‘Promoting a research-policy nexus in the field of youth social inclusion: a case of a joint effort in the context of EU’s 7 th Framework Projects’ UNESCO MOST Workshop, session3 Paris, UNESCO HQ, 25-26 March 2013
� Academic researchers often complain that policy makers ignore their work ◦ policy makers know they can be more convincing if their arguments are ‘evidence-based’ and reflect social reality as reported in academic research � Social scientists can tell policy makers ◦ what works and what does not ◦ what the impact of policies has been ◦ what the outcomes of planned laws and policy measures are likely to be � Both parties have their own dilemmas to solve ◦ to better bridging efforts between research, policy and practice
� Are looking for a balance between policy frameworks and social practice � Follow European guidelines and national / regional / local objectives � Combine evidences from social practice with their political ideas and agendas � their logic of common sense and personal mindsets reflect social contexts where they are embedded � Solve dilemma between the immediate and longer-term effects of policy � instead of forwardlook, they often stick on ‘firefighting’ � emerging forms of multi-stakeholder governance; � notion of inclusive societies � a resource for bridging policy, practice and research
� Serve the home society as well as the strategic aims of the Social Europe � Contribute to both response-mode and policy-driven research ◦ Academic excellence ◦ Policy relevance � Data become information after they are interpreted within a particular theoretical framework ◦ social contexts matter Challenge for social scientists � integrate the scientific ‘hard’ knowledge and extra-scientific (soft) knowledge of policy-makers and interest groups � multiple translations
� EU Youth Strategy: European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018) � The EU ‘Strategic Research Roadmap’ 2011-2013 ◦ Incl a Youth Cluster of 5 research projects on youth social exclusion funded from EU 7FP (2008-2011) � 17 European countries (11 ‘old’ and 6 ‘new’ democracies) � youth groups at the margins of society (with migrant background, from public care, homeless or at risk of homelessness) � quantitative and qualitative methodologies
� Two experts (social scientists) were chosen by EC DG R&I to lead the process ◦ to evaluate the research projects in the formed cluster ◦ to organize workshops of researchers for discussing research evidences and policy implications ◦ to carry out a policy conference for researchers meeting stakeholders ◦ to draft an evidence-based policy review of research results. � The process was supervised by EC academic officer
� To discuss research evidences and policy solutions � To give input to Policy Review (A) Initial questions � ◦ What are the policy issues policy issues that your project is dealing with? policy issues policy issues ◦ What are the disadvantages of youth excluding them disadvantages of youth excluding them disadvantages of youth excluding them disadvantages of youth excluding them from the society and the citizenship – in terms of the youth agency and the structure, e.g. policy gaps, dysfunctional practices, individual inabilities? ◦ What are the expected policy outcomes policy outcomes? policy outcomes policy outcomes ◦ What are the new solutions new solutions new solutions new solutions and good practices that could break the circle of disadvantages as evidences from your study (‘ the evidences that matter’ )?
� (B) Creation of synergy and common language ◦ What did we learn from the scientific policy relevant advancements of the Youth cluster projects? ◦ What are the general factors creating disadvantages in youth? ◦ What are the focuses needing policy interventions? ◦ What are the positive messages from practice and policies? � The output ◦ N Negative N N egative egative egative and positive evidences of policies and practices and positive evidences of policies and practices and positive evidences of policies and practices of youth and positive evidences of policies and practices on the margins of 17 European societies
� Objectives ◦ to put research, policy and practice into dialogue ◦ to reinforce the ‘common language’ ◦ to discuss the Policy Review (draft) � Participants came from ◦ youth research, youth policy and youth practice � The main focus: social inclusion opportunities of youth with biographical disadvantages
� Overviews the reasons of precariousness of socially excluded youth and formulates the policy issues � Visualises the policy challenges needed to produce greater social inclusion � Highlights policy implications for cross-border policy transfer � Contributes with research-based recommendations
� Increase in formal support, protection and encouragement � to open up more opportunities for social inclusion of the excluded youth ◦ � Integration of policies and empowerment of their inclusive character � to improve the accessibility to education and labour market of the excluded youth ◦ groups � Promotion of citizenship and participation of precarious youth � to empower youth agency and encourage solidarity between youth and society ◦ The EU policy challenge The EU policy challenge lies in youth mainstreaming and youth The EU policy challenge The EU policy challenge budgeting
� European Commission (2012) ‘Social inclusion of youth on the margins of society. Policy review of research results.’ Drafted by Dagmar Kutsar and Helena Helve. EC, 2012 http://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/pdf/social-inclusion-of- youth_en.pdf
Cluster of five research projects on the social inclusion of young people, financed by the SSH EU 7 th FP ◦ YiPPEE: ‘Young People from a Public Care Background: pathways to education in Europe’. (UK, DK, HU, SE, SP) ◦ CSEYHP: ‘Combating Social Exclusion among Young Homeless Populations: a comparative investigation of homeless paths among local white, local ethnic groups and migrant young men and women, and appropriate reinsertion methods’. (UK, PT, CZ, NL) ◦ EUMARGINS: ‘On the Margins of the European Community – Young adult immigrants in seven European countries’ (NO, SE, UK, SP, EE, FR, IT). ◦ EDUMIGROM: ‘ Ethnic differences in education and diverging prospects for urban youth in an enlarged Europe’ (HU, CZ, DK, FR, DE, RO, SK, SE, UK). ◦ YOUNEX: ‘Youth, Unemployment, and Exclusion in Europe: A multidimensional approach to understanding the conditions and prospects for social and political integration of young unemployed’. (CH, DE, IT, FR, SE, PL, PT). � 11 countries of old democracies; 6 countries of new democracies � main political approaches in Europe are represented
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