EFDN Staff Exchange; Scoring for Jobs in Sweden great success

From 22 to 26 October 2018, Staff members of Feyenoord Rotterdam, Montrose in the Community, Greenock Morton in the Community. Vitesse, Rosenborg Trondheim and host IF Elfsborg participated in the “Scoring for Employability” Staff Exchange of EFDN. The aim was to share best practices and present their employability programmes to enhance the quality of the employability projects of their clubs.

Everyone travelled to Boras, Sweden on Monday the 22 October. On the 2nd day of the Staff Exchange began with a general presentation of IF Elfsborg followed by a short introduction and presentation from all other clubs. After lunch, it was time for the Staff members to attend the first study visit of the employability project of IF Elfsborg project; Work together. Jan Ryrlen of IF Elfsborg presented the methodology they use in the project and later on, everyone two companies in the area where the staff members had the possibility to ask questions to two local participants of the project. Afterwards, all the Staff members returned to the IF Elfsborg office where all the participant started with a group assignment. In this group assignment, all staff members worked together to develop a new European Programme “Refugee integration & Employability.”

The third day started with another Study Visit – Future Together. Staff members of all the clubs visited a school at Sjöboskolan in Boras, one of the schools that provides additional support for adults both inside and outside of the classroom in cooperation with IF Elfsborg social initiative project “Future together”.

Michiel Schneider from Feyenoord Rotterdam stated after the second Study Visit: This project from IF Elfsborg is a win-win-win; you get people that are unemployed closer to the labour market, the name of the club is being associated with the positive programme, and you have children that benefit from a better environment in school and the school themselves that benefit from being associated with the club and the positivity that this club brings.

Later on, clubs of Montrose, Greenock, Rosenborg Trondheim and Vitesse presented their employability programmes and they all delivered practical sessions of their programme to provide all the Staff Members a better understanding about the delivery of their employability programme within their local Community. After a long day of theoretical and practical sessions, all the members attended the U19 UEFA Youth League game between IF Elsborg and Reykjavik.

On the fourth day, two staff members of the national agency of Erasmus Plus in Sweden joined the last programme day of the Staff Exchange. They were very impressed by all the programmes and the community engagement of all the EFDN members. In the morning it was time for Feyenoord Rotterdam to present their employability programme and deliver their practical session. In the afternoon, all Staff members worked together on the group assignment and presented their work to the other staff members. After these presentations, everyone participated in a group discussion, how the two developed programmes could be linked together, and what the following steps could be to implement their designed project within their clubs. After the final evaluation, all participants received their Erasmus Plus Youth Pass and had the chance to visit the City of Boras.

EFDN would like to thank IF Elfsborg for hosting the Staff Exchange and all the participating clubs for their input and sharing their knowledge and best practices with other clubs. The exchange was possible thanks to the co-funding of the Erasmus Plus Programme of the European Union.