23 – 29 August, 2018
Gorišnica, Slovenia

The Entrepreneurship and Education Youth Cooperative Epeka, Soc. Ent., has obtained funding for the project Empowering youth workers/leaders to work with unemployed young people and young people from deprived areas (Empowering to Empower) under the third Erasmus+ call for proposals.

Together with our project partners, we want to implement the project to better prepare and train our youth workers/leaders to work with unemployed young people and young people from deprived areas or areas with fewer opportunities for young people. Together with partners from 8 different European countries, we have identified the problem of youth unemployment, young people facing economic and social barriers, in particular those young people from deprived areas who, in addition to unemployment, face geographical barriers and a lack of jobs, and other barriers linked to distance or poor links to administrative, employment and cultural centres. In some European countries, the unemployment rate among young people is up to 40%, which makes it much more difficult for young people to become independent or to become independent later, which is a major problem/challenge both for the individual and for society as a whole (standard of living). We and our project partners are and will continue to be committed to alleviating the circumstances of young people with these barriers and we want to continue to work together in the future to exchange experiences and good practices in addressing this problem. We want to develop approaches and working methods and solutions together through joint partnerships on different projects, and we want to strengthen the competences of our youth workers/leaders who will work with unemployed young people and young people from deprived areas. This is why with the project “EMPOWERING to EMPOWER” we want to encourage/strengthen youth workers to acquire the necessary competences to work with young people with such problems by exchanging experiences, facts, research and good practices in the field of (solving) the problem of youth unemployment and the problem of lack of opportunities for young people from less developed, remote or otherwise disadvantaged areas. The aim of the project is therefore to train and prepare youth workers/leaders to work with unemployed young people and young people from deprived areas, to become skilled and competent mentors and to guide young people on their career paths. They will be able to guide young people in their career and life paths by mentoring, providing security, helping/supporting them to set and achieve their aspirations/goals, encouraging them to participate in personal and social development programmes, supporting them in acquiring competences, promoting their self-confidence, personal development, encouraging them to become active and responsible citizens and ultimately preparing them for a responsible entry into the labour market.

In a 5-hour workshop, he will introduce young participants to the nature of social entrepreneurship, the employment opportunities it offers and the basic skills needed to start their own social enterprise. Participants will also cover the basics of cooperatives, the preparation of business plans, market analysis and the basic laws of marketing. Participants will be presented with the basic outlines of these fundamental topics and, above all, with open learning resources to help them develop their ideas further. The workshop, which will be held in English, will also be open to a limited number of participants outside the activity projects.

Of course, promoting the work of youth workers/leaders with young people is in fact to some extent a preventive measure in terms of non-formal and informal education for young people, thus making them more active citizens who achieve better results in their daily lives and equipping them with competences that help them either to find a job or to get a job. The project is linked to the following Erasmus+ objectives:

  • Improving the level of key competences and skills of youth workers/leaders (and consequently of young people), with a focus on targeted support or work with unemployed young people and young people from deprived areas or areas with fewer opportunities for young people;
  • Promoting a higher quality of youth work, by planning increased cooperation between youth organisations and in particular with unemployed young people;
  • strengthening the international dimension of youth activities and strengthening the capacity of youth workers and organisations in their support to unemployed young people and young people in general;
  • Supporting the (professional) development of those working in non-formal education, youth training, innovation and quality improvements in youth work in Europe.

Throughout the project we will be interested in concrete questions and facts about the causes of youth unemployment, what is the state of youth unemployment (statistics) in general, using the example of the different countries where the project partners come from, and how they are trying to tackle the problem or the problem of youth unemployment in their countries. By exchanging experiences of good practices in tackling this problem, we aim to stimulate creativity through workshops and different methods to come up with additional proposals for a possible effective solution to the problem of youth unemployment and the problem of areas with fewer opportunities for young people. Ultimately, we want them to transfer the experience, proposals and competences acquired to their further activities both within their own organisation and beyond in terms of further project cooperation between organisations at national and international level. An important part of the project is aimed at strengthening the necessary competences for working with unemployed young people and young people from deprived areas, which will be achieved through interactive workshops that will be prepared and implemented with the help of experienced trainers and experts.

The Association EPEKA, Soc. Ent., is supported by: