HELIOS involves local policy makers to foster social inclusion of young people in Sicily

Authors: Croce Monica Segretario, Valerio Li Puma

Last July 1, 2022, ARCES Association, Lead Partner of HELIOS, and Distretto della Pesca e della Crescita Blu-COSVAP, Project Partner, held a workshop in Mazara del Vallo (Sicily) to present and share lessons learned, best practices and methodologies developed during the project activities.

The event provided an opportunity to develop synergies and exchange ideas and best practices with all participants.

The aim of the workshop was to apply the HELIOS results in order to develop new concrete actions addressed to unemployed youth and women, for their full social inclusion in Sicily and therefore in the Mediterranean Region.

For this reason, 3 working tables were set up. The first one involved social inclusion projects (i.e. CLUSTER, GREENLAND and MYSEA), the second involved local policy makers as Fabio Marino representing the Sicilian Region and Salvatore Quinci mayor of Mazara del Vallo, and finally the third involved ASSOFOR as regional and national TVETs representative.

In particular, the main themes covered in the working tables were the challenges faced by the projects, the professional training of young people and women in the Blue and Circular Economy sectors, the methodologies developed in order to strengthen and promote social inclusion policies in the Mediterranean and in Sicily, and the promotion and development of a green economy that generates new job opportunities within the new markets.

To this end, a fruitful dialogue was initiated between Sicilian policy makers and entities operating in the field of vocational training, with the aim of fostering the match between training offerings and real employment needs in the Sicilian socio-economic context, with a focus on emerging sectors related to the green economy.

Strategies and concrete actions were planned to be implemented in the coming months in the Mazara del Vallo area with the aim of training young people and fostering employment processes.

In addition, a comparison with CLUSTER project has started with the aim of supporting its training activities through the HELIOS platform which will be implemented by the project.