Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Learning Mobility of individuals
Project Title: “A step forward in youth employment: enriching regular youth work with quality entrepreneurial learning”
Project Identifier: 2016-2-HR01-KA105-022328
Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment
Results Platform Project Card: Link
Coordinating organisation and country: Udruga “Ostvarenje” / Association “Realization”, HR
Participating Countries: HR, IT, MK, FR, ES, BE, PT, SI, RO, BG, CZ, EL
Funded by: Agencija za mobilnost i programme Europske Unije (AMPEU), the Croatian National Agency for the Erasmus+ programme
Project duration: 01/08/2016 – 31/01/2017
Project Summary:
Entrepreneurship mind-set and skills are important and valuable for all youth nowadays, whether they will search for employment and work for other employers or will start-up their own initiatives. This project focuses on trying to bring added value to the youth work for entrepreneurship. We would like to stress that entrepreneurial learning (EL) in youth work is more than seeing entrepreneurship as a practice and learning about business plans. It is rather a mind-set or approach leading to a behavioural transformation towards personal and professional development. While youth work mainly uses learning-by-doing and experiential learning activities, for quality EL this could and should be further enriched with different kinds of practices and learning approaches along a continuum, with the help of Youthpass. The aim of the project was to empower youth workers for enriching non-formal education (NFE) / youth work activities with quality entrepreneurial education and learning, in order to address change in young mind-sets to inspire a new set of values inclined towards risk taking, venture creation and self-development for the new era entrepreneurship.
Objectives of the project were:
- Equip youth workers with training in competence-based EL to help them implement, develop and multiply the effect of EL;
- Increase the number of learning-by-doing activities and hands-on entrepreneurial practices in youth work;
- Emphasise the attitudinal component of EL in youth work, by developing a youth entrepreneurial culture with the support of the Erasmus+ programme;
- Create entrepreneur-friendly learning environments in our youth work;
- Support youth work practices like youth initiatives with resources and structures to support young people in their implementation process.
Target groups of the project were:
- Youth workers active and/or employed within our organisations partners in the project. Organisations partners represented by their youth workers were project direct beneficiaries.
- Unemployed youngsters in our communities were the indirect beneficiaries.
The core activity of the project was – 8 days long training course. It was organised in the youth hostel in Split, from 1st till 9th November 2016. Project gathered 30 participants, trainers and staff from 12 organisations and countries (HR, MK, BE, CZ, ES, FR, GR, PT, BG, IT, RO, SI). Project involved at least 16 out of 30 people with fewer opportunities. The training course was based on the approach and principles of non-formal education and was designed as an open learning process based on participants’ experience and exchange. A combination of different creative, participatory and interactive methods was used and designed upon the profile of participants.
All partners were involved in preparation, implementation and evaluation and follow-up phase and activities during the project, while the preparation team of trainers, facilitators and staff was comprised of experienced youth trainers and youth workers from applicant and partners from Belgium, Croatia and FYR Macedonia.
The biggest impact was on our youth workers who learned how to be good learning mentors of personal and professional development of youngsters in communities. They were equipped with needed knowledge, skills and attitudes for implementing and developing quality youth work activities with EL and for multiplying the effect of EL in their communities. The huge impact was also on the partner organisations who got at least 7 youth workers / volunteers introduced to, empowered and encouraged to start working on implementing EL in the youth work activities for the new era entrepreneurship and started new partnerships on local and European level.
We expect increase in number of young people that will get closer to getting a job and will increase their employability skills, through increased quality of youth work EL activities for new era entrepreneurship and (social) enterprises in communities, as long-term perspective of multiplying and sustainable impact.