Piloting the youth guarantee on the ground : Experiences from the European Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) : conference paper, 8 May 2015.
Date: 2015-08-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU employment policy, conference proceedings, fight against unemployment, integration into employment, labour market, report, school-working life relations, young person, youth employment, youth policy, youth unemployment

Piloting the Youth Guarantee 
on the Ground – Experiences 
from the European 
Parliament Preparatory 
Action (EPPA) 
Conference paper, 8 May 2015 

Written by ICF 

May 2015 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion 

Directorate C – Europe 2020: Employment Policies  

Unit C2 — Sectoral Employment Challenges, Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship 

Contact: Tamás Varnai 

E-mail:  EMPL-Youth-Guarantee@ec.europa.eu  

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Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 

May, 2015 

 
 
 
 
 
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

Table of Contents 

Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 

Setting the scene .............................................................................................. 1 

Testimonies of Youth Guarantee pilot project participants ....................................... 2 

The results and lessons from the evaluation of the Preparatory Action ...................... 3 

Audience viewpoints .......................................................................................... 4 

Youth Guarantee services for young people........................................................... 5 

Engagement of young people in the Youth Guarantee ....................................... 5 
Assessment, guidance and job matching ......................................................... 6 
Active labour market policies in the Youth Guarantee context ............................ 7 

Youth Guarantee from the service delivery point of view ......................................... 8 

Early intervention services ............................................................................ 8 
Organisation and delivery of Youth Guarantee offers .......................................10 
Engaging employers in the Youth Guarantee ..................................................11 

Concluding remarks and key messages ...............................................................12 

 
 
 
 
 
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

Introduction  

On  8  May  2015,  DG  Employment,  Social  Affairs  and  Inclusion  of  the  European 
Commission  hosted  a  large  dissemination  conference  on  the  Youth  Guarantee.  It 
focussed on showcasing the  results and  lessons from the  piloting of  local  and 
regional partnerships under the European Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) on 
the Youth Guarantee.  

The European Parliament Preparatory Action on the Youth Guarantee was launched in 
2012  by  the  European  Commission,  following  a  request  of  the  European  Parliament. 
The rationale of the Preparatory Action was to provide support to Member States (MS) 
with  the  building  of  Youth  Guarantee  partnerships  and  trialling  associated  services 
among  young  people  aged  15-241  and  to  collect  experiences  that  could  provide  MS 
with  practical  recommendations  for  launching  and  implementing  national  Youth 
Guarantee schemes and related actions. 

This  dissemination  conference  brought  together  over  170  delegates  from  across 
the EU. This included representatives of the European Commission, EU agencies such 
as  Eurofound,  European  Parliament,  national  governments  as  well  as  national  and 
international  press.  The  event  also  brought  together  pilot  project  coordinators  and 
partners,  ESF  managing  authorities,  national  youth  guarantee  coordinators,  social 
partner  representatives, non-governmental organisations and international experts.  A 
small  number  of  end-beneficiaries  of  the  Preparatory  Action,  young  people  and 
employers, also took part in the event. The conference was a one-day event.  

The  remaining  of  the  paper  is  divided  into  different  sections  categorised  around  the 
proceedings  of  the  conference,  highlighting  examples,  key  discussion  points  and 
messages from the event.  

Setting the scene 

The  conference  was  opened  by  Gregorio  de  Castro  from  the  European  Commission 
who gave background information on the Preparatory Action and on the 18 individual 
pilot projects funded by it. The 18 pilot projects were implemented in seven countries: 
Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom. They were 
launched  between  August  and  December  2013,  with  each  delivered  over  a  12-month 
period. He highlighted the diversity in the pilots in terms of most projects focussing on 
the  trialling  of  different  services  associated  with  the  Youth  Guarantee  and  the  rest 
piloting the Youth Guarantee model in a more comprehensive manner. He praised the 
professionalism  and  commitment  of  the  pilot  partnerships,  their  dedication  to 
innovation  and  implementation  of  new  measures  with  new  partners  in  new  contexts. 
He also disseminated good news about decline in EU youth unemployment rates, from 
23.2%  at  the  start  of  the  Preparatory  Action  to  20.9%  in  March  2015.  While  the 
process of decline has been slow and the rate is still too high, there are now 850,000 
fewer unemployed youth. 

Michel  Servoz,  the  director  general  of  DG  EMPL,  continued  by  underlining  the 
positive tendency in the youth unemployment rates and was encouraged by the way in 
which the Member States have adopted the Youth Guarantee scheme as a flagship 
initiative.  The  design  and  early  implementation  has  taken  time  but  the  Youth 
Guarantee is starting to deliver concrete results and is bringing together actors which 
have  not  worked  together  before.  The  European  Commission  remains  committed  to 
supporting MS in the implementation and further development of the Youth Guarantee 
schemes.  Importantly,  Mr  Servoz  announced  the  release  of  EUR  1  billion  pre-
financing  from  the  Youth  Employment  Initiative,  available  as  of  May  2015, 

1  The  Preparatory  Action  is  implemented  within  the  Article  49(6)  of  Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No 
1605/2002  of 25  June  2002 on  the  Financial  Regulation  applicable  to  the  general  budget  of  the  European 
Communities. 

May, 2015 

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thereby increasing the pre-financing MS receive to boost youth employment by up to 
30 times. This is measure is  expected to  support  up  to  650,000  young  people  in 
accessing employment earlier and faster than expected. 

Mr Servoz emphasised the role of the Youth Guarantee pilot projects in demonstrating 
the value of different actors working towards one common goal. The beneficiaries had 
clearly  been  empowered  by  their  participation  in  the  pilot  projects  but  he  also  called 
for  all  actors  to  pay  particular  attention  to  supporting  unregistered  young  people  – 
those  outside  formal  systems  and  registries.  The  importance  of  the  role  of  outreach 
work  in  this  context  should  not  be  undermined.  He  also  called  all  actors,  especially 
stakeholders in the countries where the pilots were funded, to ‘up their game’ to make 
the methods and practices developed by the projects sustainable.  

Testimonies of Youth Guarantee pilot project participants 

The  opening  presentation  was  followed  by  testimonies  of  participants  of  the 
Preparatory  Action.  This  included  four  young  people  and  one  employer  who 
benefitted  from  the  activities  of  the  pilot  projects  in  Ireland,  Lithuania  and  Spain. 
Laura  and  Begoña  had  taken  part  in  the  Gijón  pilot  project  (Spain)  while  Karl  and 
Stacey benefited from the Ballymun pilot (Ireland). Kristina from Lithuania was one of 
the  employers  that  worked  with  the  Vilnius  pilot  project  employing  and  taking  on 
young participants on short traineeships.  

In  their  testimonies,  the  participants  described  the  benefits  associated  with  the 
traineeships  offered  by  the  pilot  projects  they  were  involved  in:  several  had  found  a 
job at a company where they had complete their traineeship. Others expressed 
satisfaction  with  the  opportunity  to  return  to  education,  which  they  had 
dropped  out  from  earlier  due  to  lack  of  motivation  or  wrong  study  choice.  They 
praised  the  counsellors  in  the  way  in  which  they  had  given  time,  supported 
and guided them in the planning of next career steps: the beneficiaries felt this 
support  had  not  been  there  before  the  pilot.  Further  testimonies  of  the  beneficiaries 
can be found in the box below.  

Testimonies of beneficiaries2 

“The Youth Guarantee gave me an opportunity to go and do what I really wanted to do, which 
was to go back to college. There were so many barriers before preventing me from returning“ 

“I was unemployed for two years before the pilot project and was getting really down about 
it. I wasn’t even getting interviews.  Now I  have a job and a permanent contract; I work for 
the company where I did the traineeship found for me by the project”  

“My  counsellor  went  from  business  to  business  to  look  for  the  right  traineeship  for  me.  I 
really appreciated this” 

“I  really  appreciated  the  effort  made  by  the  project  to  find  a  traineeship  for  me,  which 
matched my education and interests” 

“The  pilot  project  was  good  because  it  gave  an  opportunity  for  young  people  to  meet  and 
communicate directly with employers” 

“Before the pilot I had no options. Now I have three different options about what to do with 
my future.” 

“Career  guidance  just  was  not  there  before  this  project.  I  made  some  poor  study  decisions 
before. I didn’t have a clue. Career guidance is key!” 

“I  could  have  gone  back  to  university  but  I  know  it  was  the  lack  of  professional  experience 
that was holding me back; not lack of qualifications as I have a two-year degree” 

“I  liked  the  fact  that  my  participation  in  the  project  started  with  an  internship.  It  was  just 
what I needed” 

2 Modified in places to take into consideration translation.  

May, 2015 

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“I  was  getting  quite  frustrated  before  the  project;  it  was  getting  difficult  to  get  up  in  the 
mornings.  The  project  made  a  huge  difference.  The  group  activities  I  participated  in 
motivated  me because  I  learnt  from  other  young  people  in  a  similar  situation  about  how  to 
make most of all possibilities. I have a lot of energy now and I work very hard” 

From a more critical point of view, the beneficiaries considered the separation of Youth 
Guarantee  participants  in  group  activities  on  the  basis  of  their  education  level  or 
career  interests  as  a  good  idea.  This  was  to  make  sure  the  individuals  within  such 
groups  have  broadly  the  same  goals  and  are  able  to  move  with  career  planning  at  a 
fairly  similar  speed.  They  also  stressed  the  ‘individualisation’  aspect  of  all 
activities and called for relaxation of rules for those who want to return to learning, 
including access to universities and colleges.  

The employer beneficiary of the Lithuania pilot appreciated the approach taken by this 
project in that it was led by an employer’s organisation, which immediately raised an 
interest  to  find  out  more  and  take  part:  the  participating  employers  found  the  pilot 
project model to be ‘quite simple but effective’. The employer ended up taking on five 
beneficiaries on a traineeship of which two were employed by the company at the end. 
A letter of recommendation was given for the third beneficiary who wanted to pursue 
further  training  abroad.  A  total  of  65  companies  joined  the  employer  network  of  the 
pilot project and shared experiences with other employers.  

In  the  end,  Gregorio  de  Castro  from  the  European  Commission  encouraged  all  the 
beneficiaries from the pilot projects to spread the message about the Youth Guarantee 
as the beneficiaries with their success stories are the best ambassadors to the 
scheme.  

The  results  and  lessons  from  the  evaluation  of  the  Preparatory 
Action 

followed  by  a 
The  opening  presentations  and  beneficiary  testimonies  were 
presentation  of  the  evaluators  of  the  Preparatory  Action  from  ICF.  Anne-Mari  Hall 
concluded  that  the  Preparatory  Action  involved  nearly  4,900  young  people,  of 
which some 3,300 benefitted from a range of ‘activation’ measures. The pilot projects 
supported  330  young  people  mainly  from  disadvantaged  backgrounds  into 
employment  and  helped  to  create  52  new  businesses,  with  potential  for  further 
50+  new  enterprises.  Some  1,700  young  people  continued  education  and 
training following pilot project participation and up to 480 potential cases of early 
school  leaving  were  prevented.  Over  1,100  young  people  were  provided  out-of-
ordinary  levels  of  support  to  better  equip  them  for  the  school-to-work  transition. 
Participants  themselves  reported  feeling  ‘more  supported’  and  ‘educated’  in  deciding 
and implementing career plans. They also felt more confident and gained new labour 
market and ‘life’ skills as a result of participation in the pilots.  

The  evaluators  would  have  liked  to  see  some  projects  test  the  services  and  methods 
they developed as part of the Preparatory Action with larger and more diverse group 
of participants. They also called for pilot projects to move away from a ‘project-based’ 
isolation  focussing  on  the  delivery  of  the  project,  to  consider  and  plan  to  secure 
the  sustainability  of  the  actions  from  early  on. More concrete links to national / 
regional  youth  guarantee  implementation  plans  as  well  as  partners  at  level(s) 
where  policy,  regulatory  and  longer-term  funding  decisions  are  made  (i.e.  in 
order to address structural barriers, in order to plan for post-pilot sustainability) could 
have helped.  

Mrs  Hall  ended  the  presentation  by  highlighting  the  potential  of  the  Youth  Guarantee 
as  a  vehicle  for  delivering  youth  employment  services  in  a  comprehensive  and 
coordinated  manner;  but  the  pilots  also  demonstrated  that  the  Youth  Guarantee  can 
also trigger a more comprehensive process of improvement of youth services 
when implemented under right conditions and by a broad, committed partnership. The 

May, 2015 

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Youth  Guarantee  however  should  not  be  seen  as  a  one-off  reform  or  as  a  quick  fix, 
and young people themselves need to be at the centre of it3. 

Audience viewpoints 

The  opening  session  was  supported  by  real-time  electronic  voting  on  key  aspects  of 
the  Youth  Guarantee.  This  gave  an  opportunity  for  the  members  of  the  audience  to 
express their opinion on the Youth Guarantee. Specifically, the audience was asked to 
express their view on the impact of the Youth Guarantee in their country, the extent of 
the  involvement  and  consultation  of  young  people  in  the  set-up  Youth  Guarantee 
schemes, the value of European funded pilot actions and the possible further need to 
publicise and explain what the Youth Guarantee seeks to achieve and deliver. 

As  shown  by  the  results  overleaf  (Figure  1),  the  audience  was  particularly  positive 
about  the  value  of  European  funded  pilot  actions,  such  the  one  on  the  Youth 
Guarantee,  which  are  managed  at  EU  level  but  delivered  on  the  ground  by  local  and 
regional partnerships. Nine out of ten conference participants (91%) saw value 
in  this  type  of  pilot  projects,  which  are  designed  to  provide  lessons  for  the 
implementation of larger schemes at national and regional levels.  

Two-thirds of the conference participants (66%) felt positive about the impact of 
the  Youth  Guarantee  in  their  countries.  This  indicates  that  work  undertaken 
across Europe to develop Youth Guarantee schemes is starting to bring in results, but 
more  work  is  still  to  be  done.  One  aspect  the  majority  of  audience  members  agreed 
upon  as  requiring  further  work  concern  the  involvement  and  consultation  of  young 
people in the set-up of the schemes. Indeed, only a quarter of audience members 
(25%)  felt  young  people’s  voice  and  concerns  are  sufficiently  taken  into 
consideration. There was also a widespread consensus on the need to do further 
communication  work  to  spread  the  message  about  the  Youth  Guarantee  especially 
in  terms  of  what  it  promises  to  deliver  and  seeks  to  achieve.  Only  13%  of  the 
audience  members  felt  there  is  no  need  for  further  communication  on  the  Youth 
Guarantee.  

Figure 1.  Audience vote results 

Note:  The  total  number  of  answers  received  was  105  for  the  first  questions  and  112  for  the  remaining 
questions 

3 The full results will be available in the Europa website: 
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1099&langId=en 

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Youth Guarantee services for young people  

A  total  of  six  thematic  working  groups  were  organised  during  the  event,  with  three 
different  groups  running  in  parallel  with  one  and  another.  The  first  set  of  working 
groups  looked  into  the  Youth  Guarantee  services  from  beneficiaries’  perspective  by 
discussing  the  approaches  introduced  by  the  pilot  projects  (and  in  some  cases, 
countries more broadly) to improve and strengthen: 

  Engagement of young people in the Youth Guarantee schemes, 

  Assessment, guidance and job matching, and 

  Implementation of active labour market policies (ALMPs). 

Key messages from these working groups are included below.  

ENGAGEMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE YOUTH GUARANTEE 

The  aim  of  the  first  working  group  session  was  to  discuss  difficulties  in  engaging 
young  people  in  the  Youth  Guarantee  and  strategies/approaches  that  have  proven 
successful at raising awareness among young people and securing their involvement. 
The  workshop  included  presentations  from  Luisa  Moar  representing  the  Veneto 
project  (Italy)  and  Laura  González  representing  the  Gijón  project  (Spain).  The 
conclusions were summarised by Allan Päll from the European Youth Forum.  

Luisa  Moar  and  Laura  González  started  by  introducing  their  projects  and  presenting 
some  of  the  challenges  associated  with  engaging  young  people  in  Youth  Guarantee 
schemes. In particular they raised barriers around: 

  Mainstream  employment 

strategies,  programmes  and  authorities  not 
sufficiently  targeting  and  tailoring  their  materials  and  services  for  young 
people,  including  failing  to  take  into  consideration  the  importance  of  new  social, 
informal  and  non-formal  communication  channels  and  ‘languages’  in  the  lives  of 
young people;  

  Mistrust  of  authorities  (including  education  and  training  sector)  among  specific 

groups of young people; and 

  Fragmentation  /  disintegration  of  different  youth  services,  meaning  that 

communication activities have to be repeated and time/money is wasted. 

Given this challenging and changing context, the Gijón and Veneto projects sought to 
develop  and  trial  new  communication  channels  and  strategies  as  part  of  their  pilots 
that  went  beyond  the  mainstream  practices.  This  included,  for  example,  strategies 
mentioned  in  Figure  2  below  and  also  development  of  different,  dedicated  strategies 
for other stakeholders, such as employers.  

Figure 2.  Examples  of  tailored  communication  channels  and  strategies  used  by  the 

Gijón and Veneto pilots 

New communication channels (e.g. social 
media, YouTube, ‘hashtags’ and viral videos) and 
materials (e.g. logos and posters with a fresh, 
eye-catching youth orientated look) 

Different engagement strategies for different 
groups of young people (e.g. outreach ‘street-
work’ to involve NEETs, PES with designated 
responsibility to engage those taking part in 
vocational training and graduate engagement 
through employment fairs) 

Involvement and employment 
of young people in the design 
of new communication tools and 
campaigns 

Informal information events 
(e.g. named as a ‘cocktail’ event 
rather than employment 
information event) 

The involvement of peers in 
the building of a ‘community of 
youth’ to spread message 
about new services via word 
of mouth 

Source: Presentations of Luisa Moar and Laura González 

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The following were highlighted as key conclusions from the workshop discussions: 

  Engagement/recruitment methods need to  communicate ‘empathy’, demonstrate 
an understanding of young people and the situations they find themselves 
in especially in areas and times of high unemployment. 

  The involvement of young people from different backgrounds in the design 
of  communication  strategies  and  tools  not  only  help  to  identify  the  ‘right’ 
language,  message  and  tone  but  also  spread  the  message  about  services  among 
friends and other peers; the value of word of mouth as a communication channel of 
its own cannot be underestimated.  

  Outreach  work  as  an  engagement  tool  needs  to  build  around  should  be  built 
around  the  principles  of  youth  work,  which  stresses  the  importance  of  trust 
building and non-judgemental approach. 

  Communication  strategies  need  to  be  targeted  at  different  youth  cohorts, 
recognising  that  young  people  are  a  heterogeneous  group,  and  supplemented  by 
broader  media  or  other  campaigns  that  spread  the  message  to  other  important 
people in the lives of young people, including families, friends and NGOs. 

  Engagement/recruitment  strategies  should  be  based  on  realistic  messages,  to 

avoid promising results which are not achievable.  

ASSESSMENT, GUIDANCE AND JOB MATCHING 

The second workshop of the day discussed the experiences of the pilot projects in the 
development of practices and piloting of services related to initial assessment, career 
guidance  and  matching  of  offers.  In  this  workshop,  Ramune  Mereckiene  from  the 
Vilnius pilot (Lithuania) and Fulgencio Cerón Mora from the Cartagena pilot (Spain) 
presented their experiences in this area. The workshop conclusions were summarised 
by Margherita Bussi from ETUI.  

Both  pilot  projects  presenting  in  this  workshop  (Vilnius  and  Cartagena)  developed 
their  own  orientation  pathways,  which  combined  elements  of  guidance, 
assessment of skills and aspirations as well as preparatory and motivational activities.  

Ramune Mereckiene, the Vilnius pilot  

The  approach  of  the  Vilnius  project  was  centred  on  strong  social  partner  and  youth 
organisation  involvement  in  the  engagement  and  selection  of  participants,  followed  by  a 
three-part motivational pathway where direct communication between employers and young 
people  played  a  central  role.  The  pathway  ended  with  a  four-week  work  placement.  Young 
people were profiled into different groups on the basis of a survey they filled in at a start of 
the project, focussing on categorising young people on the basis of their ‘sectoral’ aspirations 
(the sector they wanted to find work in).  

A  total  of  64  companies  took  part  in  the  network  which  provided  placements,  motivational 
speeches and labour market guidance for the participants. They also had an important role in 
giving  practical  advice  to young  people,  many  of  whom  had  never  worked  before  or  indeed 
had any direct contact with employers (thus had unrealistic expectations and demands about 
jobs),  about  realities  of  employment.  For  example,  they  explained  how  businesses  run  and 
make  money,  what  different  employees  do  and  what  kind  of  salaries  can  be  expected  in 
different positions.   

A  total  of  270  young  people  participated  in  the  pilot,  of  which  44%  found  their  first  job 
through their participation.  

Fulgencio Cerón Mora, the Cartagena pilot  

The  Cartagena  pilot  ran  their  pathway  practice  with  two  different  groups  of  young  people 
(with  participants  from  three  distinct  backgrounds),  consecutively.  The  first  step  in  the 
pathway consisted of two sets of interviews:  

 

The first one sought to create an atmosphere of trust between the project counsellor and 

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the participant. Information was given on the project and information was collected from 
the participant on his/her education and employment background.  

 

The  second  interview  focussed  on  the  creation  of  a  personalised  employment  plan, 
deciding on the next steps and acquiring a mutual commitment on the chosen plan.  

After  the  interview,  participants  had  a  chance  to  take  part  in  a  range  of  group  workshops, 
such as workshops on communication and creativity, job search skills, entrepreneurships, ICT 
(including  blog  creation,  apps,  etc.),  English  and  selected  vocational  topics  (such  as  food 
handling). Motivational workshops and socio-cultural activities were also available.  

Some  of  the  key  success  factors  in  the  pilots  included  proactive  involvement  of 
individual  employers  as  motivators  and  work  placement  providers,  recruitment  of 
counsellors  from  a  broad  range  of  backgrounds  with  different  specialisations, 
enhancement  of  the  role  of  ‘motivational’  and  socio-cultural  activities  in  the  pilot  (in 
order  to  minimise  dropout  rates,  especially  among  the  least  motivated  participants), 
and use of participants from the first round of the pilot to involve, inform and motivate 
participants  in  the  second  round.  A  ‘discretionary’  pot  of  funding  allowing  the 
counsellors  to  address  practical,  one-off  barriers  to  participation  faced  by  individual 
young  people  was  also  crucial  (e.g.  ability  to  pay  for  public  transport  to  attend  the 
project).  

ACTIVE LABOUR MARKET POLICIES IN THE YOUTH GUARANTEE CONTEXT 

The third workshop explored ALMPs in the Youth Guarantee context, especially training 
and  support  for  self-employment.  The  workshop  included  an  opening  presentation 
from  Gianni  Rosas  from  ILO  and  a  pilot  project  presentation  by  Yolanda  Otero 
Balsa  from  the  Galicia  pilot  (Spain).  The  conclusions  were  delivered  by  Guillermo 
Montt from OECD.  

Gianni  Rosas  started  his  presentation  by  underlining  the  role  of  ALMPs  in  the  Youth 
Guarantee  process  in  that  they  can  help  redress  education  and  labour  market 
failures  and  prevent  labour  market  disengagement.  However,  ALMPs  cannot 
solve structural problems or indeed create jobs, per se. When appropriately designed, 
targeted and monitored, ALMPs (employment services, entrepreneurship programmes, 
labour  market  training  and  subsidised  employment)  are  responsive  to  labour  market 
requirements, are appropriately targeted, are offered within a comprehensive package 
of  measures,  are  linked  with  work  experience  and  are  implemented  in  a  broad  social 
partnership.  When  these  conditions  are  not  met,  ALMPs  can  produce  labour  market 
distortions in a form of creaming, deadweight and displacement effects.  

Yolanda  Otero  Balsa  introduced  the  pilot  project  her  partnership  run  in  Galicia, 
supporting labour market integration of young people from rural areas by promoting 
and  supporting  self-employment.  The  pilot  involved  initial  training  on  various 
topics  concerning  entrepreneurship  (e.g.  talks  by  experienced  entrepreneurs,  site 
visits, and case study/project assignments), work placements in businesses related to 
the 
individualised 
tutoring/mentoring  in  the  planning,  realisation  and  launch  of  business  ideas.  More 
than  two-thirds  of  the  participants  (68%)  went  on  to  launch  their  own  business  or 
found a related job following participation in the pilot.  

self-employment 

participants 

aspirations 

and 

the 

of 

Overall,  it  was  concluded  that  entrepreneurship  measures  can  yield  good 
employment  outcomes  and  meet  young  people’s  aspirations  in  terms  of 
independence  and  flexibility  it  provides.  However,  successful  entrepreneurship 
measures need to find a right balance between theory and practice in the provision of 
support,  include  individualised  mentoring/tutoring  and  they  can  be  challenging  to 
implement among disadvantaged groups.  

There  is  significant  room  for  improvement  in  the  evaluations  of  ALMPs;  but  there  is 
also  duplication  of  activity  in  the  delivery  of  ALMPs  among  key  actors  and  projects 
tend to be selective, hence producing creaming and deadweight effects. 

May, 2015 

7 

 
 
 
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

Youth Guarantee from the service delivery point of view 

The  set  of  three  afternoon  working  groups  centred  on  innovative  approaches  to  the 
Youth Guarantee service delivery, in particular examining the pilot project experiences 
with: 

  Preventive work (early intervention services), 

  Organisation and delivery of Youth Guarantee offers, and 

  Engagement of employers in the Youth Guarantee. 

EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES 

Early intervention services in the Youth Guarantee context refer to the linking of  pre-
emptive  and  preventive  measures  such  as  those  seeking  to  reduce  early  school 
leaving  and  prepare  young  people  for  the  school-to-work  transition.  The  workshop 
started  with  a  presentation  of  Massimiliano  Mascherini  from  Eurofound  and  was 
continued  by  a  joint  presentation  of  Julie  Seymour  and  Tony  Slonecki  from 
Hartlepool and Croydon pilot projects (UK)4.  

Massimiliano  Mascherini  set  the  scene  by  presenting  the  results  of  an  investigation 
into  early  implementation  of  the  Youth  Guarantee  in  10  MS  (BE,  BG,  EE,  EL,  ES,  FR, 
IE, IT, PL, UK). This research has highlighted considerable differences in the ‘starting 
points’ of different Member States in relation to the Youth Guarantee especially in 
terms  of  institutional,  labour  market  and  structural  frameworks.  The  study  also 
underlined the need for new cooperation structures for the design and operation of the 
Youth Guarantee in order to address the fragmentation in the  implementation of 
youth  policies.  Other  key  issues  highlighted  include  for  example:  1)  The  need  for 
PES, education systems and other actors to work together to smoothen school-to-work 
transitions  for  young  people,  2)  The  role  of  youth  organisations  in  the  Youth 
Guarantee  remains  (too)  fragmented,  3)  Difficulties  in  ensuring  the  sustainability  of 
opportunities created (what constitutes a good offer and a sustainable outcomes?), 4) 
Education  and  training  systems  and  the  labour  market  need  a  sufficient  absorption 
capacity  to  ensure  offers  for  all  Youth  Guarantee  clients.  (In  this  context,  the  key 
question is how to avoid focus on those who are easier to reach and integrate into the 
labour market. The Youth Guarantee needs to serve all young people, no matter what 
their background is), 5) Monitoring and evaluation of the Youth Guarantee is essential 
but not easy in practice. 

In  terms  of  early  implementation  of  Youth  Guarantee  related  measures  in  the  MS, 
much  of  the  work  has  focussed:  on  setting  a  Youth  Guarantee  specific  process  for 
information,  counselling  and  guidance;  outreach  work;  supporting  school-to-work 
transitions;  training  and  work  placements;  VET  including  apprenticeships;  and  youth 
entrepreneurship  measures.  In  terms  of  early  intervention,  the  outreach  practices 
introduced  by  the  MS  focus  largely  on  online  tools  (as  opposed  to  street  work,  for 
example)  while  school-to-work  transition  measures  centre  largely  on  preventing  of 
early  school 
improvement  of 
employability skills and removing barriers to participation.  

leaving,  reintegration  of  early  school 

leaving, 

Julie Seymour and Tony Slonecki from Hartlepool and Croydon pilot projects presented 
their  experiences  with  the  implementation  of  early  intervention  services.  Both  pilots 
worked with students who were preparing for transition from education or training, to 
either further learning or emploment.  

4  Adriano  Maria  Meucci  was  due  to  present  the  experiences  of  the  Lazio  project  (Italy)  but  was  unable  to 
attend due to several flight cancellations.  

May, 2015 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

Figure 3.  Overall goals and specific objectives of the Hartlepool and Croydon pilots 

Hartlepool pilot 

Croydon pilot 

Goal:  To  improve  employability  and  enterprise 
skills  of  young  people  so  they  are  prepared  for 
work  by  strengthening  cooperation  between, 
schools,  career  services,  employment  services, 
colleges,  work-based 
learning  providers  and 
employers 

Specific  objective:  To  support  200  young  people 
classified  as  high  risk  of  becoming  NEET  to 
progress  into  a  positive  destination  within  four 
months of leaving school 

Goal:  To  address 
levels  of  youth 
unemployment  and  the  growing  number  of young 
people at risk of becoming NEET 

rising 

Specific  objective:  With  the  support  of  employers 
and  other  stakeholders,  to  build  capacity  in  5 
schools  across  Croydon  to  better  prepare  young 
people  leaving  school  for  employment  (facilitate 
improved  careers  decision  making;  ensure  pupil 
learning and progression is linked to (and relevant 
to) the current and future labour market; improve 
teacher  capabilities  and  awareness  of 
the 
competencies required for work 

Source: The presentation of Julie Seymour and Tony Slonecki  

These  two  pilots  offered  a  range  of  services  to  young  people  so  as  to  better  prepare 
them for the transition, described in Figure 4 in more detail.  

Figure 4.  Early intervention services for young people 

Hartlepool 

Croydon 

Early Intervention system (a risk of NEET indicator) 
developed  to  identify  students  at  most  risk  of  not 
making  a  successful  transition  to  positive  post-
school destinations 

30  hours  of  mentoring  and  tutoring  at  a  school 
setting,  plus  one-on-one  mentoring  on  non-
educational issues 

2 week work placements/assignments for companies 

interviews  (support 

Mock 
in  writing  CV  and 
application letters, half an hour ‘mock’ interview with 
an employer, feedback) 

Mentoring and career guidance 

Taster days at local colleges, supporting in attending 
interviews at colleges/employers, careers events  

Employability skills and master classes 

Continuing 
including practical advice / ‘life’ skills 

liaison  and  support  over  summer, 

Resources,  such  as  training  packs  for  teachers, 
students  and  volunteer  business  mentors,  e-
passport to record work experiences 

The main outcomes for the participants include: 

  Increased levels of motivation among participants with  a higher share of school 

leavers moving onto further learning or employment; 

  Better educational outcomes due to ability to focus on their exams; 

  Better awareness of post-school options and career pathways; and 

  Improved  understanding  among  teachers  of  the  importance  of  employability 

skills. 

The need to invest in more concrete links between schools and employers (with 
benefits ranging from increased work placement opportunities to businesses acting as 
mentors) and the value of close contact over the summer period with at-risk students 
who are moving from one level of education to another, are some of the key lessons 
from  the  pilots.  Interestingly,  at  times  it  was  easier  to  involve/engage  employers 
rather  than  schools,  indicating  lack  of  resources  and  high  pressure  faced  by 
schools. The pilots also taught important lessons about sequencing of school-to-work 
support  activities  over  the  school  year,  for  example  with  students  learning  about 
employability  skills  before  taking  part  in  work  placements  or  other  assignments  with 
employers.  

May, 2015 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF YOUTH GUARANTEE OFFERS 

The  second  workshop  in  the  afternoon  dealt  with  the  organisation  and  delivery  of 
Youth Guarantee offers, in particular focussing on clarifying the process of identifying, 
selecting and matching offers to the Youth Guarantee clients. The elements making an 
offer  a  good  quality  one  were  also  considered.  Joaquín  Miranda  started  the 
workshop  by  presenting  the  Gijón  pilot  experience  (Spain)  in  terms  of  the  type  of 
offers  and  activities  they  offered  to  their  target  group  and  this  was  followed  by  a 
presentation  of  Paul  Carroll  from  the  Ballymun  project  (Ireland).  Wolfgang  Muller 
from  the  German  Federal  Employment  Agency  summarised  the  conclusions  from  the 
workshop.  

The Gijón pilot, Spain  

The Gijón pilot operated around the set-up of a dedicated ‘youth employment and activation 
agency’  where  advisors  and  coaches  from  different  agencies  were  brought  together  to  offer 
services  for  young  people  under  ‘one  roof’  (one-stop-shop  model).  A  total  of  104  young 
people joined the pilot of which 93 ended up following the personalised employment plan with 
a pathway of activities that was set for them.  

The Ballymun pilot, Ireland 

The Ballymun pilot took place in one of the most deprived areas of Ireland where the youth 
unemployment  rate  was  54%  at  the  time  of  project  application.  It  brought  together  a 
partnership  of  public  employment  services,  employers  and  trade  union  representatives, 
education and training providers, local government, local development & youth organisations 
to develop and pilot a youth guarantee scheme promising a quality offer within 4 months of 
the first guidance interview to all young jobseekers. By the end of the project the number of 
youth registered as unemployed in Ballymun had dropped by 29%, which compares positively 
against the national rate of reduction of 19%.  

In terms of the process of selecting and matching offers to pilot participants, the 
process in both cases started with initial assessment, interview, counselling, guidance 
and  follow-up  by  a  counsellor  throughout  the  participation.  The  available  ‘offers’  of 
these pilots included5: 

  Jobs, work placements and subsidised employment  

  Mainstream  education  and  training  offers,  and  also  labour  market  training  and 

second chance opportunities 

  Short training courses, such those combined classroom and work-based learning in 
the  premises  of  employers,  short  thematic  courses  (e.g.  communication  skills,  IT, 
foreign  languages,  interview  skills),  preparatory  training,  basic  skills  training  and 
pick & mix courses which allow young people to try out different courses.  

  Self-employment / entrepreneurship training and support 

  Volunteering 

Some lessons from the workshop discussions included the following: 

  The  notion  of  a  ‘good  quality  offer’  is  subjective;  can  be  different  for  every 
person  but  should  support  outcomes  that  improve  the  employment  prospects  of 
participants in the long-term. 

  Forcing  young  people  to  participate  “is  in  no  one’s  interest”:  other  engagement 
‘methods’ tend to prove more effective but sanctions can have their place as a last 
resort when no other method has worked.  

5 Note: the pilots tended to adopt a broader definition of an ‘offer’ than that of the Council recommendation 
on the Youth Guarantee.  

May, 2015 

10 

 
 
                                           
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

  IT-based  solutions,  such  as  online  training  courses  on  interview  skills  and  CV 
writing for example, have their place in the Youth Guarantee arena and can prove 
cost-effective,  but  only  among  certain  cohorts  of  young  people;  not  as  the  only 
option.  

  The  client-staff  ratios  (front-line  PES  staff)  were  significant  lower  in  the  pilots 
than  PES  normally  has  (with  an  average  ratio  in  Europe  standing  at  around  1 
advisor  per  500  clients);  the  challenge  lies  in  delivering  the  mainstream  Youth 
Guarantee  schemes  with  lower  client-staff  ratios  than  the  pilots  and  ensuring 
follow-up after participation in ‘offers’. At the same time it is recognised that most 
pilots  had  a  significantly  higher  share  of  young  people  from  disadvantaged 
backgrounds than an ‘average’ larger-scale Youth Guarantee scheme would have.  

  Multi-disciplinary  front-line  teams  proved  effective  at  serving  Youth  Guarantee 
clients, with counsellors coming from different backgrounds with different areas of 
expertise.  

  Publicly  recognising/awarding  companies  supporting  Youth  Guarantee  schemes 
through  awards/hallmarks,  proved  to  be  a  cost-effective  way  of  involving 
employers. 

  Work  placements  and  other  activities  directly  involving  employers  tended  to  be 

the ‘offers’ scoring the highest levels of satisfaction among pilot participants.  

ENGAGING EMPLOYERS IN THE YOUTH GUARANTEE 

Engagement of employers in the Youth Guarantee was the topic of the final workshop 
of  the  day.  It  explored  innovative,  proactive  approaches  introduced  by  the  pilots  to 
build  relationships  with  employers.  Ana  Riesgo  from  the  Avilés  project  (Spain)  and 
Aoife  Doyle  from  IBEC  representing  the  Ballymun  pilot  (Ireland)  explained  their 
experiences  in  this  area  and  Bart  Vandewaetere  from  Nestle  summarised  the  key 
messages from the workshop.  

The  Avilés  pilot  created  coaching/employability  pathways  for  two  groups  of  young 
people: the first group consisted of  young people without qualifications and at risk of 
early  school  leaving  but  interested  in  a  career  in  the  hospitality  industry  and  the 
second group of qualified, unemployed youth not successful at finding a job in the IT 
industry  due  to  insufficient  ICT  skills.  The  pilot  worked  with  companies  in  these  two 
industries to address specific issues facing each sector: 

  The  pilot  worked  with  local  companies  from  the  hospitality  industry  to  make  the 
sector more attractive among young people and encouraged early school leavers to 
return to learning and become professionals in this industry.  

  The  pilot  worked  with local  companies  in  the  IT  sector  to  ensure  they  recruit  VET 
graduates  from  local  schools,  rather  than  from  other  cities,  by  addressing  skills 
mismatches  by  involving  employers  in  ‘bridging’  training  who  were  interested  and 
committed to increasing the uptake of local workers.   

The Ballymun pilot, introduced above, developed an employer engagement strategy as 
part of the project for two key reasons: 

  The public employment service (PES) practice in relation to employers was under-

developed, with little systematic or proactive employer engagement 

  Employers  favoured  other  recruitment  methods  (referrals  from  own  staff,  private 

recruitment agencies, online) 

As a result, the pilot sought to  develop employer  relations by adopting an integrated 
approach,  which  involved  taking  care  to  involve  both  employers  and  young  people, 
developing  the  kind  of  skills  sought  by  employers,  stressing  connections  between 
education  and  work  and  prioritising  work  experience.  Importantly,  the  pilot  also 

May, 2015 

11 

 
 
 
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

sought  to  ensure  that  the  PES  has  the  capacity  to  engage  proactively  with 
employers  and  understand  their  requirements  and  change  employer 
perceptions of the PES and its clients. 

The strategies for achieving change in the way in which  the organisations involved in 
the pilots work and build relationships with employers are outlined in Figure 5 below.  

Figure 5.  Strategies for building relationships with employers 

Avilés (Spain) 

Ballymun (Ireland) 

Employer  contributions  to  the  design,  development 
and evaluation of training courses 

Database of local employers to facilitate relationship 
building (including cold-calling) 

Tutoring/mentoring of participants 

Contributions to the participant selection  

Contributions to the monitoring and evaluation of the 
project 

Sources: Presentations of Ana Riesgo and Aoife Doyle 

Breakfast briefing sessions to raise awareness of the 
Youth  Guarantee  pilot  – 
included  employer 
testimonials to encourage peers 

Review  and  improvement  of  promotional  materials 
aimed  at  employers  (by  reps  of  employers’ 
organisations),  preparation  of  a  range  of  new, 
dedicated communication tools for employers 

Breakfast briefing 
sessions to raise 
awareness of YGS – 
included employer 
testimonials to 
encourage peers  

Provide  a  menu  of  options  of  how  to  engage  in  the 
Youth  Guarantee  to  employers  (e.g.  recruiting, 
providing work experience, motivation talks, visits) 
•motivational talks, onsite visits 

Dedicated  employer  engagement  officers  in  the  PES 
assigned 
regional 
engagement 

to  drive  both 

local  and 

Conclusions from the workshops highlighted the importance of extending ‘outreach’ 
work  to  employers:  starting  with  the  researching  of  the  needs  of  companies; 
nurturing  new  and  existing  relationships;  making  proactive  work  with  employers  a 
‘standard’ practice; ensuring PES are geared to employer expectations with a ‘menu of 
options’  in  terms  of  how  to  get  involved  in  the  Youth  Guarantee;  and  marketing  the 
business case for employer involvement.   

Breakfast  briefing  sessions  to  raise  awareness  of 
YGS  –  included  employer  testimonials  to  encourage 
peers 

Concluding remarks and key messages 

Max  Uebe  from  the  European  Commission  as  well  as  national  youth  guarantee 
coordinators  from  Spain,  Italy  and  Ireland  (Daniel  Solana,  Bruno  Busacca,  Kasey 
Treadwell Shine, respectively) took part in a final panel discussion of the day.  Four 
main messages have been summarised below.  

1.  The  Youth  Guarantee  has  started  to  bring  about  concrete  results  and  is  uniting 
actors  which  have  not  worked  together  before.  The  European  Commission 
continues  to  support  Member  States  in  efforts  to  further  develop  their  Youth 
Guarantee  schemes.  The  recent  release  of  EUR  1  billion  pre-financing  from  the 
Youth Employment Initiative is expected to support up to 650,000 young people in 
accessing  employment  earlier  and  faster  than  expected.  Recent  declines  in  EU 
youth  unemployment  rates  are  encouraging  but  the  rate  remains  at  an 
unacceptably  high  level.  In  addition  to  the  role  of  the  Commission  in  providing 
idea  of  the 
financial  support,  the  conference  participants  supported  the 
Commission  acting  as  a  facilitator  of  exchanges  of  experiences  and  knowledge  in 
this  area.  They  welcomed  the  Preparatory  Action  as  a  useful  platform  for 
identifying lessons for larger schemes.   

2.  Stakeholders  in  countries  where  the  pilots  were  funded  were  urged  to  consider 
the lessons and support the upkeep and mainstreaming of the new models 
and practices developed.  

May, 2015 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Piloting the Youth Guarantee on the Ground – Experiences from the European 
Parliament Preparatory Action (EPPA) 

3.  A  small  number  of  end-beneficiaries  of  the  Preparatory  Action,  young  people, 
played  an  important  role  in  the  conference  by  sharing  their  experiences.  In  their 
view,  the  pilot  projects  had  succeeded  at  identifying  and  matching  them  with 
career steps that complemented their aspirations and thereby made a long-lasting 
impact  on  their  lives.  While  it  is  not  feasible  to  expect  every  participant  to  have 
equally  positive  and  life-changing  experiences,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  pilots 
added  to  the  mainstream  provision  by  offering  services  (especially  in 
relation  to  the  depth  of  counselling  and  mentoring),  which  would  not  have  been 
available without the pilot funding 

4.  Some of the challenges for the Youth Guarantee schemes involve (on the basis of 
conference  discussions):  the  management  and  development  of  the  schemes  in 
light of cuts in mainstream budgets; ensuring a manageable  staff-client ratios for 
those  working  on  the  front-line;  providing  individualised,  ‘good  quality’  offers  for 
Youth Guarantee clients, without deteriorating the chances for other client groups; 
extending  outreach  work  from  unregistered  youth  also  to  work  with  employers; 
raising awareness of the Youth Guarantee among young people, their families and 
among  key  actors  at  regional  and  local  levels;  and  bringing  the  preventive 
measures  concerning  young  people  still  attending  compulsory  or  secondary 
education under the Youth Guarantee framework.  

The  conference  discussions  and  key  messages  provided  some  suggestions  for 
these messages, but they can also be seen in light of the more comprehensive set 
of messages from the Preparatory Action and individual pilot projects presented in: 

-  The  summary  report  of  key  achievements  and  lessons  from  the  European 

Parliament Preparatory Action on the Youth Guarantee 

-  The  comprehensive  evaluation  report  of  the  European  Parliament  Preparatory 

Action on the Youth Guarantee 

Both reports can be found in the Europa website: 
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1099&langId=en 

May, 2015 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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doi: 10.2767/24911