The objective of the “Reaching the Lost Generation” project is to develop the entrepreneurial potential of 16-24 year old young people across Europe. This programme will utilise the skills of 4 organisations from Germany, Hungary, Poland and the UK, who have wealth of experience of working with disengaged young people to develop in partnership, a standard approach to enable 96 young people to achieve their full potential. In the programme Reaching the Lost Generation different phases can be defined: Phase one – We identify the groups to be worked with. Each country will identify 2 groups of 12 NEET young people Phase two - We would then carry out psychometric testing to identify a base line for each of the individual candidates in the group with regard to their core values, abilities, strengths and limitations, their ability to relate to others, team working, work style and what they want from life in terms of careers. All materials will be produced in the 4 languages of the participating countries. Phase three - We would then work with the groups to improve their entrepreneurial skills, we would start in all four countries at the same time, feedback what has been successful, and develop the tool as we learn from each group to construct the most effective programme. Then again we will with work with other groups using the revised materials. The programme would be therefore developed with 8 separate groups, 2 per country. Phase four - We then assess the individuals at the end of the programme using the same assessment tool we used at the beginning, which would give us a method of measuring which areas had been the most effective and adjusting those which were least effective. Phase 5 – the progression of each young person in each group would be monitored for 12 months, asking how they are progressing every 3 months and movements into self- employment, employment, education and training monitored and collated in a final report. Phase six - the development of a final programme with learning materials developed in the language of each country. The final entrepreneurship programme would be distributed throughout each participating country and would be made available on the internet to all other countries interested in the project. Phase seven - Dissemination Group. The dissemination group would coordinate the dissemination of the project through, use of the Erasmus plus dissemination platform, project internet site, project blogs, candidate blogs, candidate case studies, educational articles, presentations, newspaper articles, success story advertising. This group would consist of one person from each of the organisations concerned and a multi media communication specialist to ensure the most effective usage of the current media.
Originally, the phrase ‘Lost Generation’ was used to describe the generation that came of age during World War I. But since the financial crisis of 2008 young people with limited employment and career prospects, have also been described as members of a ‘New Lost Generation’. An OECD report of 2012 warned that due to their lack of skills, motivation and self-worth this ‘lost generation’ might have difficulties in entering the workforce even when the recession ends and demand for employees is higher. (OECD Employment Outlook, 2012) The project addressed the issue of the very high number of young people between the ages of 16-24 who are not, or are at risk of not being in employment or training, by developing entrepreneurial skills in hard-to-help groups across the four countries participating in the project. This project looked at the development of an educational programme that can help to promote the entrepreneurial skills of disadvantaged young people in the widest sense, moving them from reactive to proactive behaviours. The main applicant, EDUNET Foundation has experience with major projects and programs which can be connected with the subject of this project. The foundation has taken part in a number of projects the aims of which included development of social and entrepreneurial skills. EDUNET mainly focuses on research and development and has a large number of cooperating schools and other organisations that can be inolved in practical activities connected to its projects. The Department of Entrepreneurship and Spatial Management of Pedagogical University of Cracow is responsible for entrepreneurial education. They organise forums of knowledge and experience exchange on teaching methods in entrepreneurship and other economic subjects, the confrontation of views of academic teachers, methodical advisers and school teachers on the goals, content and teaching methods in entrepreneurship. Euro-Trainings Centre, the German partner have many years of experience in managing bridge-projects between school and employment. Their target group is hard-to-help young people. They are familiar with the requirements of companies, education and labour market. They take part in further training processes, network developments and professional workshops concerning the qualification of migrants, communal bridge-programs, cooperation with municipalities and chambers. Train’d Up is a training company with wide experience in focusing on training initiatives for young people aged between 16- 24, and work with NEET groups and BAME groups. They have been involved in a large number of pan UK projects working with partners developing the skills of young people, whether this be basic numeracy and literacy, inter-personal and interview skills, vocational qualifications or apprenticeships. One of the key persons had been also involved in FIFOBI (Fit For Business) project. Based on the foundation study made at the beginning of the project and all the empirical experience of the project partners, the development process started according to the project plan, basically. After that ten competence areas featuring entrepreneurial skills, were identified by the project team. Based on that an assessment tool focussing on the active involvement of participants was created next. In parallel, the elaboration of activities developing the necessary competences started. The compilation of the tools assessing both personal and social skills also started at the same time. All materials are available in four languages (English, German, Hungarian and Polish). Once the three assessment tools were ready to try, testing processes began in each partner country one after the other. Feedbacks were systematically collected and analysed, thus, experiences of testing the assessment tools as well as learning and teaching materials were used to improve them. At the end of the project a foundation study, three assessment tools, a collection of 148 activities aiming at the development of the ten competence areas mentioned above, a follow-up guide and a final study are available as outputs of the project. All partners have disseminated RLG in the widest possible circle and will responsibly work for the sustainability of it. Several agreements with different organisations will guarantee that. The programme will certainly be part of the day-to-day activities of ETC, which systematically supports the activities of NEET young people. The testing organisations will carry on the programme in Hungary and new ones are also starting using it. In Poland, RLG has been integrated into a university further education programme for professionals teaching entrepreneurship. RLG programme will be incorporated in Scotland into the activities of a training firm run by the Scottish project partner. The RLG activities will also be used as part of the Scottish Government’s Developing the Young Workforce programme with school pupils and in vocational colleges.