ActSEnt aimed at increase of SE support from a bottom-up perspective, involving municipalities and other local actors. There were several objectives to be achieved: 1. To promote social entrepreneurship among young people and local governments’ structures and create connections within the ecosystem 2. To increase social entrepreneurship skills among young people through tailored trainings, developed and implemented in close cooperation with municipalities, 3. To improve readiness and response of municipalities towards social entrepreneurship initiatives 4. To achieve sustainability of project and its outputs through provision of replicable methodology and possible local and regional policy reforms All objectives above have been addressed by ActSEnt, especially through development of SE Guide for Municipalities, SE Training Toolkit, training delivery for young aspiring entrepreneurs and creation of Policy recommendation and Action plans.
Social entrepreneurship (SE) represents a crucial role in tackling social, economic, and environmental challenges. SE often provide innovative solutions to issues such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, and climate change, targeting specific local needs that the market and public sector may not fully address. This has been recoginzed also on an EU level, as for example in European Commission's Social Business Initiative and other documents. Unlike national governments or the EU, which have developed comprehensive strategies (e.g., the European Social Economy Action Plan), many local authorities do not have similar support to foster social entrepreneurship, nor recognize its importance . This gap is highlighted in the EU’s Urban Agenda, which calls for stronger local-level policy in this area. Another needs are calling for increased level of awareness, capacity building and need for scaling solutions among others. ActSEnt and its well-balanced partnership addressed these needs.