The level of youth unemployment remains very high in several EU Member States, and there is increased awareness of the economic and social consequences associated with long term disengagement from the labour market. In light of the high potential of entrepreneurs to create employment and sustainable growth, promoting youth entrepreneurship and making Europe more entrepreneur friendly has recently become a priority on the EU policy agenda. Making Europe more business friendly and helping young people transform their creative ideas into successful business plans by removing the barriers to entrepreneurship has many potential benefits, including direct and indirect job creation and the development of human capital and new skills. In this context, the YEAP! project’s overall aim is to instill a spirit of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship among young people - initiative, confidence, calculated risk-taking, creativity, organization, tenacity - and to help them in their transition from education into the labour market as emerging (social) entrepreneurs. By placing the young population needs at the central position, the project is developing personalised flexible learning pathways to raise the quality of skills and capacity of young people and effectively enhance their entrepreneurial potential and transitions towards self-employment and entrepreneurship. The project is designed to cover a clearly identified need for a 'bridge' that would take the young person towards entrepreneurship and provide them with the 'wrap-around' support they needed to ensure that their progress would be sustained. The project suggests participatory methods involving youth experiences outside the classroom and connecting them to the real world allowing young people to follow their dreams and start their own businesses that we’ll see a significant change in the youth employment statistics. More specifically, the main objectives are: -To capitalise on the analysis results on how youth entrepreneurship education needs to be adapted to maximise impact to the operating context of each partner country (under Management costs) and to provide a better understanding of how to address recognised knowledge gaps towards an entrepreneurial mindset. -To identify and apply elements for formulating an effective customised learning approach as the YEAP! FLEXIBLE LEARNING PATHWAY that can strengthen entrepreneurial quality and motivation of young people. Indicatively the YEAP! approach includes the following set of activities: The development of: -YEAP! FLEXIBLE LEARNING PATHWAY to be able to turn creative ideas into entrepreneurial action (O1) -METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE for youth workers, mentors & trainers for implementing the Flexible learning pathways for youth fostering an entrepreneurial spirit (O2) -TOOLBOX especially customised to address their needs including practices that enable the use of their multiple talents in becoming (social) entrepreneurs (O3) -BBUSINESS IDEA ASSESMENT GUIDE for aspiring young entrepreneurs to select & formulate the right type of (social) entrepreneurial activity and/or Innovative ideas for social entrepreneurs who tackle society’s problems (O4) - Open & innovative e-TOOLS to put entrepreneurial ideas into practice, by formulating a sustainable business start-up and/or for building high growth businesses that deliver social and environmental returns (O5) The target groups include: -75 Youth workers/trainers, will gain access implementing the overall YEAP! approach, methodologies and Tools. -75-100 young adults/NEETs will be developing and accelerating their (Social) Enterprise project idea trough the pilot implementation -150 organisations working with youth will gain access to the innovative training and methods for fostering and promoting entrepreneurs among their members/stakeholders. The project is expected to have an important impact at local, regional & European level as a referent in youth (Social) Entrepreneurship through the involvement of organisations and individuals in each partner's network. The methodology and e-tools will be available through the project website for ten years allowing the adaptation of the experience by additional territories and agents.
The level of youth unemployment remains very high in several EU Member States, and there is increased awareness of the economic and social consequences associated with long term disengagement from the labour market. In light of the high potential of entrepreneurs to create employment and sustainable growth, promoting youth entrepreneurship and making Europe more entrepreneur friendly has recently become a priority on the EU policy agenda. Making Europe more business friendly and helping young people transform their creative ideas into successful business plans by removing the barriers to entrepreneurship has many potential benefits, including direct and indirect job creation and the development of human capital and new skills. In this context, the YEAP! project’s overall aim was to instil a spirit of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship among young people - initiative, confidence, calculated risk-taking, creativity, organisation, tenacity - and to help them in their transition from education into the labour market as emerging (social) entrepreneurs. By placing the young population needs at the central position, the project has developed the personalised flexible learning pathways to raise the quality of skills and capacity of young people and effectively enhance their entrepreneurial potential and transitions towards self-employment and entrepreneurship. The project was designed to cover a clearly identified need for a 'bridge' that takes the young person towards entrepreneurship and provides them with the 'wrap-around' support they need to ensure that their progress would be sustained. The project suggests participatory methods involving youth experiences outside the classroom and connecting them to the real world allowing young people to follow their dreams and start their own businesses. The specific project objectives were: -To capitalise on the analysis results on how youth entrepreneurship education needs to be adapted to maximise impact to the operating context of each partner country and to provide a better understanding of how to address recognised knowledge gaps towards an entrepreneurial mindset. -To identify and apply elements for formulating an effective customised learning approach as the YEAP! FLEXIBLE LEARNING PATHWAY that can strengthen entrepreneurial quality and motivation of young people. The YEAP! project included activities on the development of: -YEAP! FLEXIBLE LEARNING PATHWAY that is able to turn creative ideas into entrepreneurial action (O1) -METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE for youth workers, mentors & trainers for implementing the Flexible learning pathways for youth fostering an entrepreneurial spirit (O2) -TOOLBOX specifically customised to address their needs including practices that enable the use of their multiple talents in becoming (social) entrepreneurs (O3) -BUSINESS IDEA ASSESSMENT GUIDE for aspiring young entrepreneurs to select & formulate the right type of (social) entrepreneurial activity and/or Innovative ideas for social entrepreneurs who tackle society’s problems (O4) - Open & innovative e-TOOLS to put entrepreneurial ideas into practice, by formulating a sustainable business start-up and/or for building high growth businesses that deliver social and environmental returns (O5) The project target groups involved in the project were: -More than 75 Youth workers/trainers gained access to implement the overall YEAP! approach, methodologies and Tools, -141 young adults/NEETs developed and accelerated their (Social) Enterprise project idea through the pilot implementation, -More than 150 organisations working with youth gained access to the innovative training and methods for fostering and promoting entrepreneurs among their members/stakeholders The project has resulted in an important impact at local, regional & European levels through the involvement of organisations and individuals in each partner's network. These numbers reached over 500 organisations and more than 20000 people via pilot activities, Multiplier events, but primarily through dissemination activities organised by partners and associate partners of the project. That’s why the partnership believes the project has made a contributing step towards the change in the European youth employment statistics. All of the people reached gained access to the YEAP methodology and tools, which are and will be available at the project website for ten more years allowing even further expansion of the project results and their adaptation by new territories and agents.