“Build Your Future” is a two-year programme on entrepreneurship education for young Europeans with fewer opportunities. It aims to equip young people with skills and attitudes necessary to build up their entrepreneurial mindset and gives a kick to their own entrepreneurial projects. Young people with fewer opportunities are a target group of this project. Being especially prone to the high risk of unemployment and often having limited access to the learning programmes they need to be put more in focus and get the appropriate learning tools to boost their creativity, self-initiative, self-confidence and system thinking, as well as gain basic employability skills and knowledge. The “Build your future” programme is designed to empower young people with fewer opportunities to take an active life position and be better prepared for the employment, self-employment or for further education. At the same time, it seeks to foster local entrepreneurship in the urban and rural communities in Europe through cooperation of strategic partners from multiple sectors. The programme has two strands: 1) practice-oriented entrepreneurship course for young people with fewer opportunities, 2) strategies for fostering entrepreneurship at the local level. The programme will start with the research of the local context and young people and employers’ needs and market possibilities where municipalities, local businesses and young people will be involved. The first strand will be developed in a consortium of partners (scientists, youth workers, local experts, NGOs and young people) and will foresee blended learning activities for young people, both at local and transnational level, as well as training of trainers for youth coaches and youth workers interested to deliver the course in the YEPP Local Sites. The second strand will involve municipalities and local actors in the youth and youth policy field to develop strategies for fostering local youth entrepreneurship in their communities. Part of the outputs of the programme will be the Entrepreneurship Labs – spaces to promote exchange and learning between municipalities, entrepreneurs, youth coaches and young people. Apart from this, there will be a set of local strategies for promoting entrepreneurship, as well as the overall evaluation report outlining experiences and lessons learnt from trainers and young people who participated in the course. In-between and at the end of the programme, all partners will be invited to evaluate the learning results and outcomes.
The Build Your Future Project 2015-2017 was designed to promote the take-up of practical entrepreneurial experiences for young people with fewer opportunities: project’s target group which deserves attention in the context of youth unemployment in Europe. The objectives were to equip young people with skills and attitudes necessary to develop their entrepreneurial mindset; strengthen their employability skills to be better prepared for the employment, self-employment or further education; and to foster cooperation among civil society and policy stakeholders on sustainable support structures and policies for local entrepreneurship. The project was implemented by the Consortium of 9 Partners from Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the UK: experts in youth work and non-formal education. It started with the research of the local context and young people’s needs. Other project activities included the Training of Trainers for youth workers, international blended mobility learning event for young people, online learning and exchange, the Entrepreneurship Labs, the Build Your Future Challenge, partners’ meetings and the Multiplier Events. Main results and impact: - The Entrepreneurship Education Course of 5 Modules became an innovative practice-oriented learning tool for young people with fewer opportunities to study entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. - The Course Material is available in 6 languages: English, German, Croatian, Italian, Slovak and Hungarian. - 160 young people were selected in Ireland, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia and the UK to participate in the project, incl. 75% of young people with fewer opportunities; 113 people graduated. - The motivation of young people increased significantly for their current school studies in all countries. Graduates from the Dublin group became the leaders for the Build Your Future-2 in Dublin; 60 project ideas were developed by young people in Croatia. - 20 youth workers in 7 countries became trainers and mentors to young people. - 4 international meetings among 134 project participants led to an intensive exchange of experience and learning - 1.500 EUR were raised for the Build Your Future Challenge to support entrepreneurial ideas of young people. 3 projects out of 7 were awarded the start-up grants - 401 people attended 10 Multiplier Events in 7 countries. - 45 Entrepreneurship Labs were organised in 7 countries for 745 participants with over 50 guest speakers and will continue. - The Build Your Future project is set and funded for the 2nd phase in Ireland, UK and Italy. - Local municipalities granted their support to the project. - 11 young people from Italy, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia set up their business. - The Evaluation Report with the lessons learnt is available for public use - The Course became the working tool to promote participation of young people with fewer opportunities and contributed to youth empowerment on a European scale.