Improving institutional capacities and fostering cooperation to tackle the impacts of transnational youth migration

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Youth migration is intensifying in the Danube Region and it challenges all levels of administrations. It has new drivers (such as online communication channels and new behaviour patterns) and serious developmental consequences. Emigration of the youth may cause a severe loss of labour force and human capital, coupled with untraced incoming transfers (such as social and financial remittances), while immigration, if not properly managed, may result in marginalization and the underuse of human resources. Most of the root causes and consequences of the migration of the youth (aged 15-34) affect the local governments, however, many of them are not sufficiently prepared to deal with the situation. In order to give a proper response to the challenges arising from youth migration and to manage its impacts, local governments of the Danube area need more precise evidence base, data and policy tools. The complexity of the issue calls for a transnational initiative that includes statistical and academic institutions as well, in order to create the framework for coordinated actions of migrant-sending, -receiving and transit communities of the Danube area. YOUMIG, in which 19 partners from 8 countries will work together, wishes to support local governments in exploiting the developmental potential of youth migration, leading to a better governed and more competitive Danube region. The project aims at boosting their institutional capacities to enhance the scarce local evidence on youth migration, contributing to improved policymaking with a focus on human capital. Statistical offices & academic organisations team up with local governments in a complex and tailored multi-level and transnational cooperation to create local developmental strategies based on improved impact indicators of youth migration, and to introduce transnationally tested tools to manage local challenges. As a result, institutions and stakeholders obtain increased capacities through an intensified cooperation.

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