1.3.5 CSA in Action: Belfast, Northern Ireland

One Roma youth who was unemployed decided to start up his own business opening a café.

Most of the beneficiaries were satisfied with the support received by the mentor and the stakeholders of the CSA. The difficulties found during the implementation of their individual plans were mainly related to the lack of appropriate financial instruments for funding new enterprises, lack of European financial resources being at the end of the program period, and the high cost for renting and buying land for those who wanted start their own enterprise in the agricultural sector.

Results and follow up for CSA The CSA partners were very satisfied with the piloting phase results, especially those achieved by the beneficiaries. The Governance model was very inclusive; in fact some companies were included in the CSA, even if they joined at a later stage the group. The CSA was well structured and the division of tasks well balanced among partners. To have assigned a leading role in the coordination of the activities to an NGO was definitely a good decision. In fact, the Indi Roma 97 Foundation played a very important role in making links between Institutions and Companies and beneficiaries.

For the future, the CSA partners foresee to replicate this Governance model in order to build effective measures to fight and even prevent unemployment.

1.3.5 CSA in Action: Belfast, Northern Ireland

The territory

The Province of Northern Ireland is a region of the United Kingdom and is unique in that it shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland. This geographical circumstance has an important impact on Northern Ireland where all-Island cooperation is as important for Northern Ireland’s economy as is its relationship with the rest of the UK. Northern Ireland traditionally had an industrial economy, most notably in shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles but there has been a dramatic shift in manufacturing priorities, with the decline of traditional industries at the expense of high-tech, capital-intensive industries.

The population count of the region is 1.804.833 inhabitants. As for the unemployment rate, in the period January-March 2013 it was estimated at 8.1%. As a starting point in designing the CSA in Action, the partnership looked to deprivation measures to highlight areas of identified need.

The Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM) 2010 comprises seven domains of deprivation, each developed to measure a distinct form or type of deprivation. The NIMDM 2010 is a combination of all seven deprivation domains, weighted as follows:  Income deprivation 20%.  Employment deprivation 25%.

Health deprivation and Disability 15%. Educational skills and Training deprivation 15%. Proximity to services 10%. Living Environment 5%. Crime and disorder 5%.

Belfast was shown to have some of the most deprived areas in Northern Ireland. Furthermore, some of the schools that one of the CSA stakeholders worked with fell within these boundaries. Therefore it was decided to focus the piloting phase on the Belfast area, addressing young people who had a high academic potential but lacked the opportunity and/or support mechanisms to make informed decisions about their future.

The beneficiaries

The needs analysis showed that there are a range of existing programmes targeting those who are unemployed and/or at risk of exclusion due to lack of career management, personal development or employability skills. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel or develop a programme for groups that already had access to support, the CSA made a conscious decision to focus on students who were in their final years of secondary school and at a point in their academic life where they were making decisions about their future. The final beneficiaries were eleven secondary school students aged between 1517: six females and five males.

The piloting phase

RSM Tenon, Queen’s University Belfast and Young Enterprise Northern Ireland –the main partners of the CO.RE project in Northern Ireland – in cooperation with the Principals of St Dominic’s Grammar School, St Genevieve’s High School and Lagan College, as well as Ernst & Young, Invest NI, Property Link, PSNI Forensics Unit, NISRA, Sugafix Magazine, Belfast Media Group, Digital Circle and Robinson & McIlwaine Architects, together designed the piloting phase as a consequence of the CSA. The piloting phase was designed as a set of individualised activities with the following objectives:  Support beneficiaries to develop their CV and work-related skills and knowledge.  Strengthen beneficiaries self-awareness and confidence.  Stimulate critical thinking and reflection on the basis of the experience beneficiaries gained during an local internship.  Facilitate the acquisition of interpersonal and presentation skills.  Stimulate beneficiaries to reflect on personal values and ambitions to better plan their future.

The piloting phase was implemented as follows:

Learning areas

Sense of ownership of their individualised path Team work skills Confidence and selfawareness CV and work-related skills and knowledge Knowledge of the local labour market Technical and professional competences Interpersonal skills and presentation skills Knowledge of educational and career opportunities available at local level

Activities

Interviews run by Young Enterprise Northern Ireland in cooperation with the Schools, partner of the local initiatives Group building activities Group work and individual accompaniment measures Group work and one to one work

Individual preparation for the work experience One week individualised work experience and tutoring measures One week individualised work experience and tutoring measures

Group work at the end of the work experience

The stakeholders and their role in the CSA in action

The roles of all the stakeholders were defined in the CSA. RSM Tenon, Queen’s University Belfast and Young Enterprise Northern Ireland were in charge of the coordination of the CSA and CSA in Action. RSM Tenon was particularly active in relation to sourcing work experiences; Queen’s University Belfast was active in relation to career information activities, support and facilitating University experiences; Young Enterprise Northern Ireland was active particularly in relation to selecting and interviewing beneficiaries to the CSA in action measures. The Principals of St Dominic’s Grammar School, St Genevieve’s High School and Lagan College assisted in the selection and support beneficiaries. Ernst & Young, Invest NI, Property Link, PSNI Forensics Unit, NISRA, Sugafix Magazine, Belfast Media group, Digital Circle and Robinson & McIlwaine Architects were more involved in providing work placements and support to the beneficiaries during such experiences.

Results and Follow up

Results and follow up for beneficiaries At the end of the piloting experiences, beneficiaries developed self-awareness of their potential and a clear picture of the education and career opportunities present in the territory. They appreciated the initiative and felt that experience could have a further impact on their personal and professional development.