JOINING FORCES TO INNOVATE
A conference to encourage cooperation for the social and professional integration of Mediterranean youth
Arnaud BRITSCH, IECD’s Deputy General Manager
“We are gathered to combine our strengths so that each young Mediterranean finds its place in our societies, looks to the future with a positive outlook, flourishes and becomes a living force, a pillar of our world in profound change.”
The urgent need to act today for the future of Mediterranean youth
Today, when a young Mediterranean man under 25 years old is three times more likely than his elders to be unemployed, the risk is even higher for young women, the issue of integration of these young people is more than ever topical.
The annual conference of the Mediterranean New Chance network proposes to gather, innovate and share around this major issue, which cannot be resolved without joint action by all the countries around the Mediterranean. These are the objectives that motivate the members of the network who strive throughout the year to meet the challenges of professional integration of young people in the Mediterranean.
A conference of unprecedented scope
With more than 120 people present during the official day, this is an unprecedented participation and mobilization for the network confirming its position as a federating key player in the Mediterranean basin.
Conceived over 3 days, the conference allowed members to reflect and create synergies around concrete and innovative solutions for the integration of young people. The first and last days were devoted to visits of vocational centers in the Tunis area and the day of November 24 to the official day, gathering institutional actors, financial partners and experts around thematic round tables.
The Tunisian Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, Mr. Nasreddine Nsibi, opened the official day by praising the involvement of the Mediterranean New Chance network in promoting innovative solutions in vocational training and employment. Then, it was the turn of the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Mr. Nasser Kamel, to recognize the essential work of the network for the Mediterranean youth.
Nasreddine NSIBI, Tunisian Minister of Employment and Vocational Training
The two round tables allowed the members to exchange and create new ways of thinking about the integration of young people, especially in a context of renewal of the world of work and its codes. Jobs related to the ecological transition, to digital technology, but also to entrepreneurship or to the difficulties of access to training for women were some of the subjects that animated the discussions.
Concrete solutions were presented, in particular the creation of a national network of integration structures to increase their impact, the multiplication of approaches in the training proposals to cover more profiles of vulnerable young people and to better meet their expectations or the guide of good practices to take into account gender in the integration systems in the Mediterranean.
Let’s talk about Sustainable Development
During the Conference, two workshops were organized on November 23 with the members to define the environmental strategy of the network and to elaborate an action plan that will be implemented from 2023. An internal network working group will be set up to refine the actions that will be implemented on 2 themes:
– developing the network’s commitment and reducing the environmental impact of its members;
– to accompany the Mediterranean youth to become actors of sustainable development.
Mathilde l’Hôte, IECD’s Sustainable Development Officer
Inspiring visits for the members
Among the various proposed visits, our members were able to discover, according to their skills, Tunisian educational centers, including the Second Chance Schools of Bal El Khadra and Rafiq, the Ftarchi association, a catering and delivery service, which seeks to establish a new model of collaborative economy in the field of catering, or NEFEL Education, a boot camp that offers 14-week training courses on new technologies and programming languages.
Like the previous editions, the 2022 conference of the Mediterranean New Chance network remains a real opportunity for its members, allowing them to benefit from visibility and feedback. This year even more, the mobilization and the size of the event will undoubtedly allow to obtain more recognition and support from the public authorities.
