Evaluation of the Y-MED project
Italy, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt
Evaluation of the Y-MED project
September 2022 – June 2023
Description
The project aims to support the development and transfer of young people’s professional skills across Mediterranean countries and to facilitate their job-placement to ultimately promote their agency in sustainable development processes.
The first project edition supported the internship of young Moroccans at Italian enterprises based in Morocco. The second and third editions provided young students and graduates from Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt with the opportunity to develop their skills and carry out internships at companies in Italy. Upon their completion of the internship, the project facilitated the interns’ job placement in countries of origin. The Y-MED project is implemented by IOM Italy in coordination with IOM missions in Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.
Findings
The project was found to be relevant not only for its direct beneficiaries, interns and Italian companies, but also for the many public and private actors involved in employment and professional training policies.
Y-MED is the only project supporting a circular labour migration scheme between Italy on the one side and Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia on the other; it complements several interventions that sustain skills development and mobility between European and North African countries.
The project delivered its planned results of improving soft and technical skills of interns and raising the knowledge of Italian enterprises on cultural diversity and cross-cultural management issues. The main challenge in achieving results was related to the number of internships activated, which remained lower than initially planned.
The project’s management and learning systems proved to be appropriate to achieve results. However, in some countries, the choice of local partners did not allow having all the expertise required to achieve the same standards in implementing the different activities.
At the impact level, the project contributed to increasing the employability of interns and the Italian companies’ awareness of the value of skill circulation and cultural diversity. However, there is no evidence that the project has as of yet contributed to facilitating synergies between companies in Italy and North African countries, neither that it has increased the engagement of public and private sector stakeholders in skills development and mobility. The sustainability of results related to interns appears strong, while those concerning Italian companies present some limits.
Experts
Bernardo Venturi
Ylenia Rocchini
