News and project activities
21 July 2022UNESCO Webinar on Skills Development for YouthThe UNESCO Section for Youth, Literacy and Skills Development (TVET) is organizing on 21st July 2022, from 10.30 am to 1.00 pm (CEST - Paris time), a Webinar on Skills Development for Youth as a follow up to the Youth Employment in the Mediterranean (YEM) project. Please register via link below.
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20 September 2021Final Regional Forum on 15 July 2021The Final YEM Regional Forum highlighted the latest project outcomes at both national and regional levels in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It served as a platform for beneficiary countries and key stakeholders in the field of TVET, entrepreneurship and digital skills development to discuss concrete results and challenges encountered.
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16 April 2021YEM regional Forum April 2021Regional forum on Youth Employment in the Mediterranean takes stock of progress and launches digital skills initiative. Read article on UNESCO website.
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What is the YEM Project?
Youth Employment in the Mediterranean (YEM) is a three-year regional initiative (2018 - 2020) led by UNESCO and funded by the European Union, extended until July 2021. The project targets countries in the South Mediterranean region with the aim to support youth employment through improved skills anticipation and assessment systems, and through the promotion of quality and relevant TVET and regional collaboration.
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The project is aligned with the
UNESCO Strategy for TVET (2016-2021)
which highlights the need for inclusive policy dialogue and reinforcement of stakeholders’ capacities to promote TVET transformation in order to foster youth employment, entrepreneurship and improved skills anticipation, in the framework of the
Sustainable Development Goal 4
and the
Education 2030 Framework for Action
.
The overall objective of YEM is to support national authorities, together with the private sector, the TVET providers and the youth organizations in the South Mediterranean region, in understanding and anticipating labour market changes with a view to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of relevant TVET policies, strategies and programmes, aimed at increasing youth employment and entrepreneurship.
For all beneficiary countries, the focus of YEM is to promote the implementation of effective collection and use of information on skills needs, to turn them into relevant policy actions and programmes, and to help establish appropriate governance arrangements to ensure good coordination across the key stakeholders, both within the beneficiary countries and across the South Mediterranean region.
The three specific objectives of the project are:
- To reinforce capacities of countries in the South Mediterranean region in assessing and anticipating the labour market demands and in sharing and using the results to make informed TVET policy and programme decisions;
- To use the results of skills assessment and forecasting to promote quality TVET pathways through work-based learning and entrepreneurship, digital skills acquisition and enhance gender equality;
- To reinforce regional cooperation in the field of TVET with a particular focus on skills assessment and anticipation issues in the Mediterranean region.
What the YEM Knowledge Platform offers
TVET Country Profiles
Access concise, reliable and up-to-date information on TVET systems in the YEM Project countries, and also across the world through the UNESCO-UNEVOC World TVET Database.
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Knowledge Resources
Access the knowledge resources developed as part of the YEM Project, as well as relevant publications and resources from UNESCO and other project partners.
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Community of Practice
Engage with key experts and TVET stakeholders from the region and beyond and learn more about new knowledge resources, collaboration opportunities, upcoming events and more.
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Discussion forum
Engage in discussions with key experts engaged across the YEM Project countries, and beyond topics of thematic relevance.
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Prioritizing Youth Employment

The lack of opportunities in the Arab world has been exacerbated by a demographic boom. Skills development of the youth is important to meet current market demands and enable them to create employment opportunities as entrepreneurs.

Prolonged gaps in the school to work transition in the MENA region are far greater than in other regions. In addition to worsening population dependency ratios, unemployment and uncertainty of prospects can have adverse social and security implications.

Across the region, high-skilled employment stands at 21%, on average, while middle-skilled roles account for 66% of all existing formal sector jobs. The agricultural sector remains the largest employer in less affluent MENA countries. Investing in youth skills development would help reduce skills mismatches and promote employment.
Resources
Access recently updated knowledge resources developed under the YEM Project, and thematically relevant resources from UNESCO and other agencies.