Enabling vulnerable youth in rural areas not in education, employment or training

This report concludes work within the Nordic ThematicGroup on Sustainable Rural Regional Developmentas part of the Nordic Co-operation Programmeon Regional Development 2017–2021. Theworking title of the project is “A rural perspectiveon spatial disparities of education and employmentoutcomes”. Part of the curiosity that drovethis project was to understand better the situationof vulnerable and marginalized youth in ruralareas of Norden, which arose from the Nordic ArcticWorking Group 2013–2017 where we identifiedsome local and regional processes with seriousmismatch problems relating to youth educationand validity in the local and regional labour market.Placing YOUTH IN FOCUS is a response to theNordic Council of Minister’s cross-sectional strategyon Children and Youth 2016–2022 as well asthe Nordic Co-operation Programme for RegionalDevelopment and Planning 2017–2021. It stressesthe importance of promoting social sustainabilityin relation to regional development. The Icelandicchair in 2019 has young people as one of three mainpriorities. It relates to SDG4, the fourth UN sustainabledevelopment goal, in that young people shouldhave a key role in achieving the goal, they should beencouraged to actively participate in society andshould have access to important decisions shapingthe future (Norræna ráðherranefndin, 2018). Furthermore,the project also relates strongly to bothEuropean, Nordic and in some cases national policyemphasis on inclusive labour markets for youthwith reduced functional capacities.