Ready 4 Work

Project Background & Target

Across Europe, young persons are one of the most vulnerable demographics, facing high levels of unemployment, labour market inactivity and underemployment. The NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) category, which includes young people not in employment, education or training, encompasses a wide range of individuals. Some social groups are more likely to face unemployment, inactivity or underemployment. Young women are the most vulnerable demographic, with an average of 39 % of women in Greece and 23,6% in Spain aged between 15-29 falling into this category, and 18,5%  in Greece and19,6% in Spain young men defined as NEET represent aged between 15-29. However, the distribution of the NEET population is not uniform across Europe. In countries such as Greece, Romania, the Czech Republic and Spain, there is a notably higher proportion of NEET individuals. The factors contributing to these figures include barriers related to: 

• Education level 

• Work experience and skills 

• Family circumstances (e.g. caring responsibilities) 

• Physical and mental health 

• Poverty and social inequalities 

• Risk behaviour 

Many young persons in NEET situations encounter significant social disadvantages in accessing the labour market, affecting their knowledge, skills, social capital and confidence.  The challenge of narrowing this gap is further compounded by factors such as poverty levels.  

What is Ready 4 Work about? 

Ready 4 Work is a social innovation initiative that aims to establish volunteer mentoring as a new and impactful form of learning. This will empower and upskill young people from vulnerable backgrounds during their transition to employment, whether from education or inactivity. The initiative will increase their employability and quality of life, complementing traditional employment interventions such as vocational training or career guidance. It will also establish public and private partnerships to scale and sustain the initiative, enhancing community engagement, solidarity and helpfulness through volunteer mentoring. 

Autoocupació's successful mentoring programme for young entrepreneurs has been built on the Youth Business International experience. It has been scaled across Catalonia and Spain through public and private partnerships, and across Greece, Italy and Poland through the Young Entrepreneurs Succeed project, which is funded by the EEA & Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment. The project will be implemented in two countries – Greece and Spain – to pilot and adapt existing mentoring methodologies. 

The project will work with 180 young persons from low income coimmunities, aged 18-29, who face multiple challenges during the transition phase from education to employment and require a range of support that goes beyond traditional interventions. The project is called Ready 4 Work because there is a critical gap between traditional interventions and the needs of vulnerable youth to engage with the labour market. This failure can be explained by the following: Reproducing regular mainstream education schemes, where vulnerable youth have failed. 

• Having an established agenda that does not meet the individual needs of vulnerable youth. 

• Focusing too much on professional challenges, forgetting the personal ones that often block vulnerable youth. 

• Focusing just on developing hard skills or job search techniques, forgetting beneficiary's empowerment through developing self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, soft skills and social capital.  

• Being delivered by volunteer mentors who support their mentees to develop a strategy and the skills necessary to achieve their personal and professional ambitions. 

• Not offering post-intervention support when the programme is concluded whether or not they found a way to engage with the labour market. 

The approach we chose

New empowering and upskilling methodologies need to be developed, tested and assessed to support traditional interventions to address the challenge of vulnerable youth unemployment. 

The Ready 4 Work project focuses on mentoring relationships which go beyond the labour market inclusion, with a clear focus on the expressed aspirations of the young people assisted. The mentoring interventions are guided by the participants, with a clear focus on what they envision for themselves, but also considering a realistic understanding of resources (personal, social capital, local context) and potential achievements. 

The Ready 4 Work project will pilot and adapt existing mentoring methodologies to meet the specific needs of the targeted group. During the 24-month implementation period, the three project partners will create an adapted intervention methodology, establish 180 mentoring relationships for 180 vulnerable youth in the two implementation countries (Greece and Spain), and recruit 60 mentors to support them. 

Project Partners

The Ready 4 Work consortium is formed by Autoocupació, which will implement the intervention in Catalonia (Spain), supported by Barcelona Activa, ANKA (the Development Agency of Karditsa), which will implement it in Thessaly (Greece), supported by the Regional Managing Authority, and the European Microfinance Network, which will provide mentoring and impact assessment expertise and lead the dissemination and knowledge transfer at EU level.