INTERCEPT aimed at outreaching 300 young people who were not in education / training / employment (NEETs) aged 25-29, with the aim of upskilling and motivating them through a 12-week internship (Green Career Pathway) featuring a 25-hour common course on the green economy and a green job placement. INTERCEPT benefited from a € 2.18M grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants.
The rationale behind INTERCEPT was that, since the green transition is a global priority, supporting NEETs to gain the necessary skills and work experience to access jobs in the green sector is essential to ensure such transformation is inclusive and sustainable.
During the project implementation, the INTERCEPT’s partners joined forces to 1) better understand the needs of the 25-29 year-old NEETs on the one hand and those of the green companies on the other, 2) outreach both NEETs and potential green hosting companies in the public and private sectors, 3) design a common pilot scheme to deliver the Green Career Pathway in Malta, Tuscany and Lithuania, 4) jointly monitor the pilot’s implementation to be able to evaluate its results, impacts and to better understand how it could be improved to facilitate replication and mainstreaming of such an initiative across the EU.
INTERCEPT was led by JOBSPLUS Malta. The pilot intervention was implemented at central level in Malta and in Lithuania by the National PES, while in Tuscany it was managed by Anci Toscana (the Tuscan Association of Municipalities), thorough a MoU with ARTI (the regional PES), the Region of Tuscany (Agriculture Sector) and the Fondazione Polo Universitario Grossetano who all established an informal network to outreach and support the NEETs in an integrated manner.
Visionary Analytics from Lithuania, CASE - Center for Social and Economic Research from Poland and the Institute of Economic Research - Slovak Academy of Sciences both worked on the research aspects of the project and on the pilot’s evaluation.
As the project expert partner, ADEM, the National Employment Agency of Luxembourg, shared knowledge about labour market mechanisms and guidance of young jobseekers.
During the final event, the Maltese and Lithuanian PES and Anci Toscana presented how the Green Career Pathway Scheme was implemented and adjusted to the three local contexts illustrating which solutions were put into practice to overcome local challenges and achieve the greatest possible results.
Even if the official reports on the pilot’s implementation and evaluation will be soon published on this website, we can anticipate a few key points which were discussed in the final event.
From the initial target to activate 300 NEETs on the pilot scheme, a total of 242 participants were effectively activated in Malta, Lithuania and Italy. Of these 21 individuals just completed the 25-hour training phase, 199 fully completed the entire scheme (training + job placement) and 22 dropped out due to employment or enrolment in other training programmes. It is also important to note a further 134 NEETs were given assistance by the three national partners but this support did not result in enrolments in the scheme.
In terms of gender, females remained the primary beneficiaries of the pilot scheme, constituting 51.24%, as opposed to 48.76% for males.
As for education, the majority of participants activated in the pilot scheme in Italy possessed a Level 7: Masters Degree. In Lithuania, the prevalent educational attainment was at Level 6: Bachelor's Degree, whereas in Malta, participants with Level 2: Completion of Compulsory Education were most represented . Notably, in Malta, the second-highest group receiving assistance consists of individuals with a Level 6: Bachelor's Degree. Upon reviewing the overall educational landscape across the three countries, it is evident that individuals with a Level 6: Bachelor's Degree was the predominant group, comprising 27.27% of the total.
As for job creation, the Green Career Pathway objective was to create 80 new jobs, whilst in fact , after only 1 month after the scheme’s closure, 90 participants have successfully secured employment subsequent to their activation in the pilot.
The Green Career Pathway has been positively evaluated in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability and innovativeness, however its transferability depends a lot on how the pilot scheme will be adjusted to local contexts.
The dedication of the INTERCEPT project’s partners in overcoming challenges, supporting NEETs, and achieving project indicators has established a strong foundation of trust within the consortium. Notably, Malta has formalised collaboration by signing an MoU with the Lithuanian PES to enhance and share practices. Additionally, a new consortium, including Jobsplus, Anci Toscana, the Region of Tuscany, the Lithuanian PES and ADEM is actively participating in the INTERREG Europe project atWork4NEETs, aiming to enhance policies targeting inactive youths through the exchange of good practices. This collaborative spirit is definitely one of the lasting impacts of INTERCEPT and underscores the potential for continued cooperation in effectively addressing youth employment challenges.
