Monaco and France join forces to support young people in the Mediterranean region

S.E. M. Laurent Stéfanini et Mme Isabelle Berro-Amadeï ©Direction de la Communication - Stéphane Danna

On Thursday 3 February, Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and H.E. Laurent Stéfanini, the French Ambassador to Monaco, renewed an initiative for young people in the Mediterranean region (J-MED).

In November 2019, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs – through its Interdepartmental Mediterranean Office and Office for Relations with Civil Society and Partnerships – and Monaco’s Department of International Cooperation launched an appeal for joint projects supporting civil society in the Mediterranean.

Like its predecessors, this third call for projects, “Supporting Youth in the Mediterranean”, aims to create consortiums of NGOs on the Mediterranean’s southern and northern shores to work on issues such as training, mobility, youth integration and the social and solidarity economy for the benefit of young people in the Mediterranean region.

During the two previous calls, nearly 280 consortiums submitted applications, from among which 41 were selected and were able to begin working on their projects to benefit their communities. The issues covered include the promotion of culture as an engagement tool, the development of innovative professional training courses, and the involvement of young people in social and solidarity entrepreneurship and the conservation and enhancement of rural areas.

In the words of Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, the renewal of this partnership “illustrates the excellent ties we have with our French neighbour, and the success of this innovative initiative, which focuses on two key concepts for the Principality and its development aid policy: young people and the Mediterranean.”

H.E. Laurent Stéfanini emphasised that: “This third call for projects, ‘Support Youth in the Mediterranean’, is a concrete expression of the cooperation between France and Monaco. I welcome this important partnership: we are building bridges between young people and NGOs in Mediterranean countries; we are investing in the future of this part of the world and its richly diverse culture and society. I hope that this call for projects will be an enormous success, just like the previous ones.”

The J-MED 2022 call for projects will be announced during the Mediterranean Worlds Forum, organised by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs on 7 and 8 February 2022 in Marseille. The South-North and South-South consortiums will be asked to submit their projects between 1 March and 15 April. This call will focus on: education and culture, professional training, socio-economic integration, mobility, social and solidarity entrepreneurship and, finally, sport.

More information is available on www.jmed-aap.org