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HOMERe - 2nd Phase

Duration 
2 Years
Budget 
2 624 847 €

High Opportunity for Mediterranean Executive Recruitment, HOMERe, improves the cross-cutting skills and increases the employability of Mediterranean high-profile students currently in their last year of study before graduation. The project aims to tackle youth unemployment and underemployment and help those taking part in the project to secure a graduate position that is relevant to their qualifications and is in their own country.

HOMERe uses internship mobility as a tool to combat the skills gap that has been identified as one of the region’s main obstacles when it comes to hiring young people.  Despite their solid academic backgrounds, graduates often do not have the soft skills that potential employers are looking for, such as teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, etc. According to World Bank data, 40 per cent of employers in the formal private sector in the Middle East and North Africa point out the skills gap as a major hindrance to business operations and stable growth. HOMERe internships last, on average, for six months and are intended to be structured with pre-determined tasks and responsibilities.

Through its extended network of high-level academic institutions on both sides of the Mediterranean (engineering and management schools as well as universities), HOMERe aims to attract transnational private companies that operate in the Mediterranean region and are searching for brilliant colleagues. The programme provides help in the identification, preparation and mentoring of appropriately qualified students, while the host companies commit to allocating a tutor to their interns and to pay them a nominal monthly allowance.

But by far the most innovative aspect of the project is that participating companies must consider employment opportunities in the intern’s country of origin after the successful completion of the internship (local branch, subsidiary, provider, etc.).

Nine Euro-Mediterranean countries are currently involved in the project: Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, Morocco and Tunisia.

Learn more

HOMERe Leaflet

Project Snapshot

Flyer HOMERe Entreprise (Fr)

Objectives

  1. Support youth employment - specifically of young graduates - through an international internship programme focused on the Mediterranean region.
  2. Equip students with transversal skills relevant to the labour market and facilitate education-towork transition in the formal economy.
  3. Create mobility opportunities for youth thus contributing to foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding across the Mediterranean.
  4. Help employers, in particular Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) employers, identify relevant student profiles from the region.
  5. Enable youth, after the internship, find employment matching their qualifications in their home country hence promoting brain circulation.

Activities

  • Prospection and dissemination of internship offers that meet the following quality criteria:
    • Well-structured assignments of a duration of up to six months,
    • Targeting international student profiles from the Mediterranean region,
    • Under the continuous guidance of an internship advisor,
    • Conditioned to the provision of a nominal monthly allowance by the company.
  • Pre-selection of appropriate profiles of students, the final selection being left to the decision of the employer.
  • Logistical support and facilitation of legal formalities in close link with national authorities.
  • Final assessment of the intern through an oral examination in his or her original country of study.
  • Deliverance of HOMERe internship certificate upon successful completion of the internship.

Partners