The aim of the project was to develop educational programmes for the coaching staff of ESWIP and RICH'ESS associations to be used when working with social economy entities and to improve the quality of education in social economy support centres (OWES). Through the implementation of this project, we wanted to broaden our knowledge on the above-mentioned topics, expand our tool base and learn about and confront our approach to educating and supporting future social entrepreneurs, who are an important target group of our educational activities. We wanted to improve the competences of the staff of both organisations in supporting social entrepreneurs, also in the context of values and social utility, which are particularly important when setting up social enterprises. Their aim is not only to bring financial benefits, but also human benefits, by supporting excluded people, bringing them back to the labour market and caring for the environment in the spirit of sustainable development.
This project was a continuation of an earlier collaboration between the partners, established as part of the KA1 project. Our intention was to deepen the topics common to both organisations, i.e. developing a training toolkit for trainers working with future and start-up social entrepreneurs, particularly in the field of the circular economy. From the Polish perspective, it was important to learn from real experts - Brittany is the most advanced region in France in terms of the development of the social and solidarity economy. For the French partner, issues related to the training of animators and leaders of social organisations, implemented in Poland as part of training cycles, were particularly interesting. Our common need was to put into perspective our working methods, to develop them, to extend them with new tools, and to get to know better the French and Polish realities related to the possibilities of educating and supporting future social entrepreneurs who employ socially excluded people through their activities.