Education can provide the opportunity for millions of people to overcome poverty, lead healthy and productive lives and contribute to global stability and prosperity.
It is in this context that the European Training Foundation (ETF), in partnership with EU institutions and international actors, is organizing a two-day conference entitled “Promoting Social Inclusion” on 2-3 December 2010 in Brussels.
The purpose of the event is to enhance policy dialogue and cooperation for promoting social inclusion and combating poverty through education, training and work.
The event will build upon existing experience in EU neighbouring countries, the European Union, the ETF and others on this topic to consider how education, training and employment systems can better promote social inclusion and combat poverty, and identify future avenues for cooperation.
The conference will consist of plenary discussions and thematic workshops on youth employment, the gender dimension and partnerships for social inclusion. The conference will also make use of web-based interactive tools for communication in order to involve, virtually, more participants in the debates.
The workshop “Youth Employability” will provide space for dialogue and the sharing of innovative ideas and practices for promoting social inclusion and combating poverty among youth and young adults, focusing particularly on their preparedness for getting and retaining employment. The discussion will be directed at institutions as well as policies and processes, which address youth employability as an important means to reduce youth inequality and marginalisation in the labour market.

By: Jasmine Elnadeem