O1: Upskilling and/or reskilling NEETs and women by equipping them with the skills needed for the growing green economy through training in green sector areas namely, Forest-based care, Waste Reduction, Social agriculture, Energy supply, Urban green care, Eco-tourism and Green Entrepreneurship O2: Connect NEETs and young women with the education, practical experience and relevant stakeholders to transition out of unemployment and jumpstart their career path in the green sector through a combination of training materials and digitalised resources, work-shadowing placements, and networking roundtables to share recommendations for better practice O3: Increase cross sectoral and transnational cooperation to promote the social and economic inclusion of disadvantaged NEETs and women among organisations and practitioners active in the field of youth employment and support. O4: Adopt participatory action research methodology to apply co-creation in the design and development of the project activities through a User-Scrutiny panel consisting of 30 youth practitioners, green sector professionals, NEETs and women
17.6% of 20-34-year-olds across Europe are neither employed nor in education/training (NEETs), with women disproportionately affected. High NEET rates, particularly among young women, hinder economic participation and exacerbate social inequalities. The green transition offers a unique opportunity to address this. Skills Training for NEETs and women to acquire green skills are scarce or non-existent in many countries, including Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Malta, and Poland. Finally, limited data exists on the extent of green sector training among young people, particularly for NEETs and women, hindering effective policy development.YOUTHECO with its focus on cross-sectoral collaboration of youth workers and participatory action research aims to address these shortcomings by providing well-matched education and training through the right combination of skills; entrepreneurship, green career, and leadership development training to ensure that NEETs and women will be in a stronger position to be employed in the green sector. By upskilling them in this way they can be empowered with in-demand skills, which not only tackles youth unemployment but also contributes to climate action.