CEUD leads the consortium of 5 partners from EU countries (UK, HU, IT, BG, SK) and 4 Partners from acceding countries (ME, RS, TR, BA) that started the initiative during the conference “Empowering Women IV” in Turkey and CME “Start-up!” in Denmark. The general objective of the project is to promote an entrepreneurial attitude in the society and foster positive entrepreneurial environment, especially suitable for young people to start their own self-employment endeavours.
In December 2015, 4.454 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU-28. If we add to this number 7.5 million NEET (neither in education, employment or training) in Europe, we still speak of dramatic figures even though statistics show decrease in youth unemployment. In Western Balkan countries, the situation is bleak. The youth unemployment rate soars to 50%. Entrepreneurship is an alternative to finding employment. The Europe 2020 strategy recognizes entrepreneurship and self-employment as key to achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It has been pointed more than ever that the key factor of EU economy’s competitiveness is entrepreneurial skills of the workforce. But young people need support in this process.
The project consists of two mobility activities: mobility of youth workers and a youth exchange that will be hosted in Serbia. The mobility activities will be complemented by capacity building Info session happening in each partner country at the same time on one day during the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2016 to draw attention to the still dire situation in youth employment prospects and celebrate entrepreneurship as a viable option to address youth unemployment. Raising awareness among the youth about the opportunities that EU is providing to them to contribute to solving youth unemployment is important part of the project. Online platform will be developed to facilitate dissemination of project results, at the same time offering itself as a platform for partner meetings and discussions on entrepreneurship at European level.
The planned activities are in line with strengthening some of the basic entrepreneurship competences: team-building, facilitation, communication, intercultural competence and creative thinking skills. All activities will be done using non-formal working methodology and hand-on approach. Participants will be encouraged to take an active role in and also responsibility for their own learning processes, to experiment, exchange and collaborate.
Among the noticeable changes we envision to be brought by the implementation of the project and the application of its outcomes we point out: new quality activities developed by the youth workers suited to the needs of young people and labour market, increased number of youth entrepreneurial projects, more developed awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship for fostering social cohesion.
The project has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, Action Type: Capacity Building for youth in neighbouring and enlargement countries.
Press release about Mobility of Youth Workers (TC)
Report from the first mobility activity – TC
Report from the second mobility activity – YE
