Effective Interventions for Unemployed Young People in Europe

Tomáš Sirovátka is a Professor of Social Policy at Masaryk University, where he is currently heading the Institute for Public Policy and Social Work. He is interested in analysing labour market and social inclusion policies, especially comparative research aimed at exploring the social policies in the Central European countries.Henk Spies is currently director of +Confidence, a SME involved in research, consultancy and training in the social sector, both domestically and internationally. He was a consultant on the reorganisation and development of new client approaches in social services in the Netherlands and Norway.

• Introduction (Tomáš Sirovátka, Henk Spies, Jill Robinson, Ajmal Hussain and Helen Higson) Chapter 1. A new perspective on activating young people (Tomáš Sirovátka and Henk Spies) Chapter 2. A theory of effective policies on social exclusion (Henk Spies) Chapter 3. The Loft: Birmingham (Jill Robinson, Ajmal Hussain, Helen Higson and Gemma Commane) Chapter 4. The Loft: Shelter of Ideas in Athens (Maria Pothoulaki and Pyrros Papadimitriou) Chapter 5. Learning by Working (Tomáš Sirovátka, Jana Válková and Ondřej Hora) Chapter 6. Transfer of an integrated approach for the improvement of employment prospects among Roma youth in Sofia (Marko Hajdinjak) Chapter 7. Entrepreneurs of their own lives: Buzinezzclub Rotterdam as an alternative route to the social inclusion of young people (Maarten Davelaar and Henk Spies) Chapter 8. The Youth Employment Agency in Hamburg: a needs-oriented service innovation? (Anne-Marie Gehrke and Simon Güntner) Chapter 9. Brightful in Malmö: finding one’s own way (Jonas Alwall and Pia Hellberg Lannerheim) Chapter 10. Comparing innovative policies and practices for activating young people (Tomáš Sirovátka, Henk Spies, Jana Válková and Ondřej Hora) Chapter 11. Conclusions: towards a paradigm shift in activating young people (Tomáš Sirovátka, Jana Válková and Henk Spies)

'The book goes far beyond known facts when giving insights on innovative practice of activating labour market policies for young unemployed. The analysis of social projects to combat inequalities in different European cities provides a most inspiring view on success and failure. It infally underlines that policy intervention should not treat young people as a problem but as potentials.' - Irene Dingeldey, University of Bremen 'Based on a critical review of mainstream activation approaches and building on debates about tailor-made, personalized activation services, this book elaborates the argument that the match between people’s needs/ambitions and the characteristics of interventions constitutes the core mechanism in making activation policies effective. By analyzing the theoretical principles underlying this mechanism, providing data from casestudies and discussing policy implications, the book offers stimulating reading for a broad audience.' - Rik van Berkel, Utrecht University