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Societal impact through youth empowerment: Economic Opportunities for All initiative grows into next phase

This month, NN Group and Junior Achievement (JA) Europe announced they will extend their partnership for the ‘Economic Opportunities for All’ initiative for another two years.

Under the partnership, NN Group and JA Europe will implement the ‘Economic Opportunities for All’ initiative, aimed at supporting young people who have a lack of resources and opportunities. With the initiative, the young people can improve their employability through targeted interventions, including soft skills and technical skills training, labour market access, and engagement with employers.

The joint initiative will be first implemented in the Netherlands, Romania, Greece and Spain. It aims to reach more than 221,000 young people by 2024 and help them transition from education to employment across the four countries. JA will look to expand the initiative to new countries during the upcoming two years of implementation.

Throughout the initiative (2021-24), JA will support young people to:

• Get inspired and become more aware of entrepreneurship, their future ambitions and career path;
• Prepare for the future of work by building on their skills, attitudes and competences;
• Succeed by applying their competences in the real world and by enduring change in circumstances such as job placements, start-up creation and self-employment.

Michael, Giannis and George, founding members and responsible for packaging and managing orders at 3s SCHOOL SYNERGY SNACKS in Greece said about the initiative: “We are a group of young people with disabilities who wanted to have a better professional future. Everything started from an educational programme, in cooperation with Junior Achievement Greece, where we had the opportunity to create a virtual business. Our experience led us to the idea of creating our own company called 3s SCHOOL SYNERGY SNACKS and follow our dreams. Labour opportunities for youth with disabilities are few and the barriers are many. We are very happy that we managed to create our own business. We hope that new positions will be created for other graduates of special education schools.”

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About JA Europe 

JA Europe is the largest organisation in Europe dedicated to preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship. JA Europe is a member of JA Worldwide® which for 100 years has delivered hands on, experiential learning in entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy. JA creates pathways for employability, job creation and financial success. Together we work in 41 countries in Europe, offering 4 million learning experiences every year in core programmes and inspiring millions more through online events and activities.

About NN Group

NN Group is an international financial services company, active in 11 countries, with a strong presence in a number of European countries and Japan. Our roots lie in the Netherlands, with a rich history that stretches back over 175 years. With our 15,000 employees, NN provides retirement services, pensions, insurance, banking and investments to approximately 18 million customers.

At NN, we do business with the future in mind and contribute to a world where people can thrive for many generations to come. We put our resources, expertise and networks to use for the advancement of our communities. NN is committed to improving people's financial, mental and physical health by supporting numerous initiatives in the 11 countries where we operate.