Priority Area (PA) ‘People and Skills’ is focusing on policies and actions in the fields of education and training, labour market and marginalised communities.

The Region encompasses extremes of the EU in economic and social terms. From its most competitive to its poorest regions, from the most highly skilled to the least educated, and from the highest to the lowest standard of living, the differences are striking. By investing in people and promoting human capital, the Danube Region can grow in a smart and inclusive way. Making the Danube Region competitive, cohesive, resilient and more prosperous in the future means investing in people, in their education and training, their skills, their creativity, and their capacity to innovate. In this respect, the European Pillar of Social Rights, supporting quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning, quality employment and social inclusion, plays a key role.

The Priority Area formulates the following objectives:

·      Contribute to a higher employment rate, especially through tackling youth and long-term unemployment

·      Contribute to improved educational outcomes, skills and competences, focusing on learning outcomes for employability, entrepreneurship, innovation, active citizenship and well-being

·      Contribute to Increased higher quality and efficiency of education, training and labour market systems

·      Contribute to ensuring inclusive education and training and promoting inclusive labour markets, equal opportunities and non-discrimination as well as the promotion of civic competences and lifelong learning opportunities for all

·      Contribute to closer cooperation between educational, training and labour market and research institutions

The PA 9 is coordinated by Austria, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

Read more about the PA 9 on their website.