The YouthEmploy project provides a response to the EU wide crises of youth unemployment through the development & introduction of an innovative cloud-based framework to support VET providers, employers & unemployed young people to undertake & validate relevant & practical work experience & by so doing prevent & break the cycle of structural employment & lost generation effect threatening young people today. Young people face major barriers to entry such as having to compete with experienced workers in an over-supplied labour market making it impossible to make an entry to the world of work. Employers prefer to recruit people with a demonstrable track record, so how can young unemployed people gain experience if they are not given the chance to work in the first place? The aim of the project is to assist these people who have qualifications but lack practical experience to undertake relevant work experience & professional development which is supported, captured & validated in order to enhance their prospects of entering employment & commencing careers. The target groups are unemployed young people, VET & Guidance providers & employers. The main project activities are: a) To develop an innovative internship framework incorporating a cloud-based Skills Assessment Log Book (Template) which facilitates the intern, the VET provider/ career guidance practitioner & the employer to track progress, capture & validate the application of learning, the skills acquired & personal / professional growth. b) To forge synergies and strengthen links between VET & employers by improving the relevance of education provision – through harmonising the integration of technical / academic learning with the practical application in the workplace c) To develop a Best Practice Code for Internship Programmes outlining the Key Elements of a good internship programme including the importance of appropriate induction, the role of Mentoring & the necessity of structured validation of the applied learning in the workplace to support the effective progression & career development of participants. The main project outcomes: 1. YouthEmploy Internship Framework – a cloud based platform which will be accessible to the intern, employer & education provider. 2. YouthEmployPass – a structured comprehensive reference populated by the employer. 3. YouthEmploy Support Toolkit – set of paper based & online resources to help interns with their continued job search & development. 4. Online YouthEmploy Careers Marketplace – Employers will have access to a cloud based recruitment tool containing the ePortfolios, EmployPass & CVs of all interns. 5. Report for policy makers on the value and benefits of the YouthEmploy Model Impact: It is envisaged the impact will be significant because the need it addresses is both very widespread & difficult for policy makers to solve and the project will have the opportunity not only to develop its results but also to pilot them and to demonstrate their effectiveness. FIT is directly involved in the piloting of the Youth Guarantee in Ireland & will share the results of the YouthEmploy project with the Youth Guarantee stakeholders in the network of participating EU member states. The consortium has excellent access to networks of employers, VET providers & EU networks such as eSkills for Jobs & the Grand Coalition. The project consortium foresees very important longer term benefits as it will demonstrate how synergies and linkages between VET & employers can lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness & assist both sectors in achieving their objectives – VET will produce candidates with more relevant & practical skills & employers will be experiencing new recruits who can ‘hit the ground running’. The project consortium brings together the experience of organisations from countries with high youth unemployment i.e. Spain 53.6%, UK 30%, Ireland 26% and Belgium 24.1%. The methodology adopted will incorporate a research phase to review intern programmes & policies across 10 European countries. This will help to inform the development of the tools & the piloting phase which will involve 80 young people & 60 employers. The impact will be measured both quantitatively & qualitatively with the use of surveys, phone & face to face interviews. Feedback & input will be assimilated from all of the stakeholders both in development, testing & evaluating stages. If not tackled, the youth unemployment crisis will become a tragedy not just for individual young people themselves, but for their communities, their countries and the EU as a whole. Past recessions have shown us that long term unemployment at a young age leaves permanent scars and leads to a ‘lost generation’ effect as employers opt to employ newer graduates rather than the young long term unemployed when economic upturns resume.