1. Youth Guarantee implementation in Estonia 6.11.2017
Gerttu Aavik
Inclusion and Competitiveness Unit  
Head of unit

2. Youth Guarantee in Estonia
The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Research are responsible for implementing the Youth Guarantee.
Ministries have outlined measures for the
following ESF period to prevent and reduce
youth unemployment. The additional measures are planned
to strengthen the concurrence of different exiting measures and to focus on helping weaker target groups.
There are many key organisations that will support and deliver Youth Guarantee scheme, but we will focus on the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund activities and primarly activities being carried out by the Estonian Youth Work Centre.
Youth Guarantee in Estonia
Ministry of Social Affairs
Ministry of Education and Research
The preventive activities mostly aim to raise young people’s awareness about working life, and to launch and develop supportive measures targeted to NEET youth. To guarantee the effectiveness of preventive measures, resources are also be allocated to increase knowledge and understand the situation of NEET youth.

3. Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund
Workshops introducing labour market and working life
Objectives: raising the awareness of young people about labour market, preparation for planning a career or looking for a job, and what are the possibilities to get labour market related help, if such a need arises
Target group: students from grades 8–12
Results:
2015 until July 2017 over 4000 workshops with more than young people.

4. Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund
“My First Job” . the aim is decreasing youth unemployment by helping youth with little or no work experience and specialised training to get jobs.
Target group: young people aged 16–29 who:
have obtained primary, basic or general secondary education or professional education and who lack or have little work experience (have not been occupied for the last three months, or temporarily occupied).
A wage subsidy is granted to an employer up to 12 months and the employer must enter into an employment contract with a young person for an unspecified term or for a specified term of at least one year.
Results:
The number of young people entering the measure has grown: and 2017 from January to September 310 young people have participated in the measure.
Read more:

5. The Ministry of Social Affairs activities
The MoSA together with a few local municipalities has initiated a pilot project with an objective to significantly improve the outreach and identification of NEETs in those municipalities and better integrate them into the labour market.
The project focuses on NEETs who are inactive, i.e. not registered in PES as unemployed, thus not receiving services and/or benefits from the national Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Main strands of the project:
Developing an IT solution which will aggregate data from numerous national registers in order to identify the target group in person which will allow for a personal approach in contacting and activating them.
Each identified individual will be approached based on a uniform case management model which provides a methodical action plan for social workers. This will provide input on how the target group is dealt with and give an overview of services available to them in different municipalities.
Success indicators include the number of NEETs who have received active labour market services and the percentage of these NEETs who after six months of having received the services are employed.
This pilot project will run until the end of 2019 with an estimated budget of euros (85% ESF funding, 15% national co-financing). If successful, the approach will be extended across all municipalities.

6. Estonian Youth Work Centre
Estonian Youth Work Centre activities directly preventing youth unemployment
Work-summer
Youth Prop Up
Movable occupational labs
Supporting youth initatives, youth information services
Community practice programm in NGO-s
Preventive and non-formal learning activities

7. Work-summer
Work camps support overall goals of youth work through giving opportunities for young people to gain their first work experience and also by organising their free time with recreational and purposeful activities.
Common jobs: landscaping and property maintenance (cleaning streets, gardening) but also selling ice-cream, service sector jobs, etc. Focus is also in developing oppurtunities to work in start-up-s etc. (Innovative work camps)
Target group: (13-14)-26

8. Work-summer 2017
Results 370 young people took part from work summer in 2017, overall 502 young people.

9. Individual support programs for NEET youth- Youth Prop Up
The main aim is in supporting young people in need, who may have been made redundant or have not completed their education and are not currently studying.
The programme activities are set to be carried out at local level, designed so as interaction can take place on a one to one basis with the participants. Participants can then activity use these skills learned in their everyday living environment.
Target group: young people aged 15–26, who are not currently involved in any kind of academic study or employment.
Background of the approach:
The support programme is founded on the principles of social pedagogy, with the aim of the supporting activities involve children and young people in a way that their well-being, freedom and self-esteem can thrive. This approach is centred around relationships. Therefore, important factors of integrating active listening, expression, creativity, teamwork and supportive networks as part of the young person’s environment is a main consideration. [1].
For this reason, the supporting activities of Youth Prop Up should be affordable and interesting to the participants to cultivate their creativity and bring out their natural strengths. The activities were designed to focus on several key areas, such as thorough and sustainable work, working alongside youth work specialists within the respective network, and with training and mentoring through theoretical learning, practical examples and self-assessment.
The activities revolve around the participant in the present moment and focus on their interests and practical desires. All actions are based on the skills that the participants want to develop further in their lives. This enables them to take an active part in the direction of future activities, that they can them implement within their own lives outside of the programme.
The centres implementing Youth Prop Up are located throughout various regions within Estonia.

10. Youth Prop Up 
How?
The activities of Youth Prop Up concentrate on four main phases:
1. Identification of the youths through mobile youth work (e.g. outreach, internet, youth work services in open area) or networking.
2. Establishing a trusting contact with individuals in order to help them to come to terms with their wishes and ambitions.
3. Empowering the participants through the possibilities of youth work, in order to assist in developing their practical knowledge and skills, and facilitating their entry into labour market.
4. Keeping in regular contact with the participants for at least six months after their exit from the programme, for follow up support and assistance if required.
The Association of Estonian Open Youth Centres is the organisation responsible for the development and implementation of the Youth Prop
To gain the full benefit of being a participant in the programme each individual would need to remain active within the scheme for a minimum of one to six months, with exceptions. All steps are fully documented in the youth centres’ monitoring system of “Logbooks” which enables the facilitators to collect daily statistics and document their day-to-day activities with participants. The Logbook was established in order to allow all youth centres to collect and share data, resulting in reliable evidence-based statistics. Trends and successes can be monitored and shared across all zones, with proven strategies that could be implemented in other regions. Documentation of individual work is based on case files.

11. Youth Prop Up 

12. Youth Prop Up 
Additional information in english available here:

13. Movable occupational labs
2 occupational labs (with workshops) are available in all regions of Estonia.
In 2017 with the help of private sector organisation Merkuur occupational labs which introduce the wood and metallic work have been initiated. Young people need solutions which help them both practise and study about different working opportunities.
Target group: young people aged 10–15.

14. Movable occupational labs- mobile workshops

15. Movable occupational labs- mobile workshops
Additional information is available here:

16. Movable occupational labs- health sector
Virtual lab (360 degree video) to introduce health sector professions (nurse and bioanalyst)
Cooperation with universities/colleges and carreer services.
Overall 900 young people can take part of the workshops in all over Estonia.

17. Youth information fair- Teeviit

18. Youth information fair Teeviit 2017

19. Supporting youth initatives
The general objective of the program is to support youth initatives designed to develope communities. As a result, young people acquire new skills and experiences that will increase their competitiveness, prepare them to create their own opportunities, and be agents of change in their communities.
Target group: young people aged 7–26, who make up at least two-membered groups
The name of the programme is Nopi Üles (Pick up in english)

20. Supporting youth initatives- examples
Regular TV shows which are made by youth themselves- Kiviõli Rahva Ringhääling- youtube channel.
Different local level actitivities to develop local life.
Overviews in blog ( and Facebook page (

21. Supporting youth initatives- examples

22. Supporting youth initatives
Pilot-year (2016) results
During the year 2016
23 projects were implemented
93 young people participated in project teams
All projects received counseling
6 online and 1 offline project writing and project management trainings took place.
Implementer of the program is the Association of Estonian Open Youth Centres
The implemented projects overall number is 41.

23. Community practice in NGO-s
The general objective of the program is that students will participate in a short-term internship in some NGO.
As a result of the program, they will get better insight into the nature of the NGO and they can get a first work experience or first voluntary work experience.
Target group: students from grades 9–12.
The name of the program is Community practice

24. Community practice in NGO-s
The results of the program
In 2015, 418 young people participated in the program
In young people, 19 schools, 8 counties and 113 NGOs participated in the program.
In schools are in the program,
new students just started participating in the
program.
Implementer of the programme is Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations.
Overall 1104 youth have participated in the program.

25. The concept of smart youth work
Three main focus areas in smart youth work:
activities aimed at youths;
development needs of youth workers for implementing
smart youth work;
developing quality of youth work and a better knowledge
of youths using digital means.
English version is available here:

26. Thank you for listening!