The Annual Conference of the project HOMERe for 2019 took place in Marseille on 21 June 2019 under the theme “Employment and Employability – Adequacy to the Mediterranean labor market”.
The Conference was organized by HOMERe France, HOMERe Regional Consortium, the University of Western Brittany, BUSINESSMED (Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises), the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association – EMEA and the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies – EMNES in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean
The conference was opened by Prof. Rym Ayadi, President of EMEA and director of EMENS, Jihen Boutiba, General Secretary of BUSINESSMED, and Léo Vincent, Manager of the HOMERe program. Prof. Ayadi moderated the first Round Table “Employment and Employability” along with Mohamed Lakhlifi, PDG MLK-Conseil. Panel participants: Fabrice Alimi, Vice-President – Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille Provence, Eric Lechelard, Human Resources Director of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise – France, Alfonso Balsamo, Education Department, CONFINDUSTRIA and Heba Medhat Zaki, EMNES researcher and director of FEPS Business Incubator.
Prof. Ayadi also participated to the second Round Table “Regional Integration and Generating Jobs”, which was moderated by Jihen Boutiba, BUSINESSMED and Abdelsam Mamoune, UBO, along with Roger Albinyana, Director of Mediterranean Regional Policies and Human Development of IEMed and member of EMEA Expert Panel, Patricia Augier, President of the Scientific Committee of FEMISE, François Hequet, Deputy Head of the Africa, Asia, Oceania and Francophonie Department, DREIC, Ministry of National Education and Youth, France: Vocational Training.
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. 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.
The Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA) serves as a leading forum for thinking and debate on the political and socio-economic reforms in the North, South, East Mediterranean and Africa, with the aim to promote sustainability and regional economic integration. It aims to contribute to the changing realities in the Euro-Mediterranean region by bringing together leading economists and high-level experts to think for the future of the Euro- Mediterranean region in a global context. It will strive to contribute to the rethinking of the Euro-Mediterranean and African economic policies in view of the new dynamics of a multi-polar world. EMEA promoted and co-funded the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES).
The Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES) is a network of partners and associates research institutions and think tanks working on socio-economics in the Euro-Mediterranean. It is supported from 23 Universities and Research Institutions from Algeria, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey. EMNES consists of a core team of 76 experts in all economic fields, including the members of the steering, associate and advisory committees, as well as, the main EMNES researches and fellows.
Sommet des deux rives (Summit of the Two Shores), is an initiative of the French Republic to strengthen ties between the two shores of the Mediterranean, which will be organized in June 2019 in Marseille, bringing the 5 + 5 countries together (Portugal Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya). The event will be hosted by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron. The Summit will consist of both a meeting of Heads of State and Government, and a regional dialogue with prominent civil society representatives. This initiative seeks to foster a pragmatic regional socio-political exchange in order to showcase and launch specific projects in the region.
