Dear Friends of the Regional Funds Mag,
CONGRATULATIONS to our fantastic Projects!
it is with a great satisfaction that I am announcing you that our Regional Funds Online Magazine, previously the Youth Employment and Regional Cooperation Online Mags, won an award!!!!
The Communication Awards 2023!
It is, for all of us, a great and emotional results after those years of collaboration, a success that we dedicate to our Projects and their engagement, because we wouldn’t have won it without their constant contributions, feeding the of the Mag.
Mateusz and Francesca, it was a surprise for them, received the award in Brussels during the Annual Communication Workshop, and their first thought was «we have to tell a big thank to the Projects and all the collaborators helping us».
Again, thank you. And we hope you will be proud of that as we are!
I am very happy to write to you in this moment, because of this great news, but also because, finally, I was able to participate to some physical events, talking and listening to a lot of people, which are now real friends. The nice news is that we will be present as well at some other future activities, where also the FMO is invited.
This was not to be taken for granted at the beginning. But we, all together, managed to go beyond the idea of a simple group of Projects, each one with their separated activities. And I hope I have been able to stress this concept when I saw some of you together.
During these meetings, the important opportunity we have is not only to evaluate you: in addition to that, indeed, we can touch with hands the impressive work that all the Projects are doing to find innovative solutions, two words that are not only remained impressed black on white on our papers or websites. And this is a great goal for all of us.
And guess… in all the sessions I participated to, I had the impression that the topics we are proposing to our readers perfectly fit. For sure you will have the occasion to read more, but I would like to re-cap at least three concepts that, in my opinion, are reflecting some of the most important and urging needs of our time: digitalization, green transition and skills.
Not surprisingly, this issue will deal with digital and green transitions and the challenges and/or opportunities brought to the labour market, calling for new skills of the workforce, because the need to improve and adapt skills became an imperative. And again, as we repeated several times, we are into the European Year of Skills and our Projects are perfect examples of how those competences could be emphasised. To have a confirmation, read our summary about the Conference organised by the European Year of Skills on 8-9 June, the Making Skills Count Conference.
Before ending this usual intro, in addition, I have waited for Mateusz and Francesca, which have been in Brussels for the Annual Communication Workshop organised by the FMO, since I was anticipated that one of the main topics discussed, together with the presentation of our Mag as best practice which turned into a fantastic award :), was related to AI and our use of those new tools. Human beings are a bit afraid of being practically substituted by intelligent machines, and I am afraid too. But the interesting and positive thing, which is related to digitalisation, is that we could learn new skills, adapting our competences to our changing societies and, basically, to our target groups and their specific needs, costumising our actions in order to reach greater results. What if we launch a new ‘topic of the months’ since AI is already an urging issue in the top of all agendas?
After all, mentioning Tom’s piece, we are leaving the Europe’s Digital Decade but, as Toms says, there are still societal gaps and divisions. Gaps which are related, again, to some of the targets we analysed during the Projects’ events, such as for example the rural young about which we talked in Napoli during the Track-IN conference. You see… everything is interrelated, exactly as our Projects are interlinked.
We are living a moment, or better an era, which could be compared to the invention of internet and the world wild web. If you agree with me, we can say out loud that it will be challenging, but needed, to concentrate our efforts more than ever. For this issue, I would like to ‘positively exploit’ two titles from SEPAL, which are in my opinion summarizing our actual era: ‘Learning digital skills: insufficient opportunities or reluctance?’ but…. ‘Developing digital powers: How youth are conquering the world of digital skills’! And I also discovered, that Raise YOUTH Project has launched a real Digital Toolbox to help build these digital capacities, an online repository of digital tools, trainings and other resources that can be used by young NEETs, entrepreneurs and companies alike. And it is not the only news I learnt while reading the rest of the contributions going towards the same direction. From the Digital Skills Initiatives of Project L.I.K.E., to the link between eco-sustainability and digitalization made by StayOn, or the one existing between digitalization and circular economy suggested by the Project Circular Based Waste Management, or again to the analysis made by Project YES!. I can only congratulate to our Projects for the rich set of insights provided, which come perfectly in time with our suggestions.
Therefore the only thing left to say is… go and read 🙂
And stay tuned for upcoming news and activities!
Gian Luca Bombarda
The Fund Director
