Gijon, Spain—
Through the Youth Action Agency, the City of Gijon, Spain, provides different education and skills itineraries for 200 young people not in education, training or employment (NEETs) every year to enter the local labour market.
The case is a good example of a multi-level and multi-stakeholder governance system.
The key objective of the programme is to reduce youth unemployment by supporting young people aged 16-30 through strong collaboration among the main stakeholders operating in the city, in the fields of employment and education. The programme involves 200 young people each year that are identified by “street counsellors” who promote the programme to NEETs around the city.
The Youth Action Agency offers personalised support to young people based on their personal characteristics, their education level and skill set. The personalised itineraries are developed in close cooperation with employers to ensure that they cover present and future labour market demands. Individuals who are engaged in the programme are followed by a personal tutor and are offered to enrol in different training sessions, including those in cooperation with employers, alternative educational or training itineraries in secondary school, self-employment, and volunteering activities. In addition, youth are offered job placements that support informal learning, coaching and development of specific skills such as digital and soft skills and networking opportunities with employers. A key element of the Youth Activation Agency is the multilevel and multi-stakeholder governance system, which involves representatives from the following institutions and government departments:
The Regional Education Government and Regional Employment Government
The Youth Association
The Regional Employers Association
Thanks to the involvement of these stakeholders the programme is able to reach young people (through the Youth Association), involve the employers in the project (regional employers association), manage the presentations in secondary schools (regional education government) and access the regional training offer (regional employment government).
The city highlighted a number of key success factors in the programme that could be transferrable to other places: i) the local partnerships (including decisions on the type of partners, agreement models and division of responsibilities), ii) the methodology of work (which affects the types of activities and services provided for participants) and, iii) the job placement programme.
The key challenges in the implementation of the programme include:
Aligning the interests of the variety of stakeholders. To do so, the city took a strong leadership role in demonstrating the benefits of the project annually and making sure that the knowledge gained remained in each organisation or stakeholder.
To motivate young people and involve more enterprises in the programme. This challenge was overcome by assigning the necessary human resources to the project as well as personal tutors to each young individual.
OECD (2022), "Future-proofing adult learning systems in cities and regions: A policy manual for local governments", OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Papers, No. 2022/03, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/11fa26cc-en.
