WISEs4Youth is an Erasmus + project which aims to create training activities for social entrepreneurial skills development targeting potential young social entrepreneurs in Western Balkans.
The project specific objectives are:
Number of beneficiaries
The project will last 24 months from April 2022 to March 2024.
This is a project cofunded by the European Union for a total amount of € 250 000.
Action : 101049682 — WISEs4Youth — ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-PCOOP-ENGO
The Sustainability Roadmap represents a practical framework tailored specifically for young individuals navigating the complexities of social entrepreneurship. By providing clear and targeted implementation steps, it equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the necessary knowledge to embark on their entrepreneurial journey with confidence and purpose. The roadmap provides a guide with simple steps on how to build sustainable social entrepreneurship and includes best practices in WB6 and EU to be tackled as models for replication. Moreover, insights gathered from representatives of social enterprises through surveys enrich the roadmap with invaluable real-world perspectives. The roadmap presents a series of actionable steps for young entrepreneurs to consider and adopt, guiding them in the establishment of social enterprises that are not only dedicated to their social mission but also deeply ingrained in sustainability principles designed to achieve long-term financial viability, thereby fostering lasting positive impact within their communities and beyond.
The Final Toolkit represents a compendium of lessons learned to improve the sustainability of project results also after the end of the project implementation period. It serves not only for the project sustainability but also as a pilot experience that can motivate different stakeholders and drive similar actions for different topics, in other EU countries and in the close neighbourhood.
The intention is to secure the longevity of project outcomes by empowering young potential future social entrepreneurs and other potential stakeholders in social economy entrepreneurship to replicate, adopt, or change, and apply the tools, strategies, and recommendations from this project. This approach facilitates the formulation, development, and execution of prosperous projects by other potential external to the project stakeholders and within a wider framework.
On the 19/03/24, the final conference of the WISEs4Youth project took place in Brussels and on Zoom. The conference focused on project's outcomes presentation, on EU support policies towards youth social entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans but also existing national and local initiatives and support measures towards youth entrepreneurship and social economy development in general and on young people's testimonies and main takeaways from their participation to the training courses and study visits in WISEs and social enterprises. More information and presentations, click here.
New deliverable of the project is now available. The Western Balkans Social Economy All-Stars Compound is available in 6 languages and presents successful social business models and their variety. It presents a short introduction of the social economy context in each visited country as well as the visited enterprises within the project, as a portfolio of best practices which also complement the training modules.
Next deliverables of the #WISEs4Youth project are available! On the 18th of May, project partners organised a peer learning event on "Social Entrepreneurship as a Driver of Inclusive Growth for Youth: Exchanging Good Practices and Strengthening Local Support". This session brought together local and national authorities from 5 Western Balkans countries, social entrepreneurs, WISEs and youth leaders to share knowledge, best practices, and experiences on how to build stronger support to social (youth) entrepreneurship, foster social impact, growth, and inclusion. The role of WISEs in the local and national economies, the legal frameworks they operate in and Governments’ measures for WISEs and their networks development with focus on youth-led social enterprises were explored. Go check the deliverables, the peer learning guide which will help you organise such sessions and the evaluation from the session.
In the framework of the W4Y project, partners implemented two training modules, especially designed for future potential social entrepreneurs in Western Balkans, in their respective countries! Deliverables from this work are now available! Check the final report on training implementation here.
The partners from the WISEs4Youth Project are glad to announce you the publication of their second deliverable, the report on the training modules development, training modules you can find just below.
The aim of this report is to explicit the reasoning of their development process.
The report is available in 6 languages (EN, AL, RS, MK, HR, SI).
The project partners prepared the first two deliverables in the framework of the project :
Both will be used in the framework of the project during training sessions aimed at young people who aim to become social entrepreneurs!
Stay tuned as we will soon announce the first training sessions!
On the 6th of December, partners of the WISEs4Youth project gathered in Ljubljana to discuss project’s implementation. As future steps, collaboration will take place to provide future social entrepreneurs with the tools to run their business and make it sustainable in the long term. Partners will also work on collecting good practices from WISEs as well as recommendations to follow for their development and prosperity.
On the 5th of December, project partners together with potential future social entrepreneurs from Western Balkans, gathered to visit Slovenian WISEs. In total, 5 visits took place in Ljubljana and Kranj. The variety of visits were enriching for the target group as several models were presented: work integration social enterprises, business incubator and inclusion programs. Young people had the opportunity to listen and learn on how to run and scale up a social business while maintaining the social and employment dimension all along.
On the 10th of November 2023, WISEs4Youth partners gathered in Skopje at CDI Macedonia premises in order to discuss the further implementation of the project. A point on next study visit and due deliverables were discussed. Motivation, cooperation and strenght of this consortium makes this project run smoothly creating real impact for young potential young entrepreneurs in Western Balkans.
On the 9th of November 2023, WISEs4Youth project partners together with young people from Western Balkans countries were in Skopje in North Macedonia to visit WISEs but not only. Several enterprises working for the socio-economic inclusion of different vulnerable target groups through inspiring activities demonstrated their talents !
On the 5th of October, WISEs4Youth partners gathered in Cakovec (HR) in order to discuss next steps of the project's implementation. Currently, partners are fully involved in the implementation of the WP3 - study visits by future potential young social entrepreneurs from Western Balkans in successful WISEs.
On the 4th of October, all WISEs4Youth partners accompanied by young people from the Western Balkans countries gathered in Čakovec (Croatia) to visit a variety of inspiring activities performed by WISEs. It was an amazing experience where the combination of making profit and reinvesting it in the socio-professional integration of vulnerable groups at local level was demonstrated.
WISEs4Youth project partners gathered ont he 12th of September in Belgrade for a project team meeting to exchange on the future development and implementation of the project. Upcoming study visits preparation was discussed as well as next deliverables and reporting phase.
From the 10th until the 12th of September, project partners together with potential future young social entrepreneurs from the Western Balkans gathered in Belgrade, Serbia. Three study visits were planned to discover inspiring WISEs: Nasa Kuca, 16 , and Liceulice. Experiences were shared and young people could lear more about the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Serbia.
Project partners gathered in Tirana on the 27th of June 2023 in order to discuss project's achivements and further steps. In addition, upcoming activities were discussed such as the implemtnation and deliverables of the WP3 (study visits preparation), the budget and reporting phases.
From the 25th until the 27th of June, all partners of the WISEs4Youth project gathered in Tirana for the first study visit of WISEs! After having received 2 trainings on WISEs management and their impact measurement and management, this study visit provided the opportunity for young people from partners' countries to travel and visit three successful WISEs and be inspired for their future potential social business initiatives. Among visited enterprises, there were the Te Xhoni Kafe, Center for Culinary Education, Funky Cabins.
On the 18th of May, project partners led an online peer leaning session on "Social Entrepreneurship as a Driver of Inclusive Growth for Youth: Exchanging Good Practices and Strengthening Local Support", gathering local and national authorities from Western Balkans, social entrepreneurs, WISEs and youth leaders to share knowledge, best practices, and experiences on how to build stronger support to social (youth) entrepreneurship, foster social impact, growth, and inclusion.
You can read all information about the event here
WISEs4Youth project partners gathered together on the 13th of April to discuss future steps of the project: report on the implementation of training modules for young potential future entrepreneurs in Western Balkans, peer learning session that will be organised in May and study visits.
During the week starting on the 16th of January, partners gathered together in Ljubljana in SENT premises to learn training modules on social economy and WISEs and on impact measurement and management.
You can read more about it here
On September 9th, the project partners met online for their first transnational project meeting to exchange about the project, the latest news and the next steps!
You can find here a presentation of the discussions.
On May 13th, the project partners met online for the kick off meeting to exchange on their vision of the project, the next steps and how to kick of the project activities in the next months.
You can read more about it here.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.