OVER-SEES is a multi-stakeholder consortium gathering four diverse EU insular territories (The Azores, Portugal; West Region, Ireland; Aegean Islands, Greece; Sicily, Italy) to establish a model of VET excellence in EU islands to accelerate Smart Specialization (S3) activities associated with the twin transition.

Key rural stakeholders at European, national, regional and local levels lack the knowledge and tools to design future-oriented policies, programmes and services aiming at younger rural generations aged 18- 29. Specifically, these stakeholders are faced with the lack of methods and indicators for capturing these youths’ future visions in multiple domains (e.g. employment). This challenge limits on-the-ground capacity to manage the demands stemming from the dual transition (e.g., rural labour markets transformations), shrinking social services resources and autonomy, rural societies loss of critical mass driven by youth out-migration or risks of worst educational and employment outcomes among rural young people. This CIG tackles the central problem and all its ramifications through the development of the Future Youth Information for Rural Areas (FYI-R).

The overall aim of this project is to promote the mental health and well-beingof students at Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, based on the Stepped Care model, developed in the program for the promotion of mental health in higher education - ACCES Program. Focusing on a promotion and prevention approach, and adopting a logic of collective participation, the following specific objectives are identified: 1. Development of mental health promotion, prevention and adjustment activities (level 1 and 2), with a view to improving skills related to mental health literacy, mental resilience and stress management; 2. Strengthening psychotherapeutic and psychiatric responses for students with common mental disorders of mild to moderate severity (level 3), with a view to early intervention and avoiding more serious pathologies; 3. Strengthening the mechanisms for identifying situations of risk or serious mental illness and referring them to specialized health services (level 4 and 5); 4. Promoting the active participation of the student association in the development, implementation and evaluation of activities;5. Inclusion of students with specific educational needs and other vulnerable groups (1st year students, displaced students, national and international students, students benefiting from school social action, scholarship students from PALOP countries, women students, and LGBTQIA+ students), across the board in the activities developed.

Our aim is to deliver an evaluation model of the effectiveness of Public Employment Services (PES) tracking support types - digital, human-mediated or mixed - in improving employability among rural NEETs aged 25-29. Our project is submitted under support Area 3 - Analysis and Research, based on interdependent management, engagement & dissemination, and scientific work packages to fulfill three contributions. Our aim is to broaden knowledge of the effects of employment initiatives targeting rural NEETs, by creating a cross-country model of how policies influence PES tracking deliverance. Another goal is to enlarge the capacity of evaluating effects of employment initiatives for NEETs in rural areas, by validating impact assessment protocols for the most replicable programs of on-the-ground PES tracking support types, considering overall and specific groups of NEETs. A further target is to increase transnational use of impact studies among policymakers and researchers, by supporting their participation in developing/incorporating evidence-based impact methods for PES tracking evaluation. We address the Fund call vision by focusing on rural NEETs. These youths are ignored by research, hard to engage with, and challenged by multiple structural risk factors. We will concentrate on their vulnerabilities in the short-term by establishing a baseline for PES support types’ effectiveness in their employability indicators and, in the long-run, by setting an evaluation framework for effective PES tracking development. The consortium will rely on a sound multidisciplinary, theoretical and methodological approach, by concentrating on Baltic, South and Southeastern States with disparate rural NEETs’ proportions and different degrees of PES digitalization, adding meaningful variability to comparative analyses. Our outputs will be streamed into a working group dedicated to PES tracking impact evaluation to tie in with a parallel initiative, the Rural NEET Youth Observatory, b...

This proposal encompasses the creation of a European-led multidisciplinary network from countries showing higher NEET youth rates in rural areas. Rural NEETs’ Youth Network (RNYN) aims at developing a model of comprehension for rural NEETs’ social exclusion risk and protective factors based on the bioecological model. It focuses on three specific goals: (1) upholding future research capability, with an emphasis on Early Stage Researchers (ESR) and Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC); (2) creating a rural NEETs’ online observatory; and (3) fostering knowledge use by policy makers and practitioners. The RNYN work plan will be produced by 4 working groups; it will contribute to define a coherent model for future research, based on an intensive survey of national and cross-national trends regarding rural NEETs’ profile and support systems, as well as methodological and intervention best-practices in the field. RNYN added value stems from an eclectic theoretical, disciplinary, institutional and international approach and in upskilling ESR in ITC that are more affected by high rural NEET rates. In the long run, RNYN’s scientific impact will lead to the creation of a rural NEETs’ observatory, integrating ESR in a broad multidisciplinary community and strengthening the COST Inclusiveness Policy. Long-term socio-economic impact is expected to be translated into (in)ternational legislation to tackle rural NEETs’ needs and promote sectoral innovations. RNYN is a timely proposal by creating networks/platforms to organize findings, connect critical mass dealing with rural NEETs and build up research capacity. It is also socially relevant, by aiming at informing policies and on-the-ground practices.

The labor force in agriculture is declining across Europe. This trend translates into an ageing problem in the sector. Nevertheless, food goods demand is increasing across the globe. European broadband policies such as the Common Agriculture Policy have prevented a rejuvenation of the sector by imposing implicit restrictions to the involvement in the sector of youths who do not have a family background in agriculture. Among them are youths aged between 15 and 34 years old who are excluded from education, employment or training (NEET). The latest figures show that NEETs proportion is higher in rural regions compared to urban and suburban areas across the European Union. These figures may point out to a win-win opportunity. Not only rural NEETs may find a solution to unemployment in agriculture, they might also help to solve  the sector’s job shortage problem. NEETs representations regarding agricultural activities and how their perspectives may facilitate or prevent their involvement in the sector is warranted. Rather surprisingly, this line of inquiry remains unanswered in the literature. It also remains unclear how much do these impressions shift, after a short-term training experience and how this can inform professionals and organizations to improve training practices. The general aim of this study was to explore low-qualified, rural NEETs representations about agriculture. The specific aims: (a) to understand how these youths representations are facilitators/barriers to the involvement in the agriculture sector; and (b) to offer guidelines on how training packages can lead to positive representations about agriculture among rural NEETs and, thus, promote their involvement in the area. 

 The Residential Care (RC) system is under pressure to address increasingly demanding needs of youths in care. Wide variation in the success of child welfare systems has led to the search for system-level explanations of differential outcomes for youth.        The CIRC project aims to investigate the association between social variables (such as organizational climate, the social images held by the staff and the relationships between educators and youths) and youth outcomes (such as self-representations, behavior, and academic achievement) through a correlational study. The project will evaluate the needs, dilemmas, practices and possible solutions through a qualitative study. Based on an experimental study, it will implement and evaluate an intervention program centered on the organizational climate with staff, the social images, and the quality of the relationships between educators and youths.        The project helps understanding the processes underlying the construction of self-representations, behavior, and academic achievement of youth in RC. This also offers significant implications for practice since it allows for empirically testing process models that provide inputs for designing a needs-led and theory-based program.