According to Cree (2003), a young carer is a person aged 5-25 whose life is affected by the illness or disability of someone in his or her family. They may provide physical or emotional support for that person. Young carers may care for relatives who have a physical or learning disability, mental health problem, chronic illness or alcohol misuse problem. According to Becker, (2000), a particularly vulnerable group, that we will focus on, are young adults age 18-25. For those young adults the care load they have to shoulder is particularly heavy, their educational and vocational opportunities are limited by their geographical location and influenced by their domestic situation, and there are also intergenerational challenges present. The project will target young carers, young people working for young carers and entrepreneurs and offer learning opportunities so that they can develop their social entrepreneurial skills. Young carers are a group at risk of social exclusion and their career and educational opportunities are often limited by the role they play in the family. This situation necessitates professional support from multiple sources. Not only does it concern health services and education support services, but it may also call for family services. A social entrepreneur is somebody who takes up a pressing social problem and meets it with an innovative solution. These individuals are willing to take on the risk and effort to create positive changes in society through their initiatives. Widespread use of ethical practices such as impact investing, conscious consumerism, and corporate social responsibility programs facilitate the success of social entrepreneurs. EPIONI, Anemos Ananeosis, and Consorzio SGS operate in the sector consisting of non-governmental organizations and other non-profits The project "Social Entrepreneurship Skills for Young CAREgivers of people with chronic Illness" ( acronym SESYCARE) targets young caregivers and aspires to overcome the above-mentioned problems by tools and methodologies that will enable young carers to develop their social and entrepreneurial skills. In the context of the project we will 1) compile a guide of good practices in the support of young caregivers who wish to develop their social entrepreneurial skills 2) deliver six seminars and one webinar for the program “Erasmus for young entrepreneurs” 3) conduct a training in the Netherlands by our experienced partner DFW2W 4) hold three transnational meetings in Athens, Istanbul, and Lanciano. In these meetings, the hosting partner, EPIONI, the newcomer Anemos Ananeosis, our academic partner Istanbul Gelisim University (Turkey) and the social enterprise Consorzio SGS (Italy), will provide country-specific recommendations and conduct a focus group to determine the entrepreneurial skills that young caregivers need to develop for a successful career in the non-profit sector. In the first year of the project, our partner DFW2W from the Netherlands, while hosting the short-term Joint staff training event in Leiden, will share their expertise and conduct study visits to relevant stakeholders. The project will build on the existing experiences of countries, such as the Netherlands, which offer adequate training to young people who wish to develop their entrepreneurial skills. Additionally, each partner will have to register at least two social entrepreneurs as “Hosts” in the "Erasmus for young entrepreneurs" platform. As interest in the topic of carers is growing rapidly in Europe we included a relevant organization as associated partner. Eurocarers, the European umbrella association working with carers will share good practices on how to reach young caregivers. Other associated partners that we thought useful to include are: the Academy of Entrepreneurship which will co-host, with EPIONI, seminars on "Erasmus for young entrepreneurs", the Institute of Entrepreneurship Development from Larissa which will assist in organizing the Webinar, the University of West Attica which will help with the identification of young carers and the Saronic Nephrological Center which will share good practices for young carers. A 3minute video of a former member of the European Parliament sharing the important role of young carers as social entrepreneurs will be uploaded on the website of the project. Partners will utilize social media extensively (eg Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) to reach a wide young audience.
The principal goal of the project was to educate young carers of chronically ill individuals about social entrepreneurship with the ultimate objective of helping them develop social entrepreneurship skills. The project targeted young carers and young people working for young carers and offered learning opportunities so that they could develop their social and entrepreneurial skills. Widespread use of ethical practices such as impact investing, conscious consumerism, and corporate social responsibility programs facilitate the success of social entrepreneurs. We promoted the idea that young caregivers can become social entrepreneurs. A social entrepreneur takes up a pressing social problem and meets it with an innovative solution. Young caregivers can become social entrepreneurs due to their personal experience and need for flexible working hours. We shared good practices in the support of young caregivers among the partners from Greece, Italy, Turkey and the Netherlands. Partners EPIONI, Anemos Ananeosis, and Consorzio Global Med Care (former Consorzio SGS) are active in the nonprofit sector in Greece and Italy.
A young carer provides physical or emotional support to a mentally ill loved one. Young carers may care for relatives who have a physical or mental disability, mental health problem, chronic illness or alcohol misuse problem. According to Becker, (2000), a particularly vulnerable group that we focused on, are young adults aged 18-25. For those young adults the care load they have to shoulder is particularly heavy, their educational and vocational opportunities are limited by their geographical location and influenced by their domestic situation, and there are also intergenerational challenges present. Young carers are a group at risk of social exclusion and their career and educational opportunities are often limited by the role they play in the family. This situation necessitates professional support from multiple sources. Not only does it concern health services and education support services, but it may also call for family services. The project addressed the educational needs of young caregivers and offered them social entrepreunership skills accordingly.