Digital Entrepreneur Academy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Digital Entrepreneur Academy

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Youth unemployment and low entrepreneurial activity are not a new phenomenon and extremely high levels have been observed in many EU Member States for many years. The 2008 economic crisis has further increased the difficulty for young people to integrate into the labor market and realize their own business ideas. Although the situation has improved since mid-2013, by February 2020, according to Eurostat, more than 2,734 million young people in the EU under the age of 25 were still unemployed or not self-employed (average unemployment rate – 14.9%). The worst affected are Greece (34.7%), Spain (30.9%), Italy (29.6%) and Lithuania (17%). With the situation surrounding the global pandemic Covid-19 and the upcoming economic crisis, which, according to all European and World leaders, will have more negative impact than the 2008 crisis, the unemployment rate will rise as a percentage and the young people will be at risk. The situation in Bulgaria is no different. The 2018 Annual Report for Youth, adopted by the NA, includes statistics on young people’s awareness of opportunities and programs for starting a business or finding suitable employment. The data in the Report recorded low levels of desire to start a business initiative. Only 10% of the young people in Bulgaria have plans to start their own businesses. Only 4% of young people in Bulgaria have sought funding for a business venture. The share of young people who are unfamiliar with career guidance and conversion initiatives is high, 29% have heard and only 3% have benefited. The conclusion is that there is a serious need to implement activities and projects on the topic of improving entrepreneurship and skills in young people. In addition to the financial consequences directly borne by young people, long periods of unemployment and inactivity also have a negative impact on future employment prospects, the greater risk of poverty, social exclusion and their role in society as a whole. At the same time, there is a risk that their talent and skills will not be used to the best of their ability. The situation in partner countries in terms of job opportunities for youth unemployment and job opportunities is as follows: young people (15-25) are those who find it difficult to find their way at the labor market, leading to a need for a stronger connection between the educational institutions and NGOs. The aforementioned challenges have driven the project idea towards finding solutions for young people’s leisure time through the use of ICT, enhancing their motivation to be entrepreneurial, consistent and familiar with the intricacies of different areas of a business venture or project idea. These needs will be met by enhancing their capacity for digital entrepreneurship. This will accelerate the process of their social inclusion, start-up of innovative youth entrepreneurship and self-employment in the economic niches of the modern world. The needs of the target group thus outlined motivated us to form a creative team of Bulgarian, German and Lithuanian teams to achieve the main goal of the project: Engaging the free time of a target group and stimulating their business activity by creating intellectual products. This will lead to broadening their social horizons and increasing their economic, civic and digital literacy, for better career guidance. The intellectual products created and the results obtained from their functioning, impact and dissemination are markedly innovative. In today’s 21st Century society, educational content through informal medals is now available in all forms and can be found in all sorts of places. What is needed in order to acquire new knowledge and key skills is to motivate the target group and reach with interest in the new digital challenges. This motivation correlates with the young person’s lifestyle, relationships, social environment, and behavior. The project can be considered sustainable as it will generate results to be used by the target group through the large national and European partner network of NGOs involved in this project proposal: AISD Association (Bulgaria) EUROPEN-PEN (Germany) ) and LIBA (Lithuania). The modular structure of activities and the long-term horizon of the results related to the creation of innovative intellectual products allow them to be subsequently implemented and upgraded individually, becoming part of the activities of youth organizations, project partners and stakeholders – leading them to their new initiatives related to their sustainable development, targeting the needs and interests of the local target group.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 143523 Eur

Project Coordinator

AMOR & Country: BG

Project Partners

• EUROPEN-PEN INTERNATIONAL EV
• LIETUVOS IMITACINIU BENDROVIU ASOCIACIJA LIBA