DYW INSPIRE THE YOUTH STRATEGY IN HJORRING, DENMARK

The team at Developing the Young Workforce have been working in partnership with Hjorring Municipality in the North of Denmark to share best practice and inspire the creation of their youth strategy which was successfully launched in May 2019.

The partnership work began in April 2018 when a delegation from the municipality visited Edinburgh to understand how the area, specifically Midlothian, was tackling youth unemployment, how employers play a role in informing, inspiring and hiring young people and the impact this had.  This visit involved a trip to secondary schools, the local authority and hearing from DYW employer partners on why they are involved in shaping youth talent in the region.

After the first visit the team in Hjorring had worked on developing their strategy for youth employment and were keen to share their inspiration with careers staff, educators and employers.  The April visit was followed by a second visit in December 2018, this time employers, educators and careers staff from Hjorring were involved, 30 delegates in total.

Following the December visit a small group were invited to present at conference in Denmark.  Michelle Fenwick, Programme Director for DYW Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian, Robert Allen, HR Director for Apex Hotels and Mark Davidson, Deputy from Newbattle High School in Midlothian made the conference in April titled ‘The Scottish Inspiration’.

The day was fantastic, over 120 delegates and very motivational for all involved. The impact was felt straight away.

Robert Allen’s experience of working with education and recruiting young people onto apprenticeships as a pipeline of talent into the industry was noted to have been the inspiration to why the Hjorring employer group supporting their youth strategy have pledged to identify 50 employer partners by Christmas 2019. 

Programme Director Michelle Fenwick stated; ‘When similar challenges have been faced and are being faced working internationally to share learning and understanding can open up many opportunities to understand each other’s strengths. We do not always have the solutions and the international work has developed learning for all involved. It has been great to see a strategy evolve from the start to a year on and be part of it by sharing our experiences, I am sure over time there will be more we can learn from each other’
​
The local government in Hjorring agreed the strategy in May 2019 and work is well underway to make a difference to the lives of young people in the Hjorring Municipality. ​​