Start-up Explorers

“Start-up Explorers” was a project initiated by 6 non-profit organisations from Romania, Italy, Bulgaria, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina that encourage the cooperation between European & LAC NGOs and skill up human capital from NGOs (youth workers) by providing quality entrepreneurial education instruments, supports the employability of NEETs and enhance the international dimension of youth activities.The aim of the project was to support 18 youth workers to develop and share effective innovative methods in entrepreneurial education to reach out NEET youth and improve by March 2020 their entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, competences, and to support the capacity building of youth workers and youth work in 3 European and 3 LAC countries.The main objective has been reached by designing 3 different multi-cultural learning environments where they have discovered under the guidance of a team of trainers how to facilitate processes based on innovation and creativity to prototype start-ups.The specific objectives of the project were the following:O1: To create a network of 18 international youth workers and prepare them to become multipliers of entrepreneurial education through 1 TC and 2 capacity building activitiesO2: To foster the inclusion and employability of 590 NEET youth from 6 countries organizing local workshops and using tools based on learning through games and non-formal education developed by the youth workers trained previouslyO3: Raise awareness regarding the importance of entrepreneurial education in formal and non-formal educational environments and promote developing and learning opportunities for NEET in the field of entrepreneurshipThe main milestones of the project lifecycle were: 1. January 2019: Kick-of seminar (Italy) 2. February 2019: March 2020: The communication campaign of the project 3. February 2019 – March 2020: DEOR campaign4. May 2019: Training course for youth workers on entrepreneurial skills (Romania) 5. June-July 2019: Design of the toolkit with the methods used in the training course, translated in 7 languages, including English and promoted at European and LAC level6. September-October 2019 – Capacity building workshop – incubator of social projects for local NGOs (Uruguay) 7. October - November 2019 – Collaborative seminar to create an educational board game about start-ups (Argentina)8. January 2020 – Create the platform to promote the board game and the toolkit in English language9. January-March 2020 – Multiplying local workshops for local NGOs, teachers and NEET using the board game and the toolkit10. March 2020 – Evaluation of the project, preparation of the final report.Through the three main activities planned: 1 training course and 2 capacity building activities, 18 youth workers and more than 590 young people developed relevant and high-quality skills and competences that fostered employability, socio-educational and personal development, as well as participation in civic and social life. The trained youth workers had the instruments and know-how to guide the youth from their communities to develop start-up projects or to integrate them into labour market. Through the boardgame “Cycle of life”, 590 young people became familiar with entrepreneurship education concepts and ecosystems.The intellectual outputs created during the project Start-up explorers were:1.Two digital and hard-copies of the pocket guides: The 1st one – Essential skills and the 2nd one - The Journey 2.One boardgame - “Cycle of life”3.Six entrepreneurship ecosystems maps with the resources available for young entrepreneurs from Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay 4.One platform which hosts a collection of interviews with successful young entrepreneurs. 5.4 Prototypes of social start-ups designed during the first capacity building activity: Skills on Wheels; Life race – life skills quest; Mi Casa Tu casa, etc.