Youth Work and Employment of Young People

NYCI Policy Position

• NYCI calls for greater recognition of the role of youth work in supporting the employability and employment of young people

NYCI believes that youth work has a unique and important role to play in supporting both the employment and employability of young people. Since the onset of the crisis we have stated that youth workers and youth work organisations can if supported engage with and reach the most disadvantaged young people given their track record and credibility.

We were disappointed that there was only a limited reference to the role of youth work in addressing the needs of the most disadvantaged young people in the National Youth Guarantee Implementation plan published in 2014. The evaluation of the Ballymun Youth Guarantee pilot demonstrated the important role that Ballymun Regional Youth Resource played in supporting young people to engage and acting as an advocate for the views of the young participants.

In July 2014 in partnership with the Centre for Effective Services, Foróige and Youth Work Ireland we hosted the Enhancing the Contribution of Youth Organisations to Youth Employment Seminar.

We welcome the decision of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in October 2015 to recognise the role of youth work and establish a fund “Youth Employability Initiative” to support the sector to further develop its work in this area. At present the overall fund is modest at €600,000, but we hope this is but a first step in supporting the work of the sector in this area.

Links

Role of Youth Work in addressing the needs of Young People not in education, employment or training

Ballymun Dissemination Conference-“The Role of the Youth Work in the implementation of the Ballymun Youth Guarantee” March 2015

Youth Employment Initiative Funding-Department of Children and Youth Affairs

http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=%2Fdocuments%2Fyouthaffairs%2Ffunding.htm&mn=youp&nID=5 Dublin Declaration-EU Presidency Roundtable, June 2013 “Recognises unique potential of youth work in supporting attainment of ‘soft’ skills which are increasingly sought after by employers” http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=2719

Ballymun Youth Guarantee Pilot Scheme Evaluation

https://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/BYG-EVAL-FINAL-REPORT.pdf

Policy and Practice Report-Key Learning from the Ballymun Youth Guarantee Pilot http://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/key-learning-ballymun-youth-guarantee-project.pdf