Networks of Mediterranean Youth

The Networks of Mediterranean Youth (NET-MED Youth) (2014-2017) was a three-year project implemented by UNESCO and funded by the European Union for young people in the Mediterranean area of Europe.

Goal
Networks of Mediterranean Youth, Its goals were to improve youth employment and youth civic participation by empowering youth organizations to deal with national governments national media and regional media.

Beneficiaries

 * Youth organizations from 10 countries along the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean Sea
 * Youth, skills development and employment stakeholders (ministries, public institutions, social partners, and others)
 * Media professionals, citizen journalists and bloggers

Reason for NET-MED
The project came as a response to the common challenges shared by Southern Mediterranean countries related to the social inclusion of youth. These include, among others, disinterest in civic engagement; insufficient representation in public and political spheres, as well as in mainstream media; high unemployment and a particularly weak participation of women in the labour market.

Focus areas of NET-MED

 * Dynamic mappings of youth organizations
 * National consultative working groups on key themes: Public Policy on Youth, Youth and Media, Youth and Employment
 * Situational analysis of youth and national stakeholders, including legal and political frameworks
 * Capacity building among youth organizations and ministries
 * Formulation of and advocacy for national action plans on youth
 * Monitoring of youth's representation in media, and surveying of youth's opinion about media
 * Outreach actions fostering youth-friendly, inclusive, objective and fair media coverage
 * Trainings and resources to promote freedom of expression, media and information literacy, production of media content by youth
 * Capacity building among young journalists, bloggers and citizen journalists
 * National and regional situational analysis reports on labour market, youth transition and data availability challenges
 * Development of tools for skills anticipation in close collaboration with national stakeholders
 * Capacity building among youth organizations for better involvement of youth in evidence-based policy design.