[04 April 2012] - The 8th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance was held in Berlin, Germany from 20 to 21 March 2012. The event brought together some 200 representatives of local partnerships, government officials, local leaders, youth organisations, social entrepreneurs, business representatives, trade unions and academics to review how local development actors are adapting to this new reality and the innovations emerging on the ground to respond to these new challenges. The Forum was held in co-operation with the German Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States, the Senate of Berlin Department for Labour, Integration and Women’s Issues, the German Federal Employment Agency and gsub mbH - Social Business Consultancy Corporation.

On behalf of Economica, Mr. Le Duy Binh, economist and policy analyst attended the event and presented the a case study on youth employment through local economic development in Quang Nam. He also participated in extended meetings and activities to contribute to the strategy of the OECD LEED on  “Partnership for Youth - Getting the young into jobs and business for successful working life” which took place after the forum.

In reality, the transition from education to work is not easy for many young people, particularly when it comes to finding sustainable employment with progression opportunities. While many OECD countries have recently put in place new national policies to support youth, they will be more effective if they are implemented in a coordinated way at local level. Providing jobs for youth requires place specific cross sectoral responses involving different local players (schools, VET, universities, employment services, employers, not-for-profit organisations, regional and local authorities, and social partners) as part of wider local development strategies.

At the same time, it will be important for industry groups, colleges and employment agencies to work together to ensure that young people have the right skills and accurate careers guidance as to opportunities in the local economy, and career ladders to support employment progression. Many localities are putting in place programmes to attract and retain talented and skilled youth to support the growth of emerging or existing competitive advantage sectors. Skills utilisation in the workplace is a particular issue for young people – if talents are not spotted young, long term career trajectories can suffer.

For some young people, starting up their own business (including social enterprises) can be a viable alternative to dependent labour. Success here requires investment in entrepreneurship skills, creation of entrepreneurial attitudes as well as start-up and early-stage business development support.

The valuable knowledge obtained from the Forum has been further shared with other stakeholders in Vietnam.