During the five-day event, the background of the NEET concept was introduced and the participants could review the main trends in Europe. In the framework of the event interactive workshops were held, enabling participants to present their work, their methods and their experiences connected to the situation of young people in their country. Luca Koltai, Head of Division for Public Policy and Impact Assessment of HÉTFA held a presentation on the situation of young (NEET) people in Hungary. She presented a research conducted by HÉTFA which may help the professionals to design more effective programs.

According to statistics, literature and expert interview, our priority target groups face significant disadvantages in the Hungarian labour market and they would need special support and services, however, jobcentre workers do not have additional resources to help them.

Counterfactual impact assessment and other types of evaluations conducted in Europe provide evidence that complex programmes combining multiple measures are the most effective for these target groups. The main findings of the literature are the following:

• Trainings alone are seldom effective for young jobseekers – though combined with other measures they can be successful, especially on-the-job trainings. Still, our research found that usually only trainings are offered to young people.
• Trainings can be effective for older unemployed, but only if the education methods can be tailor-made to the special needs of the target group.
• Single measures cannot be effective in the case of long-term unemployed; only intensive, long and complex programmes that combine multiple active measures (including services) can be helpful for this target group.
• Coordination of social and employment services are also of key importance. Services responding to individual differences and needs are crucial in case of priority target groups.

There are large individual differences in these groups, thus any successful service and support needs to respond to these individual needs. It is more feasible to specify the probability of long-term unemployment utilising a nuanced profiling system rather than an age-based one; therefore, high-risk job seekers can be directed towards different services immediately, and more thorough diagnostics can be created.

Concerning the next Programming Period, we suggest two separate labour market programmes:  first, a programme targeting profiling category number 2, focusing on training and/or wage subsidies. Secondly, a complex and personalised programme targeting disadvantaged groups, where the different active labour market measures are combined and tailored to the needs of the participants. This programme should be carefully targeted to a narrower target group.

English summary is available here. The entire research report in Hungarian is available here.

This research, titled “Methodological research for more effective services of the special target groups of the National Employment Service” has been conducted for the Ministry of National Economy (and its successor, the Ministry of Finance), in the context of GINOP-5.1.1-15-2015-00001 and VEKOP-8.1.1-15-2015-00001 “Road to the labour market” priority projects.

The Youth&SPA project under Key Action 3 of the Erasmus+ Programme is running with the professional support of HETFA. During the session “Boosting the attractiveness of rural towns for young people” we focused on the main challenges of rural towns, such as youth migration, lack of community building opportunities, and lack of interest of youngsters towards decision-making processes. All participants were involved into an interactive online voting and then brainstorming on the future of rural towns. Our colleagues at the Division for International Cooperation participated actively in the preparation, dissemination and realization of the workshop in Brussels. The outcomes of the workshop are available on the Youth&SPA project website.

Our colleagues from the Division for Policy Evaluation and Impact Assessment participated at the meeting of the project called „Measuring What Matters to EU Citizens: Social Progress in the European Region” financed by DG Regio (Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy). HETFA is involved as consortium partner among other international organisations. This meeting focused mainly on the empirically test of  Social Progress Index (SPI) with special regard to the question of comparability.

Municipalities and civil organizations active in the field of youth and culture from Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Austria and France are participating in the project. ENriCH aims to reinterpret the European cultural heritage through the dialogue of involved young people and decision makers. ENriCH also provides opportunity to explore how the major European events affected the cities of the partnership, and what kind of long-term impacts these happenings had on them. Moreover, it pays special attention to discover such local values which contributed to the European cultural heritage.

As part of the project, local discussions and transnational workshops are organized. During these events, young participants gain insight into the world of decision-makers and discuss how the preliminary identified local heritage has formed the present and future of Europe. Furthermore, they examine to what extent the perception and attitude of future’s generation has changed relating to common European values. Beside the official project partners, the city of Passau will also host a transnational project event since it is rich in cultural heritage and has a traditional and active relationship with Veszprém.

At the end of the project two major outputs are planned: first, a use-it! based online map of each city consisting of alternative city walks compiled by young participants in strong dialogue with seniors and experts. This map shall demonstrate those cultural heritages (both tangible and intangible) that local young people would show to foreigners. Second, outcomes and results of discussions will be summarized in a final study including policy recommendations aiming to shape the involvement of youth in the preservation of cultural heritage.

The project EnriCH reinforces the aspiration of Veszprém to be actively involved in European cultural processes and to strengthen its international relations. This is a key priority now, when Veszprém is preparing its application for the 2nd round of the European Capital of Culture 2023 call.

EnriCH is starting in these days: the kick-off meeting is being held in Veszprém on 18-19 September 2018. This first event provides opportunity for participants to brainstorm on the importance and the preservation of cultural heritage on the one hand; on the other hand to change experience how young people can be involved into the promotion and transmission of local and European cultural heritage.  The official website and the social media channels of the project will start in due time. Till then, for further details stay tuned on www.hetfa.eu!

Partners of ENriCH are:

• Municipality of Veszprém, HU
• Tartu City Government, ES
• Public University of Ptuj, SI
• City of Saumur, FR
• Foster Europe Foundation for Strong European Regions, AT.

The evaluation was commissioned by the National Development Agency (NDA) and performed by HETFA Research Institute in the second half of 2012.

Summary of the Research Report in English

ISBN 978-963-89112-5-4

The book is an extended and more problematizing and deeper analysis of the data collected throughout the social impact analyses carried out for the Researchers’ Nights programmes of 2010, 2011 and 2012. Taking the surveys and focus groups conducted in this period as a starting point and embedding them into the theoretical and conceptual framework of the science communication paradigms, it assesses the impacts of this particular sciencetainment project upon the social conceptions and attitudes towards scientific research. The presentation of the empirical data has a double aim. On the one hand it focuses on the factors that influence the representations of scientific research among the youth in particular. On the other it wishes to serve as a planning and evaluating tool for the organisers by suppliying data concerning both the social and demographic characteristics of the visitors, but regarding their opinions and expactations, as well.

The final report is available in English