This report concludes work within the Nordic Thematic Group on Sustainable Rural Regional Development as part of the Nordic Co-operation Programme on Regional Development 2017–2021. The working title of the project is “A rural perspective on spatial disparities of education and employment outcomes”. Part of the curiosity that drove this project was to understand better the situation of vulnerable and marginalized youth in rural areas of Norden, which arose from the Nordic Arctic Working Group 2013–2017 where we identified some local and regional processes with serious mismatch problems relating to youth education and validity in the local and regional labour market.
Placing YOUTH IN FOCUS is response to the Nordic Council of Minister’s cross-sectional strategy on Children and Youth 2016–2022 as well as the Nordic Co-operation Programme for Regional Development and Planning 2017–2021. It stresses the importance of promoting social sustainability in relation to regional development. The Icelandic chair in 2019 has young people as one of three main priorities. It relates to SDG4, the fourth UN sustainable development goal, in that young people should have a key role in achieving the goal, they should be encouraged to actively participate in society and should have access to important decisions shaping the future (Norræna ráðherranefndin, 2018). Furthermore, the project also relates strongly to both European, Nordic and in some cases national policy emphasis on inclusive labour markets for youth with reduced functional capacities.
This report concludes work within the Nordic Thematic Group on Sustainable Rural Regional Development as part of the Nordic Co-operation Programme on Regional Development 2017–2020. The working title of the project is “A rural perspective on spatial disparities of education and employment outcomes”.
