The “New Deal” project was part of an initiative for the support of employability and inclusion of young people from the Active Citizenship Program – EEAGRANTS, focused on the intervention typology: Entrepreneurship and Employment Creation.
The project was implemented between October of 2014 and March of 2016, and it’s one of several good examples of the Universities active participation in National and European projects, but this one was specifically focused on the promotion of employment and entrepreneurship.
The project aimed to contribute to the employability and inclusion of 30 young people in the agricultural sector, in the Central Alentejo region, with a view to economic and social dynamization of rural areas. Towards this specific objective, networking initiatives were promoted to promote innovation and employability, initiatives to strengthen entrepreneurship, and investments that contributed to the creation of employment and an increase in the region’s value chain of agricultural products.
Contact information of the main actors involved in the initiative
- Name and surname : Paulo Quaresma
- Position : Vice-Rector
- Organisation : Universidade de Évora
- Address : Largo dos Colegiais, nº 2, 7000-803, Évora
- Telephone : 266 760 975
- Email : investigar@scc.uevora.pt
- Website : www.investigar.uevora.pt
- Name and surname : José Afonso Alvito
- Position : Chairman of the Board of directors
- Organisation : Monte – Desenvolvimento Alentejo Central, ACE
- Name and surname : Olga Ramalho Passanha
- Position : General Director
- Organisation : AJASUL – Associação dos Jovens Agricultores do Sul
Relevance of the development of initiative in its specific context
The project aimed to achieve 2 results:
- A) Creation of Networks for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment, energized within the scope of the Territorial Strategy for the Central Alentejo region.
- B) Train 30 young people for employability in the agricultural sector.
The project has integrated a bilateral cooperation component, through agreements with two Norwegian research institutions, with differentiated but complementary characteristics: the Centre for Rural Research, with responsibilities in the field of entrepreneurship in rural areas and in particular in agriculture in regions with Marginal conditions, and the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, more directed towards the multi-functionality of agriculture and forestry and their integration into the landscape and so on other activities in the countryside, in addition to production.
Partners of the project: University of Évora, NGO Monte, and AJASUL (NGO). The IEFP, IP (Public Entity) integrated the partnership even without funding, and participated in all actions. Monte has developed interventions in partnership with entities identified individually in the context of the construction of the local development strategy.
Visibility of the action
Communication and Dissemination: The action consisted in (i) carrying out information activities, one of launching and one of closure of the project, with the participation of young people and all entities involved in the execution of the planned activities; (Ii) creation of the project page on the Monte-ACE website with information for dissemination of activities and dissemination of results; (Iii) creation of a Facebook page of the project, for a better interaction with the youth, in (iv) publication of press releases when carrying out the activities; In the creation of a panel / project board (vi) design and production of the project’s own materials, such as project image and logo, t-shirts, dossier / folders for training content.
Transferability
Reflection for the promotion of employability: the action consisted of meetings between entities that composed the thematic networks for the promotion of the Local Development Strategy [2014-2020] Alentejo Central da Monte, namely, (a) Food security and marketing of Proximity, (b) Small agricultural investments and land grants, (c) Entrepreneurship.
The reflection, in addition to involving the agents of the territory identified, also included the young people – the project’s target group. The aim was to foster reflection on the promotion of employability with specific moments of (i) preparing a diagnosis of needs and identifying opportunities, (ii) identifying innovative elements in the agricultural sector, namely in agri-food, (iii) (Iv) identification of criteria for access to funding opportunities along the lines of small agricultural investments managed by Monte, and (v) systematization of the reflections to promote the employability of young people, Region of Central Alentejo, constituting this one of the products of the project. The proposal to strengthen the competences of young people involved the preparation of a training plan integrated in action A2.2 and the mentoring inherent in the follow-up; Also implies the discussion about the training courses in the agricultural sector.
The University of Évora assumed the conceptualization and dynamization of the rural networks that participated in the reflection action to promote the employability of young people, and the participation of the partners was implicit in the same way. The University of Évora coordinated the analysis of the process and the results, against what was expected. The other partners assumed the design / production of the product resulting from the systematization of ideas.
This action provided for the participation of the bilateral cooperation partner, in one of the moments of reflection, with the objective of sharing knowledge in the area of employability in rural areas.
Sustainability
Dissemination of practices in the area of support to entrepreneurship: The action consisted in the dissemination of results developed in action A1.2 and of methodologies to support entrepreneurship, in the perspective of contributing to the increase of initiatives to create youth employment and to reinforce the Importance of the role of the entities of the territory for the incorporation of measures of insertion of young people in the labour market. The dissemination was evidenced through the participation of the promoter and partner entities in the fundamental points where they had representation, such as the National Rural Network, the working group of the Portuguese cooperation strategy for food security, the Camões Institute, the Portuguese Network for Sovereignty and Food and Nutrition Security (Food). It was also planned to disseminate the PROVE2 nucleus, the Universities and Polytechnic Institutes and the Student Forum, among other entities. The dissemination activities were the responsibility of all the elements of the partnership (Monte / UE-ICAAM / AJASUL / IEFP), through the networks that integrate and participate.
Support Centre to AFE: the action consisted in the revitalization of a Support Center for Agro-Food Entrepreneurship (AFE), the responsibility of Monte, and its development is articulated with the implementation of the Local Development Strategy [2014-2020] for the Central Alentejo region. The core was composed of two full-time technicians for better follow-up to the young, personalized and specific technical advice: follow-up in the preparation of the project; Legal and financial advice; Monitoring the process of access to microcredit; Information regarding sources of financing; And support for access to the stock exchange and small agricultural investments in the creation of their own jobs. The dynamization of the Nucleus was the responsibility of Monte.
Innovative character
We consider innovative the approach and the key actions of the project. They were A1, the dynamization of networks – the reflection of the agents of the territory to promote employability (identification of needs / opportunities and innovative elements), The creation of the exchange of ideas and the dissemination of practices; and A2, focused on the reinforcement of competences (transversal, technical, entrepreneurship) through specialized training, where an internship plan and visits of good practices were integrated, The provision of a set of support services and ongoing technical support to young people to facilitate job creation and access to land grants and small investment support.
Impact
Among other indirect impacts, we can underline the achieved the following 2 results:
A) Creation of Networks for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment, energized within the scope of the Territorial Strategy for the Central Alentejo region.
B) Training of 30 young people for employability in the agricultural sector.
