On June 29, 2023, Autoocupació, in collaboration with the Fund for Youth Employment of EEA & Norway Grants, hosted the Youth Employment Summit in Barcelona to discuss new strategies as well as best practices of youth employment policies.
Albert Colomer, President of Autoocupació, and Nora Mehsen, representing the Fund for Youth Employment of EEA & Norway Grants, openend the Youth Employment Summit in Barcelona. More than 150 representatives of public and private entities in the field of employment from ten European countries had made their way to Caixa Fòrum Macaya.
The first session focused on new youth employment policies. Veerle Miranda, representing the OECD, noted that “Spain continues to be the OECD country with the most unemployed young people”. Miquel Carrión, representative of the Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya, added:
“A young person trained has three times as many chances of finding a job as one who is not.”
Youth Employment Summit in Barcelona presents best practices in the field of youth employment
This was followed by four round tables to share best practices on youth employment in Catalonia.
The first round table presented the voluntary mentoring program for young self-employment entrepreneurs within the framework of the Young Entrepreneurs Succeed (YES!) project, in which Munich Business School is also involved. Jo Gray, representative of Youth Business International, said:
“It is often surprising that mentors do this work voluntarily, but there is no other way to do it than with initiative and drive.”
Guillem Arís, Director of Autoocupació, shared the impact of the mentoring program:
“The 5-year survival rate of the mentored companies is 87%, more than double the average in Spain.”
Daniel Venteo, as a volunteer mentor, and Rubén Fernández, founder of Jabonalia, were also present and shared their experience in the program.
The three other conferences focused on best practices in educational return, with the participation of the Asociación Española de Escuelas de Segunda Oportunidad and El Llindar Fundació, in dual training, with the participation of the Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya, Fundación Exit and Superwagen and in labor insertion, with the participation of the Incorpora network of the Fundació La Caixa and Fundació Intermedia. All round tables had the participation of beneficiaries of the initiatives to give visibility to their impact.
What is the future of work?
Albert Cañigueral, explorer, consultant and disseminator, announced later in the Youth Employment Summit in Barcelona the changes that will mark the future of work and how technology will affect labor relations.
“85% of jobs of the future are still not invented.”
Albert Cañigueral
The Youth Employment Summit in Barcelona was closed by Gian Luca Bombarda, Director of the Fund for Youth Empolyment of EEA & Norway Grants, and by Oriol Amorós, Secretary General of the Departament de Drets Socials of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Premiere of the short film Lion Dreams
That same afternoon Lion Dreams was premiered, a short film promoted by Autoocupació to promote entrepreneurship among young people. The film is based on the true story of a young entrepreneur who has developed a solution to facilitate the coexistence between humans and wild animals in Africa. Lion Dreams was directed by Jordi López, produced by Laura Egidos and Albert Aynès, written by Aleix Mestre and Dani Belenguer and interpreted by Usu Tambadou and Sol Merino – all of them young professionals who start their professional careers in the world of cinema.
Guillem Arís, Director of Autoocupació, defined Lion Dreams as “an inspiring story, a real example of entrepreneurial spirit, with a social component and environmental sustainability” and kicked off the Oscar race for the best short film: “We do not give up on anything!”.
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