Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Learning Mobility of individuals
Project Title: “Youth Entrepreneurship Empowerment Centres”
Project Identifier: 2014-1-HR01-KA105-000362
Topics: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education
Results Platform Project Card: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/2014-1-HR01-KA105-000362
Coordinating organisation and country: Udruga “Ostvarenje” / Association “Realization”, HR
Participating Countries: HR, ES, BA, MK, RS, EE, BG, LV, ME, TR
Funded by: Agencija za mobilnost i programme Europske Unije (AMPEU), the Croatian National Agency for the Erasmus+ programme
Project duration: 24/06/2014 – 24/01/2015
Project Summary:
Employment, adequate social conditions and well-being are among the greatest concerns for young people. Youth all over Europe is at high risk of social exclusion and poverty, especially during the transition from education to employment. The idea of the training was driven by the fact that young people in general and the ones with fewer opportunities especially often lack necessary competences and experiences in order to enter or stay in labour market. At the same time, NFE that takes place in the frame of youth work provides very valuable learning experiences for young people.
Focus of the training course was to empower youth workers for being able to work on youth empowerment in order to combat youth unemployment and exclusion. This project allowed focusing the efforts of organisation on the urgency of providing necessary competences to young people who were never employed and becoming a space where those who recently lost employment can maintain their competences and use them in the civic life.
The core activity of the project was 8 days long training course. It was organised in the youth hostel in Zadar, from 14th till 22nd October 2014. Project gathered 31 participants, trainers and staff from 10 organisations/countries (Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Spain).
Objectives were:
- To reflect and exchange opinions about the youth unemployment and entrepreneurship in different European countries (tendencies and influencing factors, specifications of the target group, focuses etc.);
- To encourage active citizenship and develop sense of entrepreneurship of unemployed youth;
- To discuss how non-formal education can positively influence better youth employability and employment and to share examples of good practices combating youth unemployment;
- To encourage the development of different education programmes for empowerment of unemployed youth in local communities, with special accent being put on developing their self-directed learning skills, entrepreneurship skills and business plan development;
- To explore the possibilities for youth entrepreneurship on European Level (existing strategies and available funding);
- To encourage the creation of systems for empowerment of youth in local communities in the forms of learning centres or similar and to enable our participants to act as multipliers in those empowerment centres back home;
- To present the Erasmus+ programme and to encourage the creation of future projects with unemployed youngsters.
The training course was based on the pedagogical understanding of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Partnership Programme and our own experience and expertise in youth work for entrepreneurship, employability skills and inclusion. As the training materials, we used SALTO booklets, T-kits, Compass, and different EU policy/programmes information. The training course followed the non-formal education approach, principles and methods and was based on participants’ experience and exchange.
All partners were involved in preparation, implementation and evaluation and follow-up phase and activities during the training course, while the preparation team of trainers, facilitators and staff were comprised of experienced youth trainers from applicant (Realization) and from partner organisations from Serbia (CNELL) and from FYR Macedonia (CID).
Project had biggest impact on direct beneficiaries-participants who further developed their skills in defining, planning, preparing and leading quality system for youth entrepreneurship empowerment within their local centres and activities and European level projects. Also, there was important impact on participating / partner organisations who received trained people and are more capable and better equipped for developing of new local and European projects and partnerships for inclusion and youth employability and entrepreneurship. 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 non-formal education activities in communities, as long-term perspective of multiplying and sustainable impact.
*Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.