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The Networks of Mediterranean Youth (NET-MED Youth) Project is a regional project funded by the European Union and implemented by UNESCO from 2014 until 2018. It followed a comprehensive approach through interdisciplinary activities in different thematic areas aimed at advancing youth legal and policy frameworks, enhancing youth representation in media, and reinforcing youth employability and skills in response to the challenges experienced by young women and men in the region regarding their transition to full autonomous citizenship in the civic, political, economic, social and cultural spheres. NET-MED Youth contributed to the creation of an enabling environment for young women and men from nine of the Southern countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy (i.e. Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia) to develop their competencies, to exercise their rights and meaningfully engage as active citizens in the development and implementation of national strategies on youth. The evaluation found that, overall, the NET-MED Youth Project was a successful initiative and created a momentum for Youth empowerment in the respective beneficiary countries. Its high relevance in the context of the Agenda 2030 resulted not least from UNESCO’s longstanding experience and good practices in working with youth organizations and youth-related stakeholders through youth engagement as partners and beneficiaries.

The Project thus constituted a significant contribution to the UNESCO Operational Strategy on Youth 2014-2021. Gender equality was a central concern of NET-MED Youth, and systematically embedded throughout all activities as a transversal feature. In line with the Agenda 2030 commitment of leaving no one behind, several activities focused on issues of disadvantaged or traditionally underserved groups, such as youth with disabilities. Challenges identified are mainly related to the often difficult and in some countries unstable political environments. Together with the needs-based and rather context-specific approach in each country, this also affected to some extent the full implementation of the regional perspective. Furthermore, in the absence of a coherent and explicit longer-term exit strategy, the structures and results achieved risk not to be maintained, or scaled up over time, despite the strong local commitment and ownership created over the project duration. Through successfully incorporating youth aspirations in its design and implementation, the NET-MED Youth Project represented a new and innovative approach to youth engagement and empowerment in an interdisciplinary fashion, and should thus be considered as a basis for new thinking on which to build in the future. The high potential for replication of the NET-MED Youth Project, as a continuation or as an example of good practice for a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach is thus to be further explored.