The project “Strengthening Social Entrepreneurial
Networks” is 14 months of action with the main focus on the lack of cooperation between
youth organizations coming from Visegrad and Western Balkans in the field of
social entrepreneurship. The special focus of the project will be paid to aspects
such as: increasing the entrepreneurial spirit of young people, developing
competencies needed to establish and run social enterprises, creating a supportive social entrepreneurial environment for developing social enterprises
as the answer to youth unemployment, supporting cross-sectorial cooperation between
the schools, youth organizations, social enterprises and state institutions.
The project idea was initiated by the Youth Alliance – Krusevo, and developed together with the
project partners: European Foundation for Human Development [Poland], Vijeće mladih općine Ključ [Bosnia and Herzegovina], Eurotender Association [Hungary], Organization for Aid to Refugees [Czech Republic], Youth for Equality [Slovakia], Initiative for Development and Cooperation [Serbia], and Youth for Social Changes [Albania].
Hereby, this action involves 8 organizations from 8 different countries from the Western Balkan region and the Visegrad region.
Key project activities envisaged with the project are a study Visit on Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprises, a Round Table on Cross-Sectorial Cooperation in Social Entrepreneurship, Networking, and Project Making Event on the Future of Social Entrepreneurship, and publishing a Booklet of Good Practices on Social Entrepreneurship in Visegrad and Western Balkans.
The direct target group of the project activities is the young people strongly interested in social entrepreneurship, representatives of youth organizations interested in exploring social entrepreneurship and/or delivering activities aiming to develop social entrepreneurial competencies of young people, and representatives of social enterprises from participating countries and representatives of the labor market, state institutions, schools involved in social entrepreneurship and/or interested in cross-sectorial cooperation.
The project started with the preparatory meeting that
took place from 24.11.2019 to 26.11.2019 in Skopje, North Macedonia. The main
purpose of the preparatory meeting was to familiarize the partners closely with
the project's main aim, to review the division of tasks and responsibilities
among the partners, and to prepare all the next project steps for the achievement of the
planned results. During the two working days meeting in which all partners participated, the project implementation process was agreed upon according to
all partner's needs and capacities.
The first international activity was the study visit that
took place in Lodz, Poland from 24.01.2020 - 29.01.2020. The key purpose of the
study visit was to explore the possibilities of cooperation between youth
organizations coming from the Visegrad region and Western Balkans in the field of
social entrepreneurship. Henceforth, participants from 8 partner organizations
from Poland, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia,
Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic had a chance to explore the social
entrepreneurial ecosystem in Lodz, Poland.
The project was successfully implemented. More information on the project outputs can be found in the attachments below.
The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
