The YOUMIG partnership gathered for the fifth time in the project’s lifetime to review progress and make plans together for entering the last stretch or the last seven months of project implementation. Taking account of the many tasks and activities still ahead in the various thematic tracks YOUMIG is following, partners were busy making presentations and giving extensive feedback on each phase of development.

After a warm welcome from the director of the hosting Maribor Development Agency Mihael Leskovar, colleagues of the Lead Partner Hungarian Central Statistical Office came forward one by one, planning what they called “the project’s legacy”. Planning for the future is an important task, and partners reviewed where research is aimed to stand in six months, a year, and perhaps even five years down the road. They were then asked to brainstorm in groups the desired outcomes of social research, statistical development and local capacity building exercises – the three main pillars of YOUMIG – related to youth migration in the Danube region. Plans were also made to harmonise ideas and guidelines for writing a set of locality-specific recommendations that could form the part of a strategy of a municipality which embarks on tackling the impacts of young people’s migration.

Next, the enormous efforts of statistician partners over the past year were shown off by the projection of the data tables that emerged from coordination and data exchange exercises across eight YOUMIG countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia). These activities will contribute to the presentation of complex processes in migration in a concise, logical way across the countries of the region. Steps were outlined for the final development of YOUMIG’s user-friendly information tool, the Data Toolkit, which is designed to put together a huge amount of information regarding demographics and migration-related data together at the disposal of its non-expert future user.

Partners also reported on progress made in two of YOUMIG’s local services-based developments: the local pilot actions and the one-stop-shop services implemented at seven YOUMIG partner municipalities. Extensive feedback was given to each experience of the locally-specific pilot actions, including positive outcomes and challenges or lessons to be learnt from these test programmes connected to services offered to youth involved in some type of migration: incoming, outgoing or return. Choosing the right programme to implement was no easy task in itself, and some partners reported difficulties with even finding channels to reach the target group to whom their services were addressed. Nevertheless, the small-group discussions helped the knowledge exchange which YOUMIG partners already move in comfortably, having established a working relationship over the course of the project.

On the second day, one of the most important project outcomes were discussed by partners: multi-level governance schemes, or ways in which often remote limbs of administration can be connected or brought closer together for the benefit of information exchange and evidence-based policy making related to youth migration issues. A plenary discussion led by activity-leading colleagues from the Institute of Social Sciences, Serbia, was followed by country-by-country presentations highlighting key points and achievements.

Partners were given helpful tips on communicating project results effectively and management guidelines were also shared. Maribor offered a welcoming atmosphere to the YOUMIG network, and partners left with a clear vision of where the project was going in its last, busy but fruitful, period.

Visit the gallery for more photos of the Maribor meeting and follow our stories on social media!