LIKE
Life investment the Key to Employment
The Project
The project, through the identified problem in Bulgaria, seeks a new pan-European solution for achieving sustainable employment for the target group. A complex, integrative,
multidisciplinary approach will be created and implemented to attract and motivate the target group and build positive expectations and sustainable attitudes towards inclusion in life and employment. Through a number of factors, the “Hidden Likes” innovation program is aimed at increasing the confidence in the target youths and thus provoking their inclusion,
activation and support on the labor market, with regard on to the specificity of Roma partipants. The Hidden Likes Houses will create a space for professionals, NEETs and their
relatives to work together to remove the trust and integration of the target group into the work environment.This house of young people, which will be built in Bulgaria and will after
evaluation, in three more partner countries, will be developed on three levels: 1. Recogmition of present isolation through motivation and positive emphasis on the individual qualities of each individual through digital technologies and social networks; 2. Provision of psychological and social support through communication, volunteering, healthy lifestyle, achieving emotional stability, work with families; 3. Provision of support when looking for internships or employment through training of employers, realizing of contacts, and monitoring in the first year of work. Thus, as the metaphor of “hidden likes” suggests, the center will focus on exposing the hidden qualities of the targeted youth to the community and building cofidence in them. The multidimensional methodology will combine a set of support mechanisms to motivate, engage and support the target youth through the whole processs.
Project partners
The L.I.K.E. project consortium has seven partners across seven countries:
- Association “Sustainability of progressive and open communication” (SPOC) — Bulgaria (lead partner)
- Association PINS — Latvia
- Bodywhys — Ireland
- JOB Ltd. — Hungary
- Codici Social Cooperative — Italy
- Inspiring NGO (Hvetjandi NGO) HRIS — Iceland (expertise partner)
- Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Concurrent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders — Norway (expertise partner)
Project period
Project Index No.: 2018-1-086. End 2022
Project title: L.I.K.E. – Life Investment is the Key to Employment
- Planned implementation: 10 June 2018 to 9 December 2022
- Duration: 54 month
About
L.I.K.E. — Life Investment is the Key to Employment — is a 54-month transnational project designed to improve social inclusion and sustainable employment for young people with mental health problems who are outside education and work.
Purpose and target group
Funded under the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment in the Innovation and exploration area, the project addresses gaps in conventional employment programmes for young people with mental health challenges. It focuses on NEETs aged 15–29—particularly long-term non-working young adults aged 25–29—and includes a target of at least 10% Roma participants.
The project aims to involve at least 1,300 young people, including 1,040 young people with mental health problems. It also works with relatives, employers, professionals, volunteers, and institutions, recognising that employment barriers are shaped both by individual exclusion and by workplace stigma.
How the project works
The core intervention is the “Hidden Likes” Youth House model: safe, informal spaces where participants can access communication, mentoring, training, personal development, and support while preparing for employment.
The model combines three connected elements:
- Research and methodology: surveys, interviews, focus groups, and local studies identify participants’ interests, expectations, concerns, attitudes, and perceived benefits. This evidence informs a multidisciplinary employment-support methodology.
- Social activation and skill building: youth houses offer activities such as creative workshops, volunteering, healthy-lifestyle activities, work in nature and with animals, and support involving families, mentors, and specialists.
- Employment transition: employers receive information and training to reduce stigma; participants are connected with employers and receive mentoring during their first year of work.
Results
Main planned outputs and results
The project planned to:
- Establish four Hidden Likes Youth Houses: one in Bulgaria for three years and houses in Latvia, Hungary, and Ireland for 16 months each.
- Conduct research involving 550 NEETs, 180 relatives, and 50 employers.
- Reach and motivate 1,650 former NEETs to join the programme.
- Train 200 employers and deliver five anti-stigma campaigns.
- Support 380 former NEETs to start work.
- Create one innovative integrated support-and-employment system, evaluate it through field observations, and share it through conferences and an online European platform.
Project idea:
The project has emphasis on following groups to benefit from its work:
The project placed a strong emphasis on ensuring that the following groups benefited from its work:
- Unemployed, low-qualified, and low-skilled women living in rural areas who were interested in further developing their talents in the production of traditional handmade products were provided with opportunities to acquire the competences needed to start their own small-scale businesses. This was achieved through the design, development, and piloting of a Capacity Building course.
For all participants, the primary focus during the selection process was the relevance of their involvement to the project activities, particularly the pilot testing. Individuals with an interest in learning, sharing knowledge, participating in project activities, or staying informed about project developments were actively engaged. Particular importance was placed on the involvement of the partners’ networks and associated partners, which had direct links to the target groups. Using criteria such as limited entrepreneurial knowledge, labour market background, availability, language proficiency, and ICT skills, each partner selected individuals to participate in the various project activities.
