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Mobilität: der Königsweg aus der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit? Eine Reise in die (Un)Tiefen Europas
Start date: Jan 15, 2016, End date: Jul 14, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Unemployment continues to be an urgent problem in Europe. Over 23 million people are unemployed in the EU, almost 6 million young people lack a professional perspective. The EU member states record almost no economic growth. Against this backdrop, an increased mobility of (younger) employees is repeatedly called for in order to reduce the enormous unemployment rates. These claims are in contrast to the facts: no more than approximately 2% of the EU citizens live and work in another EU state. There are manifold reasons why 40% of the young people can imagine to work abroad, but why very few of them actually "get mobile" (language barriers, cultural concerns, recognition of diploma…). The constellation of the partner countries participating in the project also reflects the high topicality of the theme. In particular Italy struggles with a youth unemployment rate of more than 40%. But also Romania and Finland (both 23%) are beyond the EU average. Although Germany has a very low youth unemployment rate, it does not remain unaffected by the problems of its partner countries due to labour migration. All four countries are negatively or positively (immigration of skilled workers) concerned. The constellation of these four countries is therefore a good basis for studying unemployment from different points of view - its manifold causes and consequences as well as ways of dealing with it. With a view to achieving the objectives of the EU youth strategy, the partners define their educational mission as follows: develop tools and launch programmes in order to support the transition from school to professional life, and take account of the structural challenges "on location". In this context it is indispensable to raise awareness of and deal with the issue of (cross-border) mobility. The experience of the partner organisations has shown that the help of peers is particularly suitable to create an easy access to this theme. The partners therefore aim to promote the approach of peer learning in the implementation of this project. The project furthermore offers the participants the opportunity of experiencing mobility themselves (in many cases) for the first time, so that they can act themselves as credible information disseminators after the end of the project. The 55 participants (as planned) come from very different backgrounds: Some come from low-income families and/or less-favoured regions or have an immigrant background. Others come from the middle class. This constellation provides a wide variety of socio-cultural backgrounds and points of view. The project aims to make young adults, most of whom have so far been unable to experience mobility, better understand and experience Europe. The active cooperation and living together with other young people helps to strengthen the participants' social and in particular intercultural competences. They will furthermore acquire well-founded and comparative knowledge of the issue, which will enable them to a) form their own opinion and articulate it, b) develop personal options for action and c) act subsequently as information disseminators for the benefit of an active European citizenship. The following part of the project is based on a personal approach to the issue and the acquired collective (in particular country-specific) knowledge: At workshops and working discussions with representatives from the fields of politics, companies and civil society in the Greater Region SaarLorLux, the participants will get detailed information about the theme "Youth unemployment in Europe" and about chances and challenges of already implemented solutions aiming to promote professional mobility in a border region. This phase of knowledge acquisition enables the participants to analyse their options for action in the field of mobility. Based on the acquired knowledge and opinion formation as well as their own experience of mobility in the project context, the participants will finally develop and shape an information market on mobility in Europe in order to inform and start discussions with young people of their age from the SaarLorLux border region and, after their return, from their home regions (peer group approach). The integration of these information markets into large-scale events with local players (politicians, press, institutions…) will provide opportunities to make the young people's voices heard in a larger context. This also helps to make the work of the partners more visible, which considerably contributes to the implementation of their respective internationalization strategies.

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