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Barents Youth Cooperation Office

Meeting 20-21 Nov. 2006 in Stockholm

Meeting of The Baltic Sea Working Group on Youth Affairs - WGYA
in Stockholm, Monday November 20 - Tuesday November 21, 2006


Participants:
Seija Astala, Ministry of Education, Finland; Uwe Finke-Timpe, Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Germany (BMFSFJ); Lise Grette, Ministry of Children and Equality, Norway; Michael Haglund, Ministry of Education, Research and Culture, Sweden; Björn Jaaberg Hansen, Ministry of Children and Equality, Norway; Sandra Jancauskaite, Department of Youth Affairs under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, Lithuania; Erlendur Kristjansson, Ministry of Education and Research, Iceland; Ardo Rohtla, Ministry of Education and Research, Estonia; Astrid Utterström, Ministry of Education, Research and Culture, Sweden; Helge Hellberg, Baltic Sea Secretariat for Youth Affairs (BSSYA); Thies Grothe, Regional Youth Council Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; Jens-Peter Jensen, Regional Youth Council Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; Veronika Fedorova, Baltic Youth Forum (BYF) and Saint Petersburg Round Table for Youth and Children NGO’s, Russia

Agenda:
1. Opening of the meeting
2. Adoption of the agenda
3. Adoption of the minutes from the WGYA meeting in Iceland, June 9, 2006
4. Exchange of best practices concerning youth employment
5. Report from the Secretariat
6. Report from the Baltic Youth Forum
7. UBC project Different History – Common Future
8. Budget 2007
9. Report from the Executive Group
10. Election of the next Chair and Executive Group
11. “Youth Work & Work 4 Youth”
12. Working Plan 2006-2008, Perspectives for 2007
13. The state of the cooperation with the Baltic Sea Region – the Barents Region – the Northern
Dimension, including the report from the meeting in Rovaniemi, August 27-29, 2006
14. The state of the Council of Europe’s youth campaign “All different – All equal” in the
Baltic Sea Countries
15. German Presidency of the EU 2007
16. National issues of important matters
17. Other business
18. Date and place of the next WGYA meeting

1. Opening of the meeting

The chair of the Baltic Sea Working Group on Youth Affairs (WGYA), Ms Astrid Utterström, opens the meeting at 13.40 on November 20. Information about the countries and the EU-Commission not present: EU-COM: Nathalie Stockwell couldn’t attend due to other meetings. Russia: Sergey Barkanov changed his position and didn’t provide any information regarding his new colleague in charge. The chair will continue trying to get in contact with Russia. Poland: A new person, Irmina Rozkiewicz, was going to participate, but two days before the meeting the participation was cancelled. Denmark: A new person in charge of international contacts in the Danish ministry might be appointed during next year. Both Poland and Denmark agreed to send in project examples concerning youth employment / youth unemployment. Latvia: General difficulties in contacts. On the next meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) the chair will contact the Latvian representative. Next chair of the WGYA should be Latvia.

2. Adoption of the agenda

Björn Jaaberg Hansen asks for two points missing on the agenda: a short report by the Executive Group and an election of the Executive Group for 2007/2008. The agenda is then adopted with these minor changes.

3. Adoption of the minutes from the WGYA meeting in Iceland, June 9, 2006

Some minor changes are suggested by Seija Astala and Björn Jaaberg Hansen. Uwe Finke-Timpe suggests highlighting the decisions taken by the WGYA. The chair suggests that the minutes from Reykjavik will be sent out with these changes after the meeting.

4. Exchange of best practices concerning youth employment

Present countries gave examples of best practice models against youth unemployment. The summaries are attached in the annexes. Written contributions were given by Denmark and Poland.

5. Report from the Secretariat

The secretariat informs that monthly work reports have been sent out in time to the members of the working group. Björn Jaaberg Hansen appreciates the form and the length of the reports.

6. Report from the Baltic Youth Forum

Veronika Fedorova gives a short outline regarding the recent developments in the Baltic Youth Forum (BYF). Last meeting took place in Riga in October. The Danish national youth council (DUF) and the Swedish National Youth Council (LSU) informed that they were leaving the BYF co-operation due to limited work capacities. DUF and LSU will instead concentrate on the European Youth Forum and the Eastern perspective in general. The next BYF meeting will take place in spring 2007. In Riga BYF discussed minority issues with project presentation of the Norwegian national youth council (LNU) and of the Latvian national youth council (LJP). Veronika Fedorova informs further about the Festival of New Baltic Cooperation taking place in St. Petersburg on December 15-18, 2006 Björn Jaaberg Hansen expects some more information about the development in the future. Thies Grothe was surprised that the LSU and the DUF had decided to leave BYF. The German national youth council would stabilize the co-operation in the BYF and gave the mandate to the Regional Youth Council of Schleswig-Holstein for this. Ardo Rohtla points out that no one of the participants from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania knew about the Danish and Swedish decisions before the meeting and considers this a problem of communication. Björn Jaaberg Hansen thinks that the Swedish and the Danish national youth councils have the intention to invite Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to their regular contact meetings. Astrid Utterström explains that Sweden was informed to some extent about the decision of the LSU. She thinks that the position of the LSU might change with the newly elected chair in the beginning of November.


7. UBC project Different History – Common Future

The secretariat introduces the actual state of the UBC project “Different History – Common Future.“ The project was approved by the EU-Commission. Björn Jaaberg Hansen appreciates that the amount of partners were extended in the project. He still recommends opening up the network to other cities. A new EU program – Citizen of Europe – is coming up for strengthening the co-operation between cities. This could be a good source of financing some of the activities. Concerning possible support from the WGYA, the group agrees that it is difficult without any information beforehand to decide on any support.

8. Budget 2007

Jens-Peter Jensen introduces the planned budget 2007 to the WGYA. The actual contribution in 2006 is 86.000 €. In Reykjavik it was decided that the dissolution of the benefits not spent should take place so that there is no surplus in 2006. Astrid Utterström refers to the discussion in the Executive Group before the WGYA meeting. She suggests that there should be quarterly financial reports to the Executive Group. Two weeks before the WGYA meetings a financial report should also be sent out to the WGYA. Uwe Finke-Timpe suggests that the Executive Group will get an overlook of the tables. Björn Jaaberg Hansen mentions the surplus of 2005. If there is a surplus, the best way is to discuss it in the WGYA. Jens-Peter Jensen explains the tables in the meaning that this money is the possible amount of money in 2007. A solution for the question of how to proceed with the surplus 2005 is to bring in the amount into the Baltic Sea Youth Foundation and to open up a certain account in the Baltic Sea Youth Foundation for the unique usage of the WGYA. Uwe Finke-Timpe suggests avoiding surpluses in the annual budgets. He sees it as the responsibility of the chair to remind the member states to make early contributions to the annual budget. Jens-Peter Jensen informs the working group that a part of the surplus (6472,68 euros) have been paid back to Germany in relation to the quota of the German contribution to the budget of the WGYA. Björn Jaaberg Hansen, among others, is very surprised that the money has been paid back without any information given previously to the working group. Björn Jaaberg Hansen claims that the annual budgets are used carefully. Some kind of reserve fund should be aimed at. He supports the idea to open a certain account of money in the Baltic Sea Youth Foundation for the unique usage of the WGYA.

A general discussion took place regarding the financial support of individual projects. Björn Jaaberg Hansen states that special prerequisites are necessary to have, prior to any decision on support for individual projects.

The WGYA gives the mandate to the Executive Group to solve the problem of the surplus. One possibility could be to transfer the surplus into a special account in the Baltic Sea Youth Foundation for the unique usage of the WGYA. The tables with the amounts used in 2006, and the revised planned budget of 2007 will be sent to the Executive Group of the WGYA and later to the WGYA.

For the budget of 2007: - The contribution of Russia will be mentioned as a contribution “in kind” and a project line of the same amount, for project support, will be added. The contributions of Denmark and Latvia will be mentioned in the budget of 2007.


9. Report from the Executive Group

Astrid Utterström reports on the work of the Executive Group. A lot of e-mail and phone contacts have been taken to re-establish contact with the countries not participating at present. The Minutes from the meeting in Iceland were prepared and sent out. Further the UBC-project application for the project "Different History - Common Future" was supported by a “letter of support” from the Secretariat after consultations with the Executive Group. An article for the CBSS-News No.82 was formulated by the chair in collaboration with the Executive Group. On behalf of the Swedish chair, Michael Haglund attended an informal meeting on the cooperation between the Baltic, the Barents and the Nordic regional youth structures, which took place in Rovaniemi on the August 29, 2006. Astrid Utterström will also be present on the next CSO meeting in Stockholm. In the spring of 2007 a meeting of the Executive Group will take place.

10. Election of the next Chair and Executive Group

As Latvia is not present Astrid Utterström points out the difficulties regarding the question of the future composition of the Executive Group from 1. July. Björn Jaaberg Hansen says that Latvia should be represented in the Executive Group as well as Denmark. The question is which country can take over the chair of the Executive Group after June 2007. He wants a clarification on this matter during the spring of 2007. He suggests that another country takes over the chair if Latvia couldn’t and yet another to join the Executive Group instead of Denmark. It would be good to have Germany continuing in the Executive Group. Astrid Utterström suggests a written procedure to elect the new chair of the Executive Group. Uwe Finke-Timpe agrees to stay in the Executive Group as a third part. The working group then agrees that Sweden will initiate and guide a written procedure for composing the new Executive Group during the spring of 2007.

11. “Youth Work & Work 4 Youth”

The secretariat gives information about the youth competition and youth conference “Youth Work & Work 4 Youth” as a joint project between the BYF and the WGYA. More information will be included in the written documentation sent out in the coming months.

12. Working Plan 2006-2008, Perspectives for 2007

The secretariat introduces the Working Plan Comments 2/2006 and Perspectives 1/2007 to the WGYA. Björn Jaaberg Hansen points out that the comments for 2006 and the perspectives for 2007 are mixed and that it is very difficult to follow the distinctions. He recommends clarifying the comments and the perspectives and suggests shortening them. Seija Astala recommends some minor changes. The group agrees that the comments and the perspectives should be revised.

13. The state of the co-operation with the Baltic Sea Region – the Barents Region – the Northern Dimension, including the report from the meeting in Rovaniemi, August 27-29, 2006

Michael Haglund refers to the minutes from the meeting concerning the so-called Sigtuna-process. Concerning a constant flow of information, the secretariats should have good contacts. The minutes could be sent out mutually and the chairs should stay in contact. The idea is to strengthen the co-operation between the institutions without increasing the workload for the working groups. Björn Jaaberg Hansen sees it as a task of the three Secretariats to co-operate closer. The WGYA then agrees that the Baltic Sea Secretariat for Youth Affairs should take the steps needed to fulfill a closer cooperation between the Secretariats in Murmansk, Copenhagen and Kiel.

14. The state of the Council of Europe’s youth campaign “All different – All equal” in the
Baltic Sea Countries

Norway: The development of the campaign is quite positive. The campaign officer is in charge and has traveled a lot to raise the awareness for the campaign. 50% of the budget allocations are collected.

Iceland: The national youth organizations are until now not so interested in the campaign, but they are belonging to the campaign and there will be activities during winter and spring.

Lithuania: The opening of the campaign took place last week with a youth street festival. The intention was to raise the awareness on youth.

Estonia: The national coordination of the campaign is organized by ENTK. Many activities are planned inside the campaign, but as Katre Merimäe left her position in ENTK as responsible for the campaign, the realization will depend on the new campaign officer

Germany: The campaign is the responsibility of the German National Committee for International Youth Work (DNK). The German minister, Ursula von der Leyen, took over the patronage of the campaign. The project “100 with 1000 €”, as part of the campaign, is funded and supported. The application procedure closed for 2006, but is open for 2007. A second youth event is planned to take place in March of 2007. All in all are 450.000 € support for 2006/07 secured and 50.000 € are still in thoughts.

Sweden: Has offered being the host of the closing event of the campaign. The steering group will decide on this proposal in the beginning of December. Together with the new minister, ideas to react on honor related crime were developed. Sweden will continue the campaign until December 2009. Synergy effects have been found between the youth campaign and the EU-campaign “Equal opportunities”.

Finland: In Finland the campaign is going very well. The campaign committee was established quite early. Finland doesn’t have any special allocations for the campaign. The target group is all the young people in pre-school and basic education. Especially boys between 13 and 17 are the target group, as research shows that they have the most intolerant attitudes. Information material is published.

15. German Presidency of the EU 2007

Uwe Finke-Timpe gives information about the German Presidency of the EU in 2007. The information is included in the annexes.

16. National issues of important matters

In Iceland the ministry has launched a youth survey in every school. 85% of the pupils were answering. Another action taken is a book against violence called “Save them and take care of them”. There are 25 courses against violence around the country, taking place in youth houses, sport clubs etc.

In Germany the launching of an English version of the Certificates International (Nachweise International) took place. Uwe Finke-Timpe provides an information leaflet about this to the group.

In Lithuania there are institutional changes. A new institution, entitled Department of Youth Affairs under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour was established instead of State Council of Youth Affairs. The department takes over all the functions the Council had.

Sweden: Since the last elections a new government is in power and a new minister for youth affairs, Ms. Nyamko Sabuni, has been appointed. Some of the proposals of the old government in the youth field that were presented during the last working group meeting in Reykjavik have been changed. One of the main ideas of the new government is to increase youth employment. The school act is further going to be changed. Investments into measures against bullying in schools and better possibilities for teachers to educate themselves are other issues proposed by the new government.

Estonia: The strategy of youth work for 2006-2013 was accepted and already translated into English. The government accepted the law on hobby schools.

17. Other business

Astrid Utterström mentions some of the activities in spring 2007, for example a planned meeting of the Executive Group.

18. Date and place of the next WGYA meeting

Decision about the date and the place of the next WGYA meeting will be taken during the spring of 2007.


Chair Astrid Utterström closes the meeting at 15.45 o’clock on November 21.




























Annex 1
Youth Employment and Youth Unemployment – Examples and Models from the Baltic Sea Region. Baltic Sea Working Group on Youth Affairs, Stockholm November 20

An introduction to “Volontärbyrån” (the Volunteer Office) in Sweden by Malin Tappert. This NGO was founded in Stockholm 2002. It provides facilities on the Internet for volunteers to get in contact with volunteer organizations. The aim is to realize appointments by realizing direct contacts between the volunteer and the volunteer organization. Information can be found on the Internet at: www.voluntarbyran.org / more information in a power-point-presentation attached (Voluntärbyrån till Kultdep ENG 061120)

Lise Grette from Norway gives an outline about youth unemployment in Norway. The general unemployment rate in Norway is smaller than the unemployment rate for young people. Problem groups are immigrants and people who moved to Norway. Youth entrepreneurship is becoming important as solution. Lise Grette provides a booklet of information on fighting poverty in the cases of young children and families. There are many special tools for working against poverty of children and youth in Norway: Summer holiday camps for children, leisure time activities for youth and possibilities for winter and summer holidays for children and youth from poor families. Special measures for the support of children that do come from families, which do not have the money for going on the holidays, exist, too. Further there are vocational trainings for young people and a strong collaboration between the labor market agencies and people leaving school. Trainings are provided in firms and trainings for job interviews are organized. In Norway exists a system of a “green patrol” of young people doing practical job training. This is a possibility especially for young people with ADHS or for prisoners out of after prison. Although Norway has the lowest unemployment rate in Europe it is difficult for youth with disadvantaged social backgrounds to find a job.

Uwe Finke-Timpe from Germany gives an outline about problems with youth unemployment encountered in professional youth work. In Germany the unemployment rate for youth under 25 is 9,6 %. Affected youth are mostly coming from migrant background and from social disabled backgrounds. A model of competency agencies was established to react on this with good placement quota. Through those agencies case management is realized: Young people are accompanied by a longer period by a case manager. Approaches on familiar and personal circumstances are included in the case management. In the pilot phase more 200 centers got support. Target group in the second phase after the pilot phase will be esp. girls, young women and youth with migrant background. In those attempts Germany wants to strengthen the idea of being preemptive. Coordinating of all support is realized on the local level. The Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), the EU and the local level finance the competency agencies. 156 projects have been chosen so far as the first projects for the second pilot phase with a balanced regional distribution. More information in a power-point-presentation attached (06-0604a-uk)

Sweden: Youth, employment and Navigator centers
The unemployment rate in Sweden for young persons in the age of 16–24 is about 12.4 %, which is a small decrease, compared to last year’s 13.9 %. This can be compared to the population as a whole where the unemployment today is 4.6 % (5.6 % October 2005). The unemployment rate among 16–24 years old is almost three times as high compared to the population as a whole. In a European perspective the youth unemployment rate is about twice as high as the rest of the population.
In Sweden, a report from 2003 (October), “Young Outsiders”, showed that about 25 000–30 000 young persons had no known activity (study, work, etc). This was a situation that had arisen during the 1990:s.
One proposal in the report to combat this growing problem was to initiate something called “Navigator centers”. The Navigator centers would be a “one-stop-shop” where young persons could get in contact with representatives from the unemployment office, municipality and the business world. With this constellation, already existing resources and knowledge in a specific locality would lead to an increase of the quality measures for unemployed youngsters. Today many navigator centers also try to develop new forms of cooperation between the different structures in the municipality.
The same year the previous government declared its intention to spend approximately 3 million euro during a period of three years on projects aiming to break young peoples alienation on the labor market. Navigator centers was specifically mentioned in this financial commitment.
The Swedish National Board of Youth Affairs has since 2003 in different ways been working to break young peoples alienation on the labor market. The Navigator centers is one of the tools used for this purpose. The Board has the responsibility of distributing the government funding for these activities and has done so for different centers in different parts of Sweden. They can be found from Malmö and Lund in the south to Skellefteå and Robertsfors in the north.
There are two different kinds of Navigator centers, the ones organized on a municipal level and the ones organized by a non-profit organization. The municipal centers have a larger structure compares to the non-profit ones and the funding is given to promote new, far-reaching, forms of structures. The non-profit ones can receive funding to develop cooperation between different structures.
Today about 20 municipalities and 5 non-profit organizations have received funding for their Navigator centers.
The National Board of Youth Affairs have started to evaluate the navigator centers. There are at the moment no final conclusions to be drawn since many of the centers have not been active for so long. Preliminary results however show that it is important to have a good idea about the targeted group in the specific municipality. It is also important to have political support and the right partners. Preliminary results also shows that the Navigator centers have been successful in developing new structures to help young people gain access to the labor market.

- Sandra Jancauskaite informs about the current situation in Lithuania:
The level of unemployment among young people (aged 15 to 24) has been significantly decreasing; however, it still remains higher than the general unemployment level. The reduction of the unemployment level among youth was influenced by the growing migration of young people.
The activity rate of the Labour force aged 15-24 years is not high, as the majority of this age group population participates in education and training and does not seek job. Motivation of youth to acquire education keeps growing. But we have increasing number of unemployed persons, who have finished higher or further education.
Within seven days following their registration with the labour exchange the graduates of vocational and higher schools are given the Programme of Intensive Integration into the Labour Market and the Employment Plan providing for the activation of searching a job and new employment opportunities and knowledge solidification using the active labour market policy measures.
The web-site of the Lithuanian Labour Exchange has a database of highly qualified specialists – the Bank of Talents. The purpose of the database is to create wider employment opportunities for highly qualified specialists and students as well as to help employers to find employees they need. It posts the profiles of students (starting from the forth year) looking for a job, graduates and specialists of high qualifications.
Each University has established a Youth Career Center. Centers provide a range of common services for students like:
Career education and guidance.
Counseling in career choice.
Training of the abilities to recognize and to market professional skills.
Counseling in the field of the job market research.
Familiarization with effective strategies of job search.

Also every year Universities together with the representatives of Student Unions have Career Fairs. The goal of the Career Fairs is to provide companies with an opportunity to present themselves, to look for potential employees or interns among students, and to gather candidates’ resumes. For students, it is a great chance to get to know companies, talk to their representatives, and look for possibilities of employment.
While implementing the Programme for Increasing Employment of the Republic of Lithuania, the activity of the Youth Employment Centers was expanded.
The activity of Centers is based on the publicity and volunteerism principles – no compulsory registration of customers, the most state-of-the-art information technologies are used for searching employment and education opportunities.
They have independent employment and professional search terminals where one can find information on job vacancies, professional training institutions and conditions of admission to higher and vocational training schools.
All Centers provide various methodological materials (self-knowledge tests, professional descriptions, films about the most important professions, ways of looking for a job, etc.).
The programme of the First Step on the Labour Market is being implemented seeking to improve employment skills.
Its goal is to train and integrate into the labour market the persons starting their career for the first time.
Special attention in this Programme is given to strengthening the motivation and professional orientation involving people with no qualifications (especially the early school leavers, drop-outs) into the intensive consultancy and information seminars at Job clubs.
During the first month of their registration with the local labour exchange they are provided with the Employment Plan (i.e. personalised Action plan) proposing joint actions of the unemployed and the labour exchange seeking employment. More information in a power-point-presentation attached (Youth and Work_Situation in Lithuania)

In Estonia the situation of the economy is quite similar to Lithuania, Ardo Rohtla explains. The average unemployment rate is 4.9 %, but youth unemployment is a problem with the youth unemployment rate as high as 16 %. Good news is that the youth unemployment rate is decreasing in general. Estonia reacts with offering summer job opportunities and summer camps for pupils. 7500 young people have worked in the summer camps in this year. Typical work is done in agriculture or in gardening public parks. Co-operation between local governments and youth clubs is important. Trainings are provided for youth workers concerning strategies against youth unemployment. 800 youth workers have been trained so far. The system of a pupil’s training business is very popular in the country with 150 schools existing, where pupils have the responsibility for an own small business. Every December there is the huge youth information fair “Road Signs” organized in Tallinn for giving pupils and young people the possibility to orientate on the labor market. Another strategy is called “pocket money” and deals with information about the labor market and free working places for young people. For this an Internet portal in co-operation with Tallinn local government and ENTK was brought to life. The ministry tried to change the law on social services with the government having agreed on the definition that a job seeking person can be defined as young people already in the age of 13. Those are by that definition becoming a target group for the labor offices in Estonia, too. Estonian students do a lot of co-operation with local business. Estonia hopes for support of the National projects from the European Social Fund.

- For Finland Seija Astala gives a short outline: Finland has a long history in youth workshop activities. This system was taken over from Germany. Young people can spend a period up to max. six months at youth workshops. Youth workshops are run by the local authorities, but financed by the national ministries. There are more than 300 youth workshops and more than 8000 young people are visiting them. Seija Astala further introduces the “far-out project” between Kotka in Finland and Kenneth County in the UK. More information about the “far-out project” is provided in a paper dealt out separately.

In Iceland the situation is different, as Erlendur Kristjansson explains. The economy is doing so well and the unemployment rate is so small that it is difficult to get young people as volunteers for work in Iceland and abroad. It is more attractive for them to get a job with a regular salary. An Icelandic problem is the high school drop out rate of young people older than 16 (as the recent report of OSCD shows), one reason could be, that it is more attractive for them to get a job with a good salary instead of continuing school.

Denmark (contribution by Email): Initiatives included in the government’s globalisation strategy and in the agreement on welfare reforms.

1. All young people should complete a general or vocational upper secondary education programme

Targets:
• At least 85 per cent of all young people should complete a general or vocational upper secondary education programme in 2010 and at least 95 per cent in 2015.
• General and vocational upper secondary education programmes must be attractive and of top quality.
• Vocational education and training (VET) programmes should be challenging for the brightest students and provide them with opportunities for further education and training. The VET programmes must also include the provision of programmes of a suitable level for weak learners

Means:
Municipalities should have clear responsibility for ensuring that all young people acquire an educational qualification
More practical training placements
Targeted teaching after the 9th form
Mentoring schemes, school environment and guidance
More flexible approach with trainee-oriented and practice-oriented basic courses
Basic vocational education and training for young people with weak academic skills
Action plan for promoting a higher completion rate of general and vocational upper secondary education
Dividing education and training programmes into levels

2. A coherent education system and professional guidance

Targets:
Guidance services must provide young people with a solid basis on which to choose an education or training programme that matches their wishes and abilities as well as the needs for skilled labour in society.
A coherent education system at all levels is essential – from compulsory school to higher education. Guidance services should contribute towards the creation of flexible and smooth transitions from one educational level to another.

Means:
Professional guidance
Benchmarking of results
Qualified choice of education
Guidance from the 6th form
Use of individual transition plans
Mentoring scheme for young people who are particularly disadvantaged
Better feedback from general and vocational upper secondary institutions to primary and lower secondary schools
Smooth transition from upper secondary education to higher education
Pupils in general upper secondary school to take part in open days and taster courses at higher education institutions
Outreach guidance activities
More information provided at: http://www.brugforalleunge.dk/

- YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN POLAND
(Contribution by Email) Quality of education is of fundamental importance for improving the chances of young people to enter the labour market. Educational system should allow for the changing labour market demand so as to give the young people the ability to adapt to employer requirements and enable them to participate in continual learning. Matching the qualifications to labour market needs is essential for building knowledge-based economy, one of the pillars of the Lisbon Strategy.
Facilitating entry to the labour market through education requires creating conditions for equal educational opportunities. In Poland access to education is varied depending mainly on place of residence: young people from rural areas are at a disadvantage. That is the reason why e.g. the 2006-2008 Government Programme for equalizing educational opportunities for students who come from former state-owned farms was worked out, and also the Government Programme of supporting elaboration and implementation of regional or local plans to equalize educational opportunities for children and young people in 2006: “Motivating and supporting local administration units and NGOs that offer education-related financial aid to students”.
In Poland there are legal regulations that facilitate young people’s entry into the labour market. It is the law on promoting employment and labour market institutions; it indicates a number of possible activities addressed to people whose position in labour market is particularly difficult, including young people aged up to 25. These activities include e.g. training courses, internship, public works. The law creates the possibility for employers to become involved in solving the problems of young people entering the labour market.
Also addressed to young people are the projects aimed at facilitating their entry into the labour market. These are the “First Job” and “First Job – First Business” programmes.
A few years’ execution of the ”First Job” programme helped to work out a number of good models and practices, as well as tools for professional stimulation of young people entering the labour market; it also became a significant, inherent element of graduates’ and employers’ way of thinking. In 2005 the “First Job” Programme was expanded by activities aimed at creating favourable conditions for establishing small businesses and promoting self-employment. Although the level of unemployment is closely related to the situation in national economy and the number of jobs available, the implementation of selected programmes addressed to the unemployed, albeit not directly affecting unemployment, helps to considerably alleviate its effects.
The programmes, very popular among people seeking jobs and also among employers, correspond to the employment reform trends recommended in the European Youth Pact especially in terms of improving young people’s enterprise and encouraging business circles to become involved in professional training for young people.
With view to counteracting social exclusion among young people, as recommended in the European Youth Pact, the activities of the organization named Ochotnicze Hufce Pracy [Voluntary Work Corps] are of special importance. Its objectives are to train and educate the young people with learning problems or family problems who are therefore threatened with social exclusion.
Throughout Europe, the youth aspect of the Lisbon Strategy is mainly focused on increasing jobs availability and thus achieving high employment rate, also by including young people in the labour market. Past experience indicates that above all it is necessary to develop educational system so that it corresponds to the needs of the labour market and knowledge-based economy. Education and improving professional qualifications lead to better productivity and this is conducive to the growth of EU international competitiveness – the primary objective of the Lisbon Strategy. Thus, education and training offer a chance for simultaneous growth of employment and improvement of productivity.