Background

The economic hardships following the COVID-19 pandemic have heavily hit employment opportunities in the Euro-Mediterranean region, raising numbers of citizens at risk of poverty and social exclusion, and hurting young people more than other age groups. Moreover, demand-supply skills mismatch is a key factor behind high unemployment and changing labour market demands highlight the growing importance of reskilling and upskilling of youth and women, together with diversifying and investing in sustainable economy sectors to better cope with future economic and climate crises.

Against this background, the CLUSTER capitalisation project, funded under the EU’s ENI CBC Med Programme, aims to create a supportive environment for youth/women employment schemes, by equipping young NEETs, in particular women, with employability skills in four sustainable economy sectors, and promoting long-lasting partnerships between TVET institutions, the private sector and social economy actors, while raising awareness of public authorities and policy-makers. The IEMed acts as the Lead Beneficiary of CLUSTER which is implemented through a consortium of partners from Italy, Cyprus, France, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia.

The project’s total budget is € 1,108,162.62 and it is financed for an amount of €997,346.36 (90%) by the European Union (2014-2020 ENI CBC Med Programme) through the European Neighbourhood Instrument.

The CLUSTER Launch Conference is a high-level event strengthening networking and dialogue among relevant stakeholders, as a step towards the creation of a supportive regional environment for the employment of NEETs. With this in mind, and on the occasion of the first annual celebration of the Day of the Mediterranean by the UfM, it will consist of two panels with small interventions (5 minutes each) and an open discussion.

For media inquiries, please contact Virginia Dicuonzo, Project and Communication Officer, at +34 627481366 or vdicuonzo@iemed.org.