions to hear about examples on upskilling and reskilling especially for people 50+, it was decided that the October 2020 SKILLNET webinar would be on “Lifelong learning: Upskilling and Reskilling of 50+”. AER members shared their experience: Michael Heaney, Chief Executive Officer at Údarás na Gaeltachta (IE) and Ana Gale, Director of Uciliste Studium (Osijek-Baranja, HR)

Advocacy/Lobbying

Building a Network of Intercultural Regions: ongoing

The Bureau Task Force on migration organized a Breakfast debate on the occasion of the General Assembly in Larnaca to examine the possibility of creating an intercultural regions programme, similar to the existing Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. The network will support regions for the design and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies. The Intercultural Regions Network was launched on 5th November 2019. The process to develop this network requires intense dialogue with institutions.

AER and the Council of Europe are now planning activities for the coming months, a first meeting was organised in 16 March. The Intercultural Regions Network is closely involved in activities carried out in the context of the Includ-EU project (see above)

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food Security

-Task Force on Cohesion Policy

-Task Force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities that add value to their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committee’s work programmes. The work programmes are developed in spring each year and the 2019/2020 work programme is available here.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committee’s work programmes and the AER action plan. The action plan for 2019/2020 is available here.

Photo by Daniel Lorentzen on Unsplash

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Lifelong learning: Practices and Opportunities

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On October  21st, the Assembly of European Regions in cooperation with Skillman Alliance, hosted the “Lifelong learning: Upskilling and Reskilling of 50+” webinar. This was the sixth webinar on EU funding opportunities that are being co-organized by AER within the Skillnet project framework (co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme) in order to bring together experts in different fields linked to vocational education and training (VET) and establish relevant groups of collaboration for future EU project proposals.

The webinar presented examples of how regions address the need for reskilling and upskilling and provided insights on funding opportunities and EU programmes supporting life-long learning. 

Rapidly changing labour markets

In the context of rapidly changing labour markets, the upskilling and reskilling of adults has become a priority. Technological changes and digitalisation require new skills, while many regions in Europe are faced with both an ageing population and labour and skills shortages. 

Elena Romanini, Senior Project Manager at Skillman, emphasized that upskilling and reskilling of low skilled adults is one of the crucial challenges for policymakers and Education providers, underlined in the New European Skills Agenda. Ms Romanini shared recommendations for tackling mentioned issues: training teachers to deliver online courses, implementing micro-learning (holistic approach for skill-based learning and education which deals with relatively small learning units) and developing effective testing methods and certificates which will ensure that online training is valued in the labour market. 

Regional experiences on upskilling and reskilling

The webinar highlighted two regional examples on upskilling and reskilling from AER member regions.

Michael Heaney, Chief Executive Officer at Údarás na Gaeltachta, provided participants with valuable insights into the programmes they are running as a developing agency. 

  • Apprenticeship Scheme which allows people from the Gaeltacht regions, who are fluent in the Irish language, to apply for two different types of apprenticeships: – Trade Apprenticeships (Carpentry, Electrical etc.) – New Age Apprenticeships (Lab Technicians, Software Analysts etc.)
  • Graduate Development Scheme that allows a Gaeltacht graduate to gain experience with a Gaeltacht based company.
  • Tourism Management Scheme which supports a range of strategic tourism projects in the Gaeltacht regions.
  • Media Training & Skills Development scheme which aims is to support production companies to develop the skills and talent of their production staff.

Furthermore, people who are over 50 oftentimes are being discriminated against in terms of employment and there is a consistent association between ageing and reduced participation in learning. In this context, our third speaker, Ana Gale, Director of Uciliste Studium, highlighted the relevance of working on motivation as the key success factor for the enrolment in education programmes in the 50+ age group. It is for this reason, that Uciliste Studium always organizes motivational workshops before the beginning of any training. Ms. Gale also pointed out that upskilling and reskilling can be funded through European Social Fund, Interreg and Erasmus+ programmes.  

The only important skill of the 21st century

Speakers agreed that the only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills! Sharing personal stories is instrumental in generating motivation for upskilling and reskilling: it is not just the professional perspectives that are improved but also personal relations!

Share your story!

A whole new set of webinars on EU funding opportunities is currently being prepared. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to share your experience during a webinar or have questions you would like to see addressed in a webinar!

As a follow-up of each SKILLNET webinar, a Partnerships in Focus bulletin is published. Previous bulletins can be found below:

1) Partnerships in Focus n1: Capacity Building in Higher Education  

2) Partnerships in Focus n2: Skills and Education Guarantee Pilot 

3) Partnerships in Focus n3: Knowledge Alliance in the Maritime Sector

4) Partnerships in Focus n4: Implementation of Innovative VET Policies through Transnational Cooperation

5) Partnerships in Focus 5n: Youth Policy Partnerships

EU Funding Opportunities:

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To another 35 years of Eurodyssey regions on the move!

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For the very first time, the AER-Eurodyssey programme was featured in the European Week of Regions and Cities in partnership with the Public Employment Service of Catalonia – SOC (es), Bureau International Jeunesse – Wallonia (be), Varazdin County (hr), Brussels Public Employment Service – Actiris (be) and the Sardinian Agency for Active Labour Policies – ASPAL (it).

A celebratory event marking 35 years of Eurodyssey

The Eurodyssey virtual lab Eurodyssey35: Regions on the move (14/10/2020), moderated by Hrvoje Kovaç, Chair of the AER Subcommittee on Youth, was joined by two inspiring panellists in the field of youth: Jovana Majstorovic, Board Member of the European Youth Forum, and Floor Van Houdt, Head of Unit for Youth policy and Volunteer Solidarity at the European Commission’s DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.

Kicking-off the discussion, Hrvoje Kovaç set out that mobility is at the core of European integration and that the AER has been actively promoting this principle through its flagship #Eurodyssey traineeship programme for over 35 years. Since its inception in 1985, this scheme has allowed over 10,000 people to benefit from work placements. Following these introductory remarks, the teaser of the Eurodyssey 35th Anniversary video was premiered.

Hrvoje Kovaç subsequently invited a round of questions from Slido addressed both to the speakers and the audience; challenging them to dig into the links between learning, mobility, social inclusion, active citizenship and territorial cohesion.

Mobility in times of COVID-19

Jovana Majstorovic, European Youth Forum, drew attention to the negative impact of COVID-19 on youth development, noting outcomes such as high unemployment, precarious work conditions, lack of access to social protection, restrictions on mobility and deteriorating mental health among young people.

Floor Van Houdt added that the Commission’s immediate concern when COVID-19 broke out was the young people on mobility programmes abroad who ended up stuck in another country. The first measure the Commission took was to cover administrative costs for affected organisations and participants by activating force majeure clauses. In spite of the crisis, she noted that young people refused to end their participation in these programmes; choosing instead to adapt to the situation and lead from the front. For instance, the vast majority of the European Solidarity Corps projects were transformed into emergency initiatives led by young people to deliver medical equipment, help the elderly or assist school teachers.

What can be done at the regional level to encourage youth participation and inclusive mobility?

Floor Van Houdt called upon regional and local authorities to fully exploit large European funds (e.g. European Social Fund) and the Reinforced Youth Guarantee which are concrete instruments to help young people access the labour market. In addition, Floor mentioned the “Europe goes local” project carried out by the Erasmus+ National Agencies, which provides specific tools to municipalities to support youth work and co-management structures. The European Solidarity Corps is another good example of how young people can help themselves by helping others.

In her view, equality and inclusion can only be safeguarded through an ambitious, collective effort involving all stakeholders: the EU, the member states, regions, NGOs, youth associations and civil society. As for inclusive mobility, EU programmes have together with the national agencies developed diversity strategies with funding support to identify target groups and their needs when they engage with mobility schemes.

In this regard, Hrvoje pointed out that in order to tackle youth unemployment and other issues affecting young people, regions have a duty to make young people’s voices heard in decision-making processes.

Jovana explained that the European Youth Forum is focusing more and more on consolidating youth participation in regional public life. She welcomed the Reinforced Youth Guarantee as a key instrument to encourage youth autonomy in times of COVID-19, and urged the EU institutions to extend this funding to non-EU countries for better cohesion. Jovana stressed the importance of including youth-led associations, particularly those representing disadvantaged groups in regional policy-making. She noted the European Youth Capitals initiative as a best practice example of how to develop youth inclusion policies between local/regional authorities and young people.

According to Jovana, the COVID-19 crisis is leaving young people behind, while democratic norms are increasingly eroding. In this context, young people are falling into poverty and marginalisation, and COVID-19 cannot be an excuse to neglect their needs. On a more positive note, responding to a question from the moderator regarding the European Parliament’s resolution to ban unpaid internships, Jovana answered: “it is indeed a great victory and proves that youth participation has tangible outcomes and is vital to uphold youth rights”.

What are the benefits of learning mobility and volunteering?

As a former Erasmus participant, Floor Van Houdt strongly believes that any mobility or volunteering experience abroad is enriching in many different ways. Besides learning a new language, becoming immersed in a culture and becoming more tolerant, mobility encourages young people to acquire a set of personal and professional competencies that are in high demand from employers, such as autonomy, self-confidence and a sense of initiative. Additionally, exchange programmes of this kind make for better-informed citizens, and to the internationalisation of companies and organisations.

Jovana also shared her reflections on mobility programmes based on her personal experiences as a non-EU citizen. In her opinion, the opportunity to take part in a mobility programme abroad fosters intercultural sensitivity in young people, especially in the Balkan region where some long-standing prejudices remain. Thanks to these experiences, she became a strong advocate of inclusiveness and understanding in her community, which has been negatively influenced by a biased and politically motivated media. She underlined that volunteering significantly influences one’s personal development and brings people of different opinions and backgrounds together.

Hrvoje pointed out that mobility has an extraordinary potential to spread European active citizenship and, most importantly, to break down prejudices and preconceptions in a given community when it is introduced to foreign people, particularly in remote and rural areas. What is more, Eurodyssey proves that mobility schemes enable “brain-circulation”, as opposed to “brain-drain”, as it brings benefits to both the sending region and hosting regions.

Curious to find out more?

Rewatch the webinar!

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Regional Business Forum 2020

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Interested in sharing your business propositions and ideas to potential clients? Join us at the Regional Business Forum that will take place this year as a hybrid online event in Novi Sad.

The Regional Business Forum (RBF) is an annual international forum to exchange on support for SMEs, promote business and commerce, incentive the possibility to collaborate and share best practices between regions. This 3rd edition will be a hybrid-event hosted in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina on 10 November. Following the success of last year’s forum, this year’s Regional Business Forum will focus on three main sectors: Agriculture & Food; the Construction Industry; ICT and Creative industries.

Through B2B (business-to-business) meetings, participants will get the chance to find partners according to their own interests and objectives

Interested candidates can register online for the B2B matchmaking, facilitated by the European Enterprise Network matchmaking tool.

Kicking off this forum will be a plenary where we will exchange what instruments are available to regions to effectively support SMEs during these turbulent and uncertain times, as well as exchange on best practice examples of our regions.

The European Union has put into place a recovery plan (Next Generation EU) to support the hardest-hit areas within the EU but has also mobilised a package to support the Western Balkans and accession countries during this emergency.

As regions and local authorities have been on the frontline in ensuring the well-being of our citizens, we hope you can join us for what promises to be a fruitful and substantive plenary discussion, all of which will be live-streamed.

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Intercultural Regions: Improving Labour Market Inclusion

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We are pleased to invite you to a webinar on how regions can improve labor market integration policies and practices, with examples from different regions and insights from IOM and the European Commission.

 

Organized in the framework of the Includ-EU project, an EU-funded project which contributes to building more inclusive societies by enhancing knowledge and stimulating cooperation between local and regional authorities in the European Union, this second webinar will focus on labour market integration.

Migrants’ labour integration is crucial not only to ensure cohesion in society but also to address skills gaps, labour shortages, and to boost economic performance overall, and regional and local authorities are at the forefront in addressing integration needs in practice.

The Covid-19 pandemic has strongly tested systems in place, revealing tremendous needs but also the resourcefulness that exists at local and regional levels. This shows how essential it is to create opportunities for structured and meaningful mutual learning on integration to enable regional and local authorities to share good practices and improve policies and practices.

 

The webinar will take place on November 10th at 14:00 CET

This webinar is organized in the framework of the Includ-EU project, in close collaboration with the Intercultural Regions Network. The Intercultural Regions Network is a platform for regions to share knowledge, resources, and experiences to promote intercultural integration at regional level.

This event will be recorded. By registering for this event, you agree to allow the Includ-EU consortium to publish the recording online and use it for the promotion of the project, capacity building, and mutual learning. 

 

Watch back CLICK HERE
Agenda Click here to download
Handouts Includ-EU infosheet
City of Tilburg Netherlands
HELIOS project Greece
Click to discover Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy
Unioncamere Piemonte homepage
MATCH project Piemonte
(in Italian)
Contact [email protected]

 


Includ-EU is funded by the European Union’s Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The project runs from January 2020 to December 2022 and involves the following partners: The International Organization for Migration, the Assembly of European Region, the Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani Sez. Reg. Toscana (IT), the City of Tilburg (NL), the Secretariat for Equality, Migrations and Citizenship of Catalonia (ES) and the Region of Crete (GR).

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