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According to the last research of Eurostat conducted in 2016, 9 countries are experiencing an unemployment rate among NEETs which is higher than the average for Europe (18,3 %). Some of them are Spain (22,8 %), Greece (30,5 %), Bulgaria (25,1 %), Romania (23,5%) and France (18,9%). In order to tackle those disturbing statistics, since the early 2000s the positive role of youth work has been recognised and its direct impact on the employability of NEETs. However, the conducted research within the COMPASS project showed that most of the youth workers supporting NEETs have motivation and ambition to guide and advise inactive young people in the process of their education and labour market integration, but not all of them understand and recognize the career counselling and mentoring skills which are a key ingredient for every supporting and social role.

To fill in this gap, COMPASS comes in place (Career cOnsulting and Mentoring skills caPAcity building for youth workerS working with NEETS) as a 2-year project funded by the Erasmus+ programme that aims at the recognition and improvement of youth work and its impact of the NEETs labour market inclusion. The project is innovative as it provides competence-based training with focus on career counselling and mentoring skills for youth workers who are specifically working with NEETs and innovative NEETs activation gamified platform.

GOALS

The overall goal of COMPASS is to decrease the unemployment rates among NEETs in the partner countries by increasing youth workers capacity who work directly for the labour market inclusions of inactive youth.

The desired short-term goal of COMPASS is to develop competence-based training for youth workers that will improve their skills for effective support of NEETs by making an important step towards building a pattern of professionalising youth work.

The mid-term goal is to establish synergies and bridges between local and national youth organisations and Youth Guarantee actors in order to multiply the project impact on local, national and European level.

The ultimate long-term goal is to contribute to the decrease of youth unemployment rates in the 6 partner countries and in Europe as a whole.

TARGET GROUP

The COMPASS target group are youth workers (incl. community mediators, roma mediators, social workers, career counsellors, etc. between the age of 18-29) who work directly with NEETs and are aiming to support them in the education and labour market integration process that leads in the long-run into lower unemployment levels among NEETs.