Dear all,
Our Action is about to complete one year, in October. In hasn’t been an easy one. With the on-going pandemic, our ability to meet and improve ways of collaboration has been seriously compromised. Moreover, the commitment of stakeholders with our goals is also being challenged by the restrictions associated to the COVID-19.
To manage our Action under these circumstances, the Action Core Group tried to follow a central, key principle: adaptation. Faced with the impossibility to meet on a regularly basis, Working Groups have moved to online meetings and webinars, in order to ensure that the first year deliverables will be ready in December. We also started to work in parallel initiatives, to make sure the Action members could interact, while widening the Action’s audience. For instance, we organized the Summer 2020 Webinar Program, running 11 webinars in five weeks, in June and July. The initiative had a relevant impact, involving many participants outside the Action (please, check the numbers provided in this newsletter). We also conducted an international survey on the impact of COVID-19 on NEETs which is still going on.
Unfortunately, during the next Grant Period, our Action will be pressured to adapt even further. The conditions for international physical meetings will not improve in the upcoming months, meaning that we will have to be creative in order to find ways to make a proper use of our budget. Online meetings and conferences will certainly be the rule. But new ways of collaboration, through publications and training will also be considered. This means that from October, we expect to have several parallel calls open to participation for publishing opportunities, training and grants for local (national) events.
Under these very uncertain circumstances, we are doing our best to deliver the best networking and collaboration opportunities we can to all members. We expect you to be involved and to adapt to these demanding conditions as well. With a strong, collective effort, we will for sure achieve our goals.
Best regards
Francisco Simões & Gabriela Neagu
(Chair and Vice-Chair of the Rural NEET Youth Network)