Project: Empowering youth for decent work was addressing the current challenges young people are facing at the labour market. It was focusing on young unemployed people, youth who are working in short term, unstable and precarious conditions and at young people who were already employed. Through the partnership established among different organisations addressing these topics, the project offered a space and opportunities to share knowledge, practices and approaches working with youth. We created new and innovative models addressing young people in order to bring those topics to them and to other actors in this field, with the aim to empower them in the transition from education to the labour market. The aim of the project was to empower youth in this transition and enable them in knowing the rights they have, when they are unemployed, in precarious work or in employment. Within the project, we compared the situation of young people living in Slovenia and in Spain, where the consequences of youth unemployment and precarious have been very notable and address this with correlation to European policies influencing labour market and legislations. We made a research on the situation of young people in this transition and challenges they are facing. We also checked how well they are aware of the topics, how good they are in knowing their rights, while unemployed, in different forms of work and in employment, what are the measures that can help them and who are the actors in this field. We also checked how well they are aware of possibilities to connect and act on this matter and what actions can they take. This was done by making a researches that included also a questionnaire filled by young people, in order to gather young people’s opinion and their views on the matter. Collected results were gathered and together with the statistical data and other information we published a research that presented the situation of young people and their view of the situation. Based on this we developed an education module to empower them on this field and organise a national seminars (In slovenia and in Spain) for young people and youth workers. We also developed and implemented informative and educational online campaign striving to present these topics in a youth friendly way and empower young people with knowledge and information for facing these challenges, present them the rights they have and actions they can take. The results of the project, outcomes and conclusions were also shared to other actors in this field (such as policy makers, other youth organisations, trade unions, public employment services, etc.) at the national level, where we organised seminars and at the international closing conference. With this we built bridges among young people and other stakeholders who are working on these topics. The main target groups were young people and those stakeholders. Youth in these situations (unemployed and precarious workers) are at the risk of social exclusion or are already social excluded. This situation does not only affect their economic situation, but also does not provide them with adequate social and legal protection. Therefore, with the project we also wanted to empower them to stand for their rights, to take actions, to become active citizens, contribute in addressing those topics and to increase their participation in democratic life. We also wanted to motivate them to take part in youth organisations, or other organisations. We also want to strengthen their belief in taking the initiatives and to become engaged at local, national or European level, to collaborate and be connected and share their views and express their opinion. Project also aimed to raise awareness among broader public at national and European level about the precarious work and on the importance of decent work and propose action and measures for developing policies that assure decent work for young people. Therefore, the project included various actors from this field that gain new knowledge about the situation of young people, their views and their needs. additionally we also organised a press conference (In Slovenia) where we presented the results of the projects, research and disseminate the outcome in order to make project visible and to showcase the situation young people are facing. This also helped in achieving the results of the training. Through established partnership among organisations end exchanging practices, views and approaches, developing new methods and educational activities, we also strengthen capacities of included organisations and contribute to development of youth work. Partners organisations really connected during the project and we are still continuing the cooperation after the project.

All our organisations base their work for inclusion and acceptance of diversity on projects and related project based funding. In most cases those projects cannot cover regular costs of organisational staff, facilities and utilities; and all the potential team building activities for / with our volunteers and staff. Also, if we do not get funding for specific project related to the real needs in our community, we do not have resources to organise activities in that direction. Nowadays, there is a huge competition between civil society organisations for funding on tenders organised and quite often it happens that even if the project is well developed and written and there are real urgent needs for such project in community, still projects do not get funding as there are just not enough financial resources available. With this project, we have tried to respond to these needs of our partner organisations (and other interested civil society organisations) through capacity building of theirs by exploring other sources of funding and empowering and encouraging our youth workers for taking actions and enriching their sources of funding for their work with marginalised groups and better impact on inclusion and acceptance of diversity in society.There are two core activities in the project:1. Mobility activity – Training course. It was held in Serbia in October 2017. It gathered 31 participant, trainers and staff from 11 organisations and countries (RS, BE, XK, HR, BA, GR, AL, ME, MK, SI, IT). 2. Capacity building activity – publication. It will give constructive and practical advices and recommendation on what youth organisations and their youth workers need to do when it comes to different fundraising efforts. There are also more preparation, evaluation and dissemination activities.Objectives of the project are:• Motivate and empower youth workers for active promotion of combating social exclusion in their activities • Empower youth workers in fundraising and grant application writing for working with marginalised groups • Allow for exchange of practices among youth workers from different countries/communities on various aspects and perceptions of marginalisation and inclusion, different insights and perceptions about youth work with marginalised groups and values in those work• Empower youth workers in understanding and using Erasmus+ and other EU Programmes for their youth work for inclusion• Build capacity and increase knowledge management of youth organisations quality, consistent and effective fundraising from various sources of funding available and through different offline and online tools • Develop more projects and activities for inclusion, on local level and within the Erasmus+ and other EU programmesWith this project, we contribute to developing the quality of capabilities of partner organisations in youth field in general, and to the development of youth workers – multipliers in specific.

College-age young people are open and enthusiastic about making a change in their society and to serving good to all citizens. Global awareness and interaction has broadened their perspectives on the role of doing good. They are eager to be involved, to make an impact. That’s why it’s crucial that, while at the same time that young people are encouraged to be future leaders in the private sector, they should learn on the Corporate Social Responsibility concept/ Social Enterprise Model and vision themselves as Responsible Entrepreneurs.Our project (Students Today-Responsible Entrepreneurs Tomorrow) delivered tailored programs of Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility to high school students that were enrolled in the school subject “Entrepreneurship” in the three respective countries (Macedonia, Croatia and Lithuania). The project modules were designed in a lead of the recognized NGOs from Macedonia (ARNO-coordinator of the project) and Belgium (Out of the Box International- partner) that offered full expertise in the design of modules and programs that improved the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of the students for becoming future Responsible Entrepreneurs.Young students accompanied by their teachers attended in total 4 trainings on Social Entrepreneurship and CSR with national follow-up activities that run throughout the entire project. They practiced the theory learned during the trainings by creating and running student Virtual Companies. Some of the student’s companies/ideas participated further in national competitions and won prizes, which proved that the project approach has visible and immediate impact on the student’s motivation and recognizable skills. Students and teachers were involved fully at all project stages and used creative tools to share the message of the project (Online Campaigns, Photo Competition, Gala Fundraising Event) while the private sector companies were mobilized to share stories and provide the students on-site learning and exposure to real business environments. With the outreach to the private sector the schools established contacts with local Companies with strong CSR practice and Social Enterprises; some of the contacts resulted in partnerships that will continue to support the schools and the entrepreneurial education and community involvement. The European dimension of the project ensured creative cultural learning, while the partners built stronger relationships and strengthened their international activities and culture of sharing best-practices. The successful implementation of the project resulted in greater commitment by all partners on working more devotedly on the topic of entrepreneurial education. The project inspired the design of the proposal “STRET Teacher Toolkit”- a KA2 approved project that unites the same partners and aims to bring academic and policy momentum to the same topic by empowering the professional communities and promoting the approach at European level.

Reducing youth unemployment is one of the major challenges facing most governments in the world. Within the framework of potential efforts and strategies to boost employment and job creation for young people, entrepreneurship is increasingly accepted as an important means and a valuable additional strategy to create jobs and improve livelihoods and economic independence of young people. It is an innovative approach to integrating youth into today’s changing labor markets. Developing and encouraging youth entrepreneurship can:- Creating employment opportunities for self-employed youth as well as the other young people they employ;- Helping youth develop new skills and experiences that can then be applied to other challenges in life; - Promoting innovation and resilience in youth;- Capitalizing on the fact that young entrepreneurs may be particularly responsive to new economic opportunities and trends.How can we contribute to all this? We can educate young people to be better employees, but we should also invest in shaping their mindset, coupled with the skills and knowledge to be innovators and entrepreneurs. Developing the ability to recognize opportunity and giving young people the tools to capitalize on those opportunities empowers them to take ownership of their future in ways which directly link education to real-world success.The SSA team together with its partners created project, which had for aim to raise the capacities of organizations and youth workers to deliver better quality entrepreneurial education that tends to develop personal and professional skills and uptake knowledge in order to reduce youth unemployment through youth programs and projects using the produced materials and tools. Project activities:1. Coordination meeting2. 1st Training Course 2. 2nd Training Course3. Workshop4. Mid-term evaluation meeting5. Workshop6. Conference7. Local activities8. Final evaluation meetingThe implementation of the project resulted in the following results:Open educational resources in a form of learning website where we gather together 40 learning activities, reflected through questionnaire, tool or exercises which serves to improve our personal and professional skills, boost a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mindset and develop business skills. All 40 learning activities, collected and developed during the implementation of activities, are translated on following languages: English, Serbian, Macedonian, Romanian, Slovenian, Croatian, France and Polish.Toolkit ''Three stages of success'' resents a new suite of mini-learning format resources for young people that support the acquisition of high-value labor market-oriented skills such as development of personal, professional and business skills.Each partner developed Local Initiative, introduce what role policy-makers, entrepreneurs, schools and NGOs can play in improving the entrepreneurship culture in Europe. It also have a plan of further steps or activities, which will be apply in their future work. 8 business plans prepared in advance during the activities and by the partner organizations, that intend to be applied for funding under the local and national funds.The project have directly impact and been most beneficial for participants and partner organization which got improved and new competences and mindset, but also concrete tools and practices for stimulating youth employability, addressing in that way youth unemployment in their local communities. The change which project in the long run is increase employment and employability of young people and generating new business ideas of young people with business mentors who are experienced entrepreneurs.

The project ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Youth Work - Developing employability and innovations amongst the youth people’ was an 18-month strategic partnership established among organisations from Malta, Belgium and Greece with the aim to engage in the promotion of entrepreneurship education in youth work. This strategic partnership emerged as a result of previous collaboration of the partner organizations, which recognized the need to develop strategic tools and motivate youth organizations to provide youth (social) entrepreneurship support and further contribute to this topic.The partnership brought together: Gozo Youth Council - one of the biggest youth work providers in Malta with experience in working on youth unemployment and supporting young people’s integration in society, the Institute for Entrepreneurship Development - a Greek organisation committed to the promotion of innovation and enhancing the spirit of entrepreneurship, and finally OTB International - a Belgium association providing mainly international youth work training and development, which offered a different perspective from the policy side and the side of the European level youth field. The project addressed the following set of objectives: - To build capacities of youth workers which enable them to provide quality youth work programmes on entrepreneurial education and social entrepreneurship;- To reflect on the competences necessary for youth workers to act as motivators both of youth (social) entrepreneurship and the improvement of lifelong learning competences of youth in this area;- To develop and test specific youth work tools as examples of non-formal learning in entrepreneurial education;- To develop participants’ understanding and knowledge of (social) entrepreneurship and its links to youth work systems and to discuss their applicability in different contexts;- To exchange good practices in youth work among youth workers and their associations from the 3 participating countries, but also at European level.The project produced 2 outputs (Mentorship Guideline for Mentoring Youth Entrepreneurship and Training kit on entrepreneurship for youth work organizations), yielded 3 multipliers events related to the development and promotion of these outputs and implemented 1 learning activity with the aim of building the capacities of youth workers to act as motivators of social entrepreneurship among youth in their local realities. As the main result, the project involved 116 young people, youth workers, activists and volunteers, in order to enhance the youth field with perspectives in implementing entrepreneurship education in youth work.