West Lothian Chamber of Commerce are committed to ensuring our future workforce are given the opportunity to develop their skills to their full potential.
Over the past 2 years we have been developing an ERASMUS + funded project called Employable Young People with five European partners from Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece and Romania.
We have designed the EYP programme to provide a new way to deliver youth work and to support the personal and professional development of NEETs, aged 16-24, while actively engaging local stakeholders to facilitate their social and work inclusion.
What is the EYP Programme?
The EYP programme aims to improve self-esteem, interpersonal skills, behaviour, and attitude while helping the young people overcome practical barriers. The programme will then be further used to signpost participants to appropriate vocational or education providers that suit the individual’s needs. By looking at the whole person, the programme helps to create a more positive mindset for their future ambitions.
The project is also aimed at trainers, employers and influencers working with young people furthest from the workplace. The toolkit and manual created for the programme will allow them to extend the support and services available to young people who have fallen out of mainstream education and/or are unable to enter the workforce.
The EYP Manual and Toolkit designed for the programme was researched and created by West Lothian Chamber and the programme partners, who are made up of training providers, teachers and business professionals. By having a mix of occupations and backgrounds it allowed the creation of an in-depth guide for the programme with detailed methodology, instructions and valid reasoning behind the activities involved. This will allow future users to use the material to integrate the programme into their organisation to offer more opportunities and links with our future workforce.
By working on programmes such as EYP, we can ensure that our young people have a clearer pathway which will benefit them in the social and employment aspects of their life.
What is next?
The programme is now piloting throughout Europe with our partners and we are looking to start our pilot here in West Lothian this Autumn. The pilot, using the manual and toolkit will be launched with the help of local education organisations and businesses. After the successful completion of the pilots, the EYP Program will then be ready to be integrated into any youth projects, businesses and educational institutes that have the same aim.
West Lothian Chamber will be hosting all 5 of our partners and 25 young people from Europe for a week of development and celebration in November. This trip will allow the young people involved to meet and experience the Scottish culture including a trip to Scottish Parliament and Edinburgh Castle. To commemorate the trip, we will be hosting an event to showcase the programme and toolkit, the benefits it created and highlight those young people involved and celebrate their achievements.
Want to know more about the EYP Programme? Please visit
www.eypprogram.com or contact Nicole Scott, Chamber Co-Ordinator on
nicole.scott@wlchamber.com
