From March 15 to 21 in Vilanova I la geltrú (Barcelona) the Partnership-building Activity ‘What a YOUTH Job Culture Would Look Like?’ took place, organized by the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària, to learn about a top priority topic: how to help young people find decent work in Europe?
The activity convened 23 people, including the managers and board members of 17 non-profit NGOs and one informal network of young people from 10 countries, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Turkey, Poland, and Portugal. Throughout the week we learned about good practices and new activities and methods, used by these organizations to help young people improve their skills to find or create jobs, which is increasingly necessary in a difficult work context, due to factors that we analyzed during the activity in a participatory way.
Staying at the Hotel César in the Baixamar neighborhood we enjoyed an ideal spring environment for outdoor activities.
The activity served to achieve all the planned objectives* and to meet for the first time face to face with the directors of four partner NGOs with which the FCV has been collaborating for more than a decade, being a real luxury to be able to share a week of work with a group of participants so diverse, expert and committed to the activity objectives, who gave no less than 7 presentations and 4 workshops throughout the program, dedicated to the skills identified by the partners as key to get a job: initiative, digital skills and self-knowledge.
Along with the preparation carried out with the partner organizations and group of participants, with whom we held online conversations before the trip, one of the elements of success was the close and supportive attitude of the participants with decades of experience, who were part of the group as one more, contributing their knowledge in a way that those with less experience felt part of the activity, motivated to contribute their points of view and wisdom.
We would like to congratulate Aleks and Lolo, facilitators of the activity, for their excellent performance; Andrs, for his incredible help as a reporter and support person. Big thanks to the entire group: Anton, Ayvaras, Danilo, Dario, Ece, Egle, Elena, Ewa, Georgi, Gentjana, Gurkan, Jôao, Lauren, Marcin, Nino, Pelin, Rita, Tereza, and Zak for sharing your experiences and connections!
*The main objectives of the activity, carried out in support of the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission and coordinated by the FCV, were:
-Share experiences about the needs and challenges young people face to have a decent job in Europe.
-Exchange experiences, tools, and ideas to create new programs, projects, and activities that help people have a decent job.
-Build new associations to address these challenges from a European perspective.
Lluc Martí
Coordinato