Young people of today in all European countries (2015 EU Youth Report) face growing challenges related to their active and full involvement in the labour and civic life of their communities. Most severely this is observed among persons in disadvantaged position (social, economic, health, cultural). The risks of youth radicalisation and exclusion in light of growing social injustice are evident, and further exacerbated by incidents of aggression and terrorism across Europe. Youth work becomes an important instrument for reaching out to young persons, who left traditional forms of education and are endangered by complete social isolation. In this context, and for the reinforcement of EU initiatives in the entrepreneurship area ("Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs") or the EU2020 Strategy related to "Opening up education through new technologies", SENTYR project will focus on the development of quality training materials related to delivering entrepreneurship and self-awareness training to youth groups in risk. Our partnership combines the efforts of 7 organisations from 5 countries, representing distinct regions in Europe (Mediterranean, Central, North and South Eastern Europe) to develop evaluation methodology and training methodology for youth workers that will enable them to identify adequately the training needs of young people and provide entrepreneurship and self-awareness training to diverse youth groups in risk. The current Erasmus+ proposal will enable us to engage in a strategic partnership, which will enhance our organisational capacities and improve the quality of our youth services and activities. Our staff members will have the opportunity to collaborate with their peers on topics of joint interest, which will enable them to better perform in their daily tasks. We will work for reaching our aim through implementing several specific objectives: - to design, develop and pilot an evaluation methodology for assessing young people's concrete and specific training needs; - to design, develop and pilot a training methodology for young people based on entreprenruship and self-awareness skills; - to train 14 youth workers/ multipliers from partner countries (BG, NL, SI, ES, TR) to deliver SENTYR trainings; - conduct ongoing dissemination campaign of project activities and results, including 1 international multiplier event. The 2 target groups and their needs have been identified, as follows: 1. Youth workers, providing entrepreneurship training, need new learning content and innovative delivery methods to ensure quality and sustainability of the learning provided; 2. Young people in risk of social exclusion(16-18) need a set of self-awareness and assertive skills, entrepreneurial mindset and increased motivation to cope with the complexity of today's social and economic life. The envisaged impact on young people includes increased opportunities for making a free and informed choice for their potential career/personal development and take the appropriate actions through applying the skills and competencies; increased chance for employability by applying the self-awareness, self-belief, entrepreneurial competences and other learning outcomes; increased opportunities for having active participation in society by applying the communication skills, intercultural and self-awareness skills. The envisaged impact on young people includes youth workers includes better quality of their work and activities in favour of young people; increased opportunities for professional and career development and satisfaction in their daily work; improved knowledge and skills in delivering training in entrepreneurship to youth groups in risk; improved knowledge and skills in motivating young people for development; improved motivation and skills to engage in international collaboration work with other youth workers in the field. In the long run the SENTYR project would improve the context of youth work when dealing with young people in risk of social exclusion and will improve youth workers quality of activities. The project would contribute for young people's better achievement in life by engaging them into a combination of self-awareness and entrepreneurship learning process.
The project addresses the problems of young people not involved in education or work activities as the risks of marginalization, alienation or deviant behavior increase. The comprehensive addressing of their needs for personal growth, education, constructive relationships with the community and the formation of skills for inclusion in the labour market were at the heart of the creation of methodologies for assessment and training. They are the basis for tools to reach young people who are at risk of social exclusion. Therefore, a special focus in the work on the project are the youth workers who work with young people at risk. Both methodologies provide opportunities for service providers for young people at risk to: • receive training to build or complement their capacity to specialize in or expand services for young people; • have quality training materials available for undertaking entrepreneurship and self-awareness training for youth groups at risk; • understand the challenges young people at risk face to be able to take on the role of mentors that help vulnerable young people to believe in the meaning of making efforts to participate in educational or work activities. The Strategic Partnership between 6 organizations from 5 countries, representing individual regions in Europe (the Mediterranean, as well as Central, Northern, and Southeastern Europe), which have combined their expertise to develop an assessment methodology and training methodology for youth workers, providing training for young people at risk, improved the organizational capacity, expanded the portfolio, and improved the quality of our services and activities for young people, thus meeting the identified needs of the two main target groups: 1. Youth workers were granted access to: • a training to develop their knowledge and understanding of the systematic approach to assessing and working with young people at risk; • trainings to develop their facilitation skills; • structured materials for assessing the degree of vulnerability and risk of young people; • training materials to organize the training and support of young people at risk to become aware of the obstacles to realizing their dreams, to use their strengths in the process of change, and to build trust and confidence that there are people and services for which they can receive support; • knowledge and skills to motivate young people to further develop themselves. 2. Young people at risk of social exclusion were granted access to: • an opportunity to build trust with people who are significant for them and who are their resource in the process of change; • training and practice for self-awareness, assertive skills, discovering their strengths, building a viable perspective, as well as life-planning skills for good participation in society and the labor market; • services that encourage and support their free and informed choice for potential career development and taking appropriate action to pursue it; • training to form an entrepreneurial mindset and increased motivation to cope with the complexities of modern social and economic life; • an opportunity for easier integration into the labour market through the application of entrepreneurial competences. The exchange of experience, the process of discussing and selecting approaches, methods, and methodologies from the representatives of the partner organizations led to: a) developing and piloting an evaluation methodology to identify youth at risk; b) developing and piloting a methodology for training youth workers, based on building self-awareness and entrepreneurship skills; c) trainings in both SENTYR methodologies, 11 youth workers from partner countries (BG, NL, SI, ES, TR, TR) to provide training for young people at risk; d) conducting a campaign to distribute the results of the project, including the holding of an international closing conference in Valencia, Spain. Other achievements as a result of the achieved project objectives are: - capacity building in project partner organizations to provide complex, comprehensive and addressing the specific needs of young people at risk services; - increased opportunities for professional and career development and satisfaction with their daily work - Creating opportunities for a network of partner professionals and young people to conduct activities for young people to reduce the isolation, stagnation, and inequalities in the access to education, support, and work for young people. In the long term, the SENTYR project has improved the context of youth work in its aspect of working with young people at risk of social marginalization and has significantly increased the quality of activities of youth workers. The project has inevitably contributed to the better achievements of young people in life by engaging them in a learning process for self-esteem and entrepreneurship.