The current situation of crisis and unemployment is hitting hard the immigrants who suffer long periods of inactivity. Therefore it is more difficult for them to take part in social life. These situations increase their sensation of personal fail and come along with problems an new emotional needs related to frustration and loose of self-esteem. It is necessary to find new options in order to make possible new opportunities of employ to fight against social disadvantage situations and to promote social cohesion. Taking into account those situations and the huge potential of social economy and its contributions to the local development, the main goal of SENTIM is to explore and to take advantage of the potential of social economy considering the needs of the immigrants and by extension the needs of any other people who face labor market discrimination and social exclusion. We consider the self employment and other social economy initiatives, not only as an answer to the current situation of unemployment but as an opportunity that immigrant people should take advantage of too. SENTIM represents the opportunity for development of better and proper models, adjusted to the immigrants needs, that can be incorporated into our private and public institutions. The project purpose is to stimulate economical growth and the employment creation at local level in the frame of social economy through the achievement of the following objectives: • To facilitate the implementation of new social economy initiatives through the development of new measures to accompany (go with) and support the individual and social entrepreneurship. • To identify, assess and train in specific skills for entrepreneurship. • To identify opportunities for the development of employment-generating projects in the frame of the social economy. SENTIM will be developed by four organizations with a wide experience in entrepreneurship and social economy, working with immigrants, developing methodologies, providing VET services adapted to different people, working in competences,innovating, looking for new ways to solve social problems. In this sense SENTIM will provide new methods and methodologies to improve the entrepreneurship and the social economy, as the following ones: - Methodology for the identification of interest for entrepreneurship. - Methodology for assess and training in skills for entrepreneurship. - Methodology to accompany (go with) and support the individual and social entrepreneurship. - Methods for finding business opportunities that can be developed in the frame of the social economy. All of those methods and methodologies are going to be tested and validated through different training activities and leadership workshops. SENTIM will offer not only the digital publications of all the mentioned results but three open courses (e-learning) to train the interested professionals. In addition to the mentioned results (methods and methodologies) we also expect: - The development of a model of sustainable organization that will take care for next generations of immigrant-entrepreneurs. - A collection of thoughts and proposals linking training in entrepreneurship with voluntary return, an innovative international methodology of work regarding “European Return Fund” activities and projects. - Through these actions not only entrepreneurship but employability of immigrant people will be improved. - And finally we expect a mentality change: The social, labor and training sectors workers will consider the social economy as an opportunity to create new jobs for immigrants and other social disadvantage people. Our target are professionals who work with immigrants and other people at risk of social exclusion; professionals related to the VET; professionals who work in entrepreneurship center; policy makers; and, of course, immigrants or people at risk of social exclusion. And related to the impact of SENTIM, we expect that the technical staff participating in the project can discover new ways for promoting entrepreneurship, new tools for training in entrepreneurship, a new methodology to accompany immigrant people in the path of the entrepreneurship. In the organizations that work with immigrants and other disadvantaged people we expect a better disposition towards entrepreneurship to enable them to take into account social initiatives as an option to consider to create employment for immigrants . In other public and private organizations through the use of a new, practical and tailor made methodology, we expect better results to accompany people with special needs in the path of the entrepreneurship. We expect professionals who are better prepared and motivated, professionals able to provide the immigrant the tools and personal resources needed. And in the immigrant people we expect a better disposition to undertake the way to the entrepreneurship, we expect open with them a new path to allow them become part of the society.
Social entrepreneurship is an option that generates new opportunities for decent employment, eradicates disadvantage situations and promotes social cohesion. The goal of Sentim is to promote social entrepreneurship among immigrants who still suffer the effects of the crisis. The situation of crisis and unemployment has hit hard immigrants who suffer long periods of inactivity or suffer from job insecurity. These are situations that increase their sensation of personal fail. It is necessary to find new options that generate decent employment opportunities that eradicate situations of disadvantage and promote social cohesion. Taking into account those situations and the huge potential of social economy and its contributions to the local development, the main goal of SENTIM has been to explore and to take advantage of the potential of social economy considering the needs of the immigrants and by extension the needs of any other people who face labour market discrimination and social exclusion. After the experience developing Sentim project, we consider self-employment and social economy not only as an answer to the current situation of unemployment but as an opportunity for immigrants. In the framework of Sentim, we have had the opportunity to develop better models, adjusted to the needs of immigrants, with high transfer capacity and which will help stimulate economic growth and job creation at local level in the framework of the social economy: • Facilitating the implementation of new social economy initiatives through the development of new measures to accompany and support individual and social entrepreneurship. • Through the identification, evaluation and training in specific skills for entrepreneurship. • Identifying opportunities for the development of employment-generating projects in the framework of the social economy. SENTIM has been developed by four organizations: GO Bufalini (Italy), Step (Slovenia), IED (Greece) and Burgos Acoge (Spain), with a wide experience in entrepreneurship and social economy, working with immigrants, developing methodologies, providing VET services adapted to different people, development of skills and competences and social innovation. Taking advantage of this experience and diverse knowledge, within the framework of SENTIM, new methods and methodologies have been developed to improve entrepreneurship and the social economy, such as the following: - Methodology for the identification of interests for entrepreneurship. - Methodology to assess and train entrepreneurship skills. - Methodology to accompany and support individual and social entrepreneurship. - Methods to find business opportunities that can be implemented in the framework of the social economy. All these methods and methodologies have been tested and validated through different workshops, training and support activities in which dozens of people, both immigrants and professionals, have participated. SENTIM offers the digital publications of all the results and three open courses (Sentim e-learning) to train interested professionals, especially those who work with immigrants and people at risk of social exclusion; professionals related to training; who work in entrepreneurship centers; political leaders; and, of course, immigrants or people at risk of social exclusion. A change of mentality is already being perceived in our immediate surroundings: Professionals from the social, training and employment sectors are beginning to consider the social economy as an opportunity to create new jobs for immigrants and other disadvantaged people. Those who have had the opportunity to participate in the development of the project have discovered not only the benefits of transnationality, but also new ways of promoting entrepreneurship, new training tools and to accompany immigrants on the path of entrepreneurship. As a result of Sentim, Burgos Acoge is providing a new support service in entrepreneurship whose results, to date, are the creation of a cooperative with 19 immigrants (in progress) and the start-up of three new companies promoted by immigrants. In organizations that work with immigrants and other disadvantaged people, thanks to Sentim's workshops and other actions, professionals are better prepared and motivated, and can provide migrants with tools and personal resources to entrepreneurship. There is also a better disposition toward entrepreneurship, social initiatives are considered an option to create employment for immigrants. One example is the creation of a Social Economy Working Group within the Integration Commission of the Council of Burgos. Sentim's methods and results are being used by other organizations in workshops and courses to promote social entrepreneurship.