Irish Rural Link (IRL) recently welcomed delegates from Portuguese organisation, Uniao das Mutualidades Portugauesas (UMP), a partner on the Erasmus+ funded project Beyond NEET, which works with young people who are not in employment, education and training (NEET) to support them in volunteering in their community.
Beyond NEET is a one-year project funded through the Erasmus+ programme which will run until June.
The project aims to open opportunities for young people to be able to be professionally integrated, initially in volunteering programmes and, later, in civil society organisations that associate with the initiative.
Both organisations have been working with youth organisations since the project commenced in June 2022, through surveys and workshops held in each partner country to gain a better understanding of the reasons why the participants don’t work, study or get involved in training or internships, and their personal and professional ambitions.
The three-day visit included the mid-term meeting for the project which allowed the partners to review responses from the questionnaires and workshops from young participants in Portugal and Ireland and highlight commonalities and any differences.
The meeting also set out plans for the remainder of the project and discussions on end-of-project events to be held in each country.
It was also an opportunity to discuss future projects between both partners as well as visits to some of the youth projects that participated in the workshops.
The president of UMP, Luís Alberto Silva and coordinator of UMP, Edgar Diogo, together with CEO of IRL Seamus Boland and board member, Marie O’Gorman, attended meetings in Leinster House with Minister for Education, Norma Foley and Minister of State, Pippa Hackett, as well as government department officials.
The meetings served not only to highlight the scope of the project of integrating young people into society through volunteering, but to also address the experiences and public policies of the two countries in terms of youth and social inclusion, and the importance of valuing the role of the social economy in Europe’s cohesion.
The delegation also met with the Portuguese ambassador to Ireland, Bernardo Lucena. He addressed matters related to the Beyond NEET project and the successful integration of Portuguese young people into Irish society.
CEO of IRL, Seamus Boland, said the meeting was a great opportunity to meet IRL’s partner on the Beyond NEET project in person and to discuss the outcomes to date.
“2023 is the European Year of Skills so the project comes at an important time to engage with these young people who are often furthest from the labour market, education and training, and identify supports to help them develop skills in areas they are interested in,” he said.