The Project

SEYW: The Added Value of Social Entrepreneurship in Youth Work

What is The added value of social entrepreneurship in youth work

A framework for Youth Work to acquire new methods from Social Entrepreneurship and vice versa, sharing concepts and values for mutual growth to learn from each others’ successful experiences and initiatives.

S.E.Y.W.

“The added value of Social Entrepreneurship in Youth Work” is a 33 months Strategic Partnership – transfer of good practice – under the KA2 of the Erasmus Plus Programme. The Project aims to create a framework where youth workers can benefit from the experience of successful initiatives of Social Entrepreneurship developed by youth organizations. Thanks to this good experience sharing, the youth workers are going to acquire new methods that will allow them to transfer tools and methodology to stimulate and develop the youth initiative.

The goal is to inform youth workers about the concept, methods, and values of social entrepreneurship that are suitable to the youth sector, as well as provide youth workers with real model examples of young social entrepreneurs in action.

The primary target group are youth workers. The ultimate target is all youth (especially those with fewer opportunities), to stimulate them to take action to improve themselves and the society in which they live.

The specific objectives of the project are:
● To give opportunity to youth workers to acquire appropriate knowledge on social entrepreneurship;
● To compare the different perceptions of the meaning of social entrepreneurship in Europe and especially in the countries partners of the project referring also to the different legislations in force;
● To share good practices of social entrepreneurship methodologies that could be taken as examples and replicated;
● To foster the invention of youth initiatives/to stimulate youth initiative among our local youth.

In order to reach these objectives we have realized:
○ 4 Transnational Partners Meetings
○ 2 short staff mobility events
○ 6 short staff mobility visits
○ 8 visibility dissemination events per partner
○ Creation of a Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurship and Youth Work
○ Creation of a platform to share good practices and ideas

The participants have the opportunity to better comprehend the meaning of social entrepreneurship, how it is understood and applied in the countries involved in the project and will work to create a document that contains all this information and that can be the example to enlarge the research to the rest of Europe.

Through the activities they will also be able to observe in person how the models work and finally they will work together to elaborate ideas on how to harvest the results of the good practices in terms of social entrepreneurship development and transform them in tools to encourage youth initiatives.

Erasmus +

Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme aimed at supporting education, training, youth and sport in Europe.
Within the 2014-2020 framework, it provides opportunities for Europeans to study, train, gain experience, and volunteer abroad.
Erasmus+ has opportunities for people of all ages and targets a wide range of organisations, helping them to develop and share knowledge and experience in different countries.
The aim of the Programme is to contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy for growth, jobs, social equity and inclusion, as well as the aims of the EU’s strategic framework for education and training. In the field of youth, it also contributes to achieve the objectives of the EU Youth Strategy.

Specific issues tackled by the programme include:
● Reducing unemployment, especially among young people;
● Promoting adult learning, especially for new skills and skills required by the labour market;
● Encouraging young people to take part in European democracy;
● Supporting innovation, cooperation and reform;
● Reducing early school leaving;
● Promoting cooperation and mobility with the EU’s partner countries;

The project is financed under the Strategic Partnerships action, that aim to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level.
Strategic Partnerships are open to any type of organisation active in any field of education, training and youth or other socio-economic sectors as well as to organisations carrying out activities that are transversal to different fields.

Partners

Our project consortium is formed by 6 partners coming from Youth, Education, and Social Entrepreneurship sectors, based in 6 EU countries: Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Greece and Luxembourg.