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.
| Title |
Youth Changemakers for Social Economy Ecosystem |
| Abbreviation |
YOUforSE |
| Lead partner |
Oficina de Proyectos Europeos del Gobierno de Cantabria (Spain) |
| Programme |
ERASMUS+ programm 2021-2027 |
| Partners |
1. OPE Cantabria (Spain)
2. Municipio de Lousada (Portugal)
3. Vidzeme Planning Region (Latvia)
|
| Objective |
1. Promoting the participation of young people in the social economy ecosystem by organizing experience exchange visits and improving the understanding of the stakeholders (young people, municipalities, and policy makers) about social economy ecosystems.
2. Foster the youth talent while creating visible bottom-up perspectives to engage youth into public strategies and political programs development, converting youth concerns to a real political agenda to revitalize communities with social entrepreneurial initiatives.
3. Respond to certain social needs and identify solutions to reduce employment barriers for local youth by analysing the relevance of youth social entrepreneurship skills and capabilities through mentoring, training, and networking.
|
| Activities |
1. Development of Youth-Driven Social Economy Handbook - roadmap including guidelines for youth involvement into regional ecosystems, generating opportunities to develop social entrepreneurship.
2. The creation of Guidelines of Social Economy Lab - including identified good practices in the EU territory, together with their political and social contexts in terms of Social Economy (SE), main obstacles and challenges that hinder that hinder the involvement of young people in the social economy. The guidelines are intended for assessing the transferability of local good practices, creating awareness, and promoting the active participation and leadership of young people in the social economy and social entrepreneurship.
3. Organizing Youth Participatory Lab – 3 local hackathons with experts as moderators, youth participants and representatives from social enterprises and business actors of the territory. The aim of hackathons is to gain knowledge on social economy, understand the challenges of respective regional ecosystems, acquire the tools and skills to ultimately co-generate innovative solutions.
4. Youth and Social Entrepreneurship Advocacy
|
| Results |
Created synergies in 3 areas of cooperation:
- political: encouraged dialogue and strategic partnerships to strengthen the capability of community actors;
- economic: enhanced social entrepreneurship;
- social: dissolved stereotypes on activism and voluntarism and promoted a positive image of young people and their involvement in social entrepreneurship in the project partnership territory.
|
| Budget |
Total budget: 60 000 EUR
VPR budget: 18 300 EUR
|
| Implementation period |
04.09.2023.-03.05.2025.
|
| Contact person |
Lienīte Priedāja-Klepere
+371 26133028
lienite.priedaja@vidzeme.lv |
