Unemployment, especially among youngsters, is one of the biggest challenges contemporary Europe is facing in a constantly changing labor market: statistical data say that in Europe seventy million people do not have adequate basic and transversal skills. The 8 Key Competences, which Europe conceives as the basis for lifelong learning, define a set of knowledge, abilities and attitudes that individuals need for personal development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment. Among these, the spirit of initiative and entrepreneurship (understood as an entrepreneurial mindset) plays a fundamental role in the greater employability of young people and adults, but at the same time communication in foreign languages, digital competence, learning to learn and social competence and civic education, or mobility education, are another key requirement in the European job market scenario. Young people at risk of marginalization at social or economic disadvantages, not least young migrants, are often perceived without personal developmental potential and suffer from low self-esteem and self-efficacy in managing their own training, situations of life and work. These premises, common to all the realities of the organizations involved in the proposal, have created the need to learn and adopt innovative practices for non-formal entrepreneurship education, and to improve the training offered to young people under 30 which are NEETs , unemployed or under economic and social disadvantage. It is therefore intended to offer to this target the opportunity to promote and enhance basic, personal, social, organizational skills. Indeed EfI intends to implement a good practice exchange between associations and organizations in order to implement a pilot course accompanied by a manual, c.d. Handbook, addressed to youth workers, educators and trainers at various levels and dealing with youth education, in formal and non-formal contexts. The aim is to stimulate entrepreneurship and communication skills, integration and active citizenship of young people under disadvantage, proposing a model that can be replicated and transferred to several sectoral and geographical realities. First of all, research carried out at local and transnational level among companies and employers would highlight the soft skills most sought after by the Labor Market. The final report that would come down would constitute the premise for the exchange of good practices and the course for youth workers which would be the subject of the project's HANDBOOK. The project approach is cooperative and is based on non-formal training and on techniques such as active and participatory learning, learning by doing and peer-to-peer education. The exchange of good practices, targeting of the target groups, the Handbook containing the softskills sought after Labour Market and innovative ways of entrepreneurship education would be the greatest results of EfI. The impact of the project would also be visible through the statistical surveys on the beneficiary sample even after a year from the end of the project. The EfI project would continue to produce results beyond the end of the project; its sustainability is imperative as it is a project that is intended to enhance key competences and training standards regarding training modules and teaching methodologies related to the teaching and learning processes in the youth sector. The web portal of the project would continue to exist at the end of the project and therefore access to all products will continue to be guaranteed. In addition, all the people involved in the project partnership are experienced youth training providers for the development of entrepreneurial skills, therefore each of them would include the training module created within the project among its training and updating tools for trainers, youth animators, educators.
The project aimed at achievement of particular steps from exchange of good practice toward the development of the new methodologies based on good practice and also current trends, needs and opportunity to utilise innovative approaches. The main achievements during the project implementation created a logical flow from the local reality through the international youth work cooperation back to the local level with the new input and impact. Objectives were: - exchange of good practices, - improvement of self-awareness, promotion of skills personal, social and organisational development of young people and people in social disadvantage and in situations of vulnerability, - Handbook for trainers, - transnational Short-term staff training for youth workers, - increasement of the skills of trainers in innovative and participatory methodologies - creation of a pilot test module at local level for young people with few opportunities 18-30 to learn transversal skills for employability and entrepreneurship, spirit of initiative, problem solving and team working capacity, effective communication and communication skills through formal and NFEl education methods.
The projects was created within the European partnership of the organisations who found the common need nad interest related to the current situation among the young people and especially unemployment among young people and decided to develop the the project responding to the one of the biggest challenges Europe is facing. The labor market is constantly changing and the requirement to young people are higher comparing to the lack of the adequate basic and transversal skills. The partners defined the entrepreneurship as a key topic and field of the project - exploring and bringing closer to the young people the knowledge, practice and including competences of the entrepreneurship as an opportunity for them, the way to face the disadvantages and become active citizen in their community. The project aimed at stimulation of the entrepreneurship among young people and present them different format and models which can opne them new horizons in their situation or for their future.