Youth Employment in the Mediterranean (YEM)

Access to quality education and relevant skills development, particularly through technical and vocational education and training (TVET), has received renewed policy attention in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, given the ability of TVET to foster the creation of decent jobs, promote entrepreneurship and connect education with the world of work.

YEM is a 36-month regional project funded by the European Union (EUR 2M) and implemented by UNESCO over the period of 2018-2020. The project targets eight beneficiary countries in the South Mediterranean region: Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia, where the aim is to support youth employment through improved skills anticipation and assessment systems, and through the promotion of quality and relevant TVET and regional collaboration.

YEM builds on the achievements of the Employment Component of the EU-funded project Networks of Mediterranean Youth project (NET-MED Youth, 2014-2018), specifically on the skills anticipation methodologies and reinforcing governance and involvement of national stakeholders, including employers and youth representatives.

The project is aligned with the UNESCO Strategy for TVET (2016-2021) which highlights the need for inclusive policy dialogue and reinforcement of stakeholders’ capacities to promote TVET transformation in order to foster youth employment, entrepreneurship and improved skills anticipation, in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Education 2030 Framework for Action.

Objectives of YEM

The overall objective of YEM is to support national authorities, together with the private sector, the TVET providers and the youth organizations in the South Mediterranean region, in understanding and anticipating labour market changes with a view to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of relevant TVET policies, strategies and programmes, aimed at increasing youth employment and entrepreneurship.

For all beneficiary countries, the focus of YEM is to promote the implementation of effective collection and use of information on skills needs, to turn them into relevant policy actions and programmes, and to help establish appropriate governance arrangements to ensure good coordination across the key stakeholders, both within the beneficiary countries and across the South Mediterranean region.

The three specific objectives of the project are:

• To reinforce capacities of countries in the South Mediterranean region in assessing and anticipating the labour market demands and in sharing and using the results to make informed TVET policy and programme decisions;
• To use the results of skills assessment and forecasting to promote quality TVET pathways through work-based learning and entrepreneurship, digital skills acquisition and enhance gender equality;
• To reinforce regional cooperation in the field of TVET with a particular focus on skills assessment and anticipation issues in the Mediterranean region.