Youth Changemakers for Social Economy Ecosystem (YOUforSE)

Title	Youth Changemakers for Social Economy Ecosystem
Abbreviation	YOUforSE
Programme	ERASMUS+ programm 2021-2027

Project partners

1. OPE Cantabria (Spain) (lead partner)
2. Municipio de Lousada (Portugal)
3. Vidzeme Planning Region (Latvia)

Project objectives

1. Promoting the participation of young people in the social economy ecosystem by organizing experience exchange visits and improving the understanding of the stakeholders (young people, municipalities, and policy makers) about social economy ecosystems.
2. Foster the youth talent while creating visible bottom-up perspectives to engage youth into public strategies and political programs development, converting youth concerns to a real political agenda to revitalize communities with social entrepreneurial initiatives.
3. Respond to certain social needs and identify solutions to reduce employment barriers for local youth by analysing the relevance of youth social entrepreneurship skills and capabilities through mentoring, training, and networking.

Activities

1. Development of Youth-Driven Social Economy Handbook - roadmap including guidelines for youth involvement into regional ecosystems, generating opportunities to develop social entrepreneurship.
2. The creation of Guidelines of Social Economy Lab - including identified good practices in the EU territory, together with their political and social contexts in terms of Social Economy (SE), main obstacles and challenges that hinder that hinder the involvement of young people in the social economy. The guidelines are intended for assessing the transferability of local good practices, creating awareness, and promoting the active participation and leadership of young people in the social economy and social entrepreneurship.
3. Organizing Youth Participatory Lab – 3 local hackathons with experts as moderators, youth participants and representatives from social enterprises and business actors of the territory. The aim of hackathons is to gain knowledge on social economy, understand the challenges of respective regional ecosystems, acquire the tools and skills to ultimately co-generate innovative solutions.
4. Youth and Social Entrepreneurship Advocacy

Results

Created synergies in 3 areas of cooperation: - political: encouraged dialogue and strategic partnerships to strengthen the capability of community actors; - economic: enhanced social entrepreneurship; - social: dissolved stereotypes on activism and voluntarism and promoted a positive image of young people and their involvement in social entrepreneurship in the project partnership territory.

Budget

Total budget: 60 000 EUR

VPR budget: 18 300 EUR

Implementation period

04.09.2023.-03.05.2025.

Contacts

Lienīte Priedāja-Klepere
Mobile: +371 26133028
Email: lienite.priedaja@vidzeme.lv