Participants wanted for €4 million LIT programme in the Irish wilderness

Young people who are out of education or full-time employment are being given the opportunity to spend seven days in the Irish wilderness, while learning life skills which will help them in returning to studies or the labour market.

FOLM (From Outdoors to Labour Market), which is being rolled out in Ireland by Limerick Institute of Technology and is also being developed in Poland and Spain, is a pioneering outdoor learning initiative, to support young people in returning to full-time employment or education.

The programme is free and open to young people, aged between 18 and 29 years old, who are not in employment or education. After seven days in the wilderness, participants then begin work with a coach who helps them to return to education, training or employment.

The outdoor learning model blueprint was designed by the University of Edinburgh, who with the support of the Venture Trust, have implemented the programme there for more than ten years with positive results.

As many as 330 young people from across the country will engage with the programme through LIT over the coming months. The FOLM project is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants fund for youth employment.

Those who are interested and eligible for the programme can sign up on the programme’s website, www.folmweb.com