Youth Changemakers for Social Economy Ecosystem (YOUforSE)

Youth unemployment rates are higher than general unemployment rates throughout the EU. Almost half of young people would prefer entrepreneurship compared to working as an employee. Nevertheless, there is a gap between their ambition and real entrepreneurial engagement. Entrepreneurial initiatives have been moderate or even marginal. The social economy, despite its importance in terms of wealth and contribution to social and territorial cohesion, is relatively unknown. Its values generate interest among young people, who share social and environmental concerns. However, the different employment possibilities of the social economy are not sufficiently disseminated.

Project “Youth Changemakers for Social Economy Ecosystem” (YOUforSE) is based on two pillars: social entrepreneurship and active citizenship, it supports youth active participation and non-formal learning under the premise that greater youth involvement in the social economy is a driving force for an inclusive and sustainable social and territorial transformation. The target group of #YOUforSE is young people aged between 18 and 29 years, regional authorities and decision makers, as well as existing social stakeholders and enterprises in the three participating regions of the project, with particular attention to those regions with territorial difficulties (predominance of ageing and depopulated areas).

Project will be carried out within public structures to involve as many young people as possible, working directly with civil society organisations, youth associations (such as Local/Regional Youth Councils), or youth information offices. From different national and regional backgrounds, as well as approaches and perception of the social economy, the public entities promoting this initiative seek to address the most common needs of young entrepreneurship with a social dimension, namely: access to resources, mentorship and support, networking opportunities, business training and education, legal support.

In the project, the Vidzeme Planning Region is responsible for developing guidelines for organizing hackathons and successfully implementing them in all partner countries.