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Final conference of the Lost Millennials Project

25. Jan. 2024

Project Wraps Up with Brussels Conference, Charting Path for Inclusive (Youth) Employment Policies in Europe

The Lost Millennials project recently achieved a crucial milestone with the conclusion of its final conference, ‘Lost and Found: Reimagining Europe’s Employment Policies’, held in Brussels on 28 November 2023. The project, funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment, was dedicated to enhancing the integration of 25+ NEETs into the labour market by increasing knowledge of the effects of employment initiatives. The conference served as a vital platform for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to address pressing youth employment policy issues in Europe.

Luca Koltai from HETFA Research Institute and Alexander Gerganov from the Center for the Study of Democracy opened the conference with welcoming notes, followed by a keynote speech from Nora Mehsen, Sector Officer and Programme Manager on Transnational Cooperation, Equality, Justice, and Decent Work at the Secretariat for the EEA and Norway Grants. Juliet Tschank and Stella Wolter from Centre for Social Innovation showcased the results of the transnational research report on the characteristics and challenges of 25+ NEETs and the key systematic influencing factors.

The subsequent roundtable discussions of the conference focused on the effectiveness of existing strategies addressing youth; exploring challenges faced by 25+ NEETs across Europe, including gender perspectives, migration dynamics, and the rural-urban divide. The concluding panel offered valuable insights into the key role of monitoring and evaluation of initiatives supporting young people with highlights from the results of the evaluations initiatives carried out throughout the project.

This event’s significance lies in celebrating the project’s completion and the constructive dialogues it sparked. These discussions contributed meaningfully to the ongoing discourse surrounding youth (un)employment in Europe, and we hope to continue these dialogues even with the conclusion of this project.

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