AT A GLANCE
This project aimed at providing an unbiased platform for debate and exchange of experiences and/or best practices on youth employment, young entrepreneurship and creativity by bringing together youth workers, youth leaders and young people. Its main objective was to search for a new way of thinking about work and entrepreneurship, more suitable to present time and to the current economic situation.
The activities carried out within NEW were a seminar in Arzignano, Italy; five National Youth Initiatives, one for each partners’ country, namely Italy, Greece, Malta, France and Czech Republic, and a Trans-National Youth exchange in Pelhrimov, Czech Republic.
All the activities involved about 1350 young people in the 5 countries, but also stakeholders, institutions, local enterprises that actively participated to develop the activities of the project.
OBJECTIVES
NEW envisages to achieve the following objectives:
- Create an unbiased platform for debate and exchange of experiences;
- provide best practices on youth employment, young entrepreneurship and creativity by bringing together youth workers, youth leaders and young people;
- search for a new way of thinking about work and entrepreneurship, more suitable to present time and to the current economic situation, and trust worthier from young people.
ACTIVITIES
- Seminar in Arzignano
A seminar took place in Arzignano, Italy, from 11 to 16 June 2012, which involved 35 youth leaders and youth workers from the different partner countries. The event provided a platform for reflection, discussion and exchange of good practices, around the topic of entrepreneurship. The Seminar was based on working groups and other non-formal learning activities.
During the seminar, the leader of the different national groups were directly involved in the activities flow: there were short evaluation and check meetings every day to discuss about the proposed activities and they become really an important support to develop and lead them. Every day all national groups were involved to develop simple activities like energizers, but they had also the opportunity to organize national evenings and national workshops about youth entrepreneurship.
Thereafter, each partner organization organized in its territory a youth initiative (between September 2012 and September 2013) to experiment and put in practice the ideas developed during the seminar, to give everyone an opportunity to be directly and actively involved in doing something concrete around the topic.
National youth initiatives took also place in the partners countries:
- The Youth Initiative in Italy: “CreaCult”
A group of five Italian participants to the first phase of the project, the seminar in Arzignano, decided to raise the opportunity offered by the project to realize a local youth initiative about creativity and entrepreneurship. They were supported by the local Municipality (especially the Youth Policies Councillor), a mentor of the “Studio Progetto Social Cooperative” and the Youth Information Office. They helped the group of young people to find out their own personal resources and capacities, discuss about their thoughts and wills, inform themselves about the local context on the selected theme, focus the ideas to develop firstly their main goal and then the activity to be realized, the development phases and the division of tasks among them on the basis of their interests and capacities.
“CreaCult” represents an entrepreneurship experience doubly important for the young people involved: on one hand it fostered the diffusion of art in the everyday life and the visibility for the young artists who exposed their works, on the other hand the project realization itself was a real challenge which permitted to the organizers to prove and develop their personal and professional skills. The initiative ended with a final event which took place on 16 June 2013, where the young artists painted in the main place of the city on a mobile installation together with all the people who wanted to prove themselves in this way, producing spontaneously a common big work on a “false wall”.
- The Youth Initiative in Greece: Info-point on awareness & networking for entrepreneurship
A group of young people, supported by ADEP SA, organized an info-point at their premises. The main aim was to transmit initial information on the matter of youth entrepreneurship and help those interested in it, to identify programmes they can exploit as well to reach the correct local bodies, so that to continue their effort without losing time and effort.
- The Youth Initiative in Czech Republic: Active Youth Meeting
Four short seminars were organized about interculturality, youth opportunities and active citizenship.
The programs included various activities, like welcoming, introduction of programme, first block about opportunities for young people, presentation of EVS volunteer about his or her country and culture, group work on a particular topic connected with first presentation, presentations of group work, final discussion and evaluation of the whole event.
All the activities were run with non-formal education methodology, non-formal education methods – energizer, work in groups, evaluation. The partner organization helped the involved young people with all the preparation, realization and evaluation of the local activities, in collaboration with local high schools, internet servers and NGO organizations. The activities then involved young people from 13 till 30 years old.
- The Youth Initiative in Malta
The Local Councils’ Association hosted a two-day event on the 6th – 7th May 2013 at the IPSE Training Facilities in Marsa.
The participants were carefully selected by the Local Councils’ Association so as to have the right mix for the project. At the end were chosen 18 participants in all to participate with their ages varying from 19 to 24 years of age.
The event featured various presentations and activities by key stakeholders in Malta dealing with youth unemployment and developing of skills.
- The Youth Initiative in France: StrassTips
The French Youth initiative StrassTips gathered five young persons living in Strasbourg who opened a website with the aim to describe the climate for youth life and employment in Strasbourg and gave tips to interested individuals to establish in the city and develop their activities.
They would like to encourage young people to stay in Europe and support to the young exiled people. The aim of the activity was to inform students, recently degreed, unemployed young people about the opportunities and possibilities of the European market, helping them since the first step in their countries until their arrive in Strasbourg.
It supports the youth people to create more and equal opportunities in education and in the labour market (“employability dimension”) but also to promote the active engagement, social inclusion and solidarity of all young people (“participation dimension”).
- The Youth Initiative in France: StrassTips
The final phase of the project is represented by a youth exchange (14 – 21 July 2013), which allowed participants to discover and become aware of different social and cultural realities, to promote mutual learning and to develop a entrepreneurial spirit by reinforcing their feeling of being European citizen.
Participants also had the opportunity to interact with the local community, through the town visit and the planned meetings with local stakeholders.
The overall outcome is the creation of a common-thinking platform among the participants and the promotion of an European vision of young people future in work and entrepreneurship.