UfM activities in Turin promote digitalisation and youth employment

• The UfM Secretariat co-organised two activities in Turin, the Workshop on Platform Economy together with the German Development Cooperation and the European Training Foundation as well as the 6^th Meeting of the UfM Community of Practice on Youth Employment in the Southern Mediterranean.
• The Euro-Mediterranean Region has enormous human capital, yet the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) remains structurally high, especially in Southern Europe and the MENA region. Digitalisation and connectivity remain both skewed and insufficient in the Southern Mediterranean.

12-14 December 2023, Turin – The Union of the Mediterranean partnered with the German Development Cooperation and the European Training Foundation to organise the UfM Workshop on New Economic Sectors focused on Platform Economy in Turin, Italy on 12 December 2023. The workshop focused on the opportunities and threats associated with platform economy in terms of its social and economic impact, the gap in skills, and policy responses.

Participants identified critical success factors for platform economy and the potential of entrepreneurship in the region, and their recommendations are expected to influence the upcoming UfM Digital Transformation Conference on 18-19 December 2023 in Tanger, Morocco.

This event was followed on 13 and 14 December 2023 by the 6^th Meeting of the UfM Community of Practice on Youth Employment in the Southern Mediterranean at the ETF premises in Turin. It focused on work-based learning, career guidance and counselling, as well as skill development for new forms of work. Participants visited Talent Garden, an organisation that promotes learning and networking opportunities in the digital ecosystem, and OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, a centre for contemporary culture, innovation and business acceleration.

These events are a response to the Ministerial Declaration emanating from the UfM Ministerial on Employment and Labour in Marrakech in 2022, which recognised the challenges associated with digital labour platforms and stressed the need to “ensure that people can realise their potential and contribute to the digital transformation of society,” while also signalling a desire to “exchange best practices on new forms of work, such as teleworking and digital labour platform work.”

Outcome Document: UfM Workshop on New Forms of Work: Platform Economy 12 December 2023-Turin, Italy

Outcome Document: 6th UfM Meeting of the UfM Community of Practice on Youth Employment in the Southern Mediterranean 13-14 December 2023 – Turin, Italy