Initiative to foster Social Entrepreneurship Experience for Youth Erasmus Project

Project Title

Initiative to foster Social Entrepreneurship Experience for Youth

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Inclusion – equity; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

The I SEE YOU project is an initiative of 8 partners from 7 countries (AT, ES, IT, SK, IRL, RO, UK) addressing the critical issue of youth unemployment (YU) in the European Union placing a special emphasis on migrants.
YU has become one of the most pressing labor market issues in Europe since the economic crisis. Entering the labor market poses major challenges for young people in many European countries such as Spain, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, UK, Ireland and Austria, which manifests itself in a high YE rate. An even higher unemployment rate is faced by migrants and minority group members, who have to battle social exclusion. Many European and national initiatives or programs aim to tackle the problem, however, focusing on isolated aspects and with limited success.

A key way out of unemployment for many young people is entrepreneurship. 40% of European youth have indicated an interest in self-employment, as it provides them with independence & self-determination. They are highly interested in IT-focused as well as social businesses, which are observable trends in many European countries. Studies show that many young people lack skills, networks & received inadequate entrepreneurship education. Nurturing entrepreneurial attitudes and skills is in the focus of I SEE YOU.

I SEE YOU aims to offer a flexible, integrative approach to train & capacitate young people to become skillful social entrepreneurs in IT by developing the capabilities & skills of young unemployed people (18-24) with an affinity for IT & interest in creating their own social businesses. I SEE YOU provided core results: targeted activation, training modules, international collaboration and a business simulation tool. A special focus was put on migrants / minority youth. The first year of I SEE YOU was dedicated to the activation youth, while the second year did focus on implementing a social entrepreneurship training and using a social business simulation tool in a competitive setting. The youth was constantly accompanied, mentored and brought in contact with key stakeholders from the business world (start-up centers, Business Angels etc.) to establish valuable networks for their future.

The main activities are:
i) Development and Execution of Entrepreneurship Trainings based on 10 essential key competences
At least 160 participating young people from 7 countries were capacitated (over 1000 were reached through dissemination).
The OERs are translated and made available in all 7 project languages
i) Creation of a Social Business Simulation Tool
Allow youth to apply learned concepts in a virtual setting
iii) Involvement and Capacitation of Migrant / Minority Youth
At least 20 migrant / minority youth members participated in the project (over 150 were reached through dissemination).
A Migrant / Minority Inclusion Strategy was developed and distributed to decision- & policy-makers
v) Community building / Connecting youth with youth and key stakeholders
Building transnational teams to foster intercultural skills & create a European identity
Involvement of multipliers (start-up centers, labor market agencies etc.) and financiers (Business Angels)
All produced outputs are provided as OERs to the public and disseminated according to a detailed strategy

The project was implemented by a consortium with a strong background in EU-project management and a wide range of expertise from developing a needs analysis to training providers, migrant support experts, IT game developers and business creation support organizations.

The impact of I SEE YOU was created through massive dissemination and multiplication of activities. The participating youth was capacitated and their skill sets on entrepreneurship increased, which enables them to open their own business. If they did not follow an entrepreneurial career after the end of the project, they have gained all relevant competences enabling them to act as intrapreneurs and will therefore be in high demand and possess a competitive advantage at the labor market in the IT sector. Key stakeholder benefit from the freely available OERs and business simulation tool that they can incorporate into their own offers and present to their clientele for further education. Long-term benefits will be achieved through:
– the cost-effective replication of the integrative, holistic approach that will contribute to lifting youth out of unemployment and into dynamic and viable jobs
– the availability of multi-lingual and game-based OERs
– the international community established among European stakeholders

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 172197,04 Eur

Project Coordinator

FH JOANNEUM GESELLSCHAFT MBH & Country: AT

Project Partners

• The Union of Self-Employed Professionals and Workers of Spain – UPTA
• IONAD FORBARTHA GNO TEORANTA
• TOTEM LEARNING LTD
• PROGRAMMA INTEGRA SCS
• Taliansko Slovenska Obchodna Komora
• UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE EDUCACION A DISTANCIA
• FUNDATIA DANIS PENTRU DEZVOLTARE MANAGERIALA