The 2-day final conference of the EU-funded CLUSTER project held in Barcelona at the IEMed and Fundació Bofill premises was centered around the theme “Capitalizing on Cross-border Cooperation for a Better Future for Youth & Women.” The first day, hosted at IEMed in Barcelona, kicked off with an opening and welcome session, followed by the first session on CLUSTER’s Strategic Orientations and their impact on policies. This involves a presentation of insights from project partners and a reflection on cross-border lessons learned. The day continued with a dialogue session on youth and women in the Mediterranean, specifically focusing on employability and featuring a roundtable discussion with speakers addressing gender, youth occupation, and green, circular, and blue economies.

The second day, hosted at Fundació Bofill, delved into the CLUSTER project’s advocacy efforts to tackle youth and female unemployment in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The morning began with a plenary session framing the context of CLUSTER’s advocacy. Subsequently, participants engaged in working sessions, divided into groups based on their experiences during CLUSTER’s implementation. These sessions explored topics such as entrepreneurship in the sustainable economy, training, toolkits, and e-learning. A plenary session on the gender dimension followed, fostering interaction among participants from different groups, leading to an open-floor discussion to brainstorm solutions or discuss relevant topics. The conference concluded with a wrap-up session on Cross-border Cooperation and institutional Partnership.

Overall, the conference aimed to showcase the strategic orientations and policy impacts of the CLUSTER project, engage in dialogue on crucial topics like youth and women’s employability, and provide a platform for participants to share experiences, assess the project’s relevance, and discuss future implementations, with a specific focus on gender dimensions and cross-border cooperation.