The project entitled “Road Map of Social Enterprises” runs in the frame of Erasmus + Programme, Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices; Capacity building in the field of youth, with Youth Alliance – Krusevo as a the Lead Applicant Organisation and Association of Active Youths of Florina as a Partner organisation. The project includes eight organisations representing North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and Greece. Moreover, the project addresses the need to raise the capacities of the organizations in the terms of active use of digital tools enabling active engagement of young people, their involvement in society, decision-making processes, and supporting their employability.
Objectives
Project objectives:
- to enhance capacities of 8 youth organizations to use digital tools to support engagement of young people and interaction between representatives of different sectors with the goal to create supportive social entrepreneurial environment in their countries;
- to improve the social entrepreneurial environment in participating countries by developing new tool, a MAP, enabling interaction between the representatives of different sectors, supporting learning of young people, their active engagement and entrepreneurial mindset;
- to support cooperation between Programme and Partner countries representing the Western Balkan, exchanging lessons learned and setting base for future cooperation in the framework of social entrepreneurship and addressing youth unemployment.
Overall:
- the project will contribute to creating supportive social entrepreneurial environment in participating countries;
- the project will develop a durable, tool, a MAP, website and application for networking, knowledge exchange about social entrepreneurship with concrete examples of social enterprises and tools supporting cross-sectorial cooperation;
- the project will support cooperation between Programme and Partner countries and development of new project initiatives addressing youth unemployment and developing the entrepreneurial mindset of young people.
The duration of the project is 2 years, starting from 1. May 2022.
During the first phase of the project, the preparation period, there were online meetings with all partners of the project in order to review the plan of the activities, their tasks and responsibilities, and the process of preparation. The project team was created, communication, monitoring, and evaluation mechanisms were set. The media channels were launched, visual identity of the project created. The kick-off meeting took place and all aspects of the project were reviewed by the partners.
During the implementation phase of the project, youth organizations were urged to use digital tools in their work with young people as learning tools and in the process of networking with the representatives of other sectors.
The final meeting of the #roadse project was held in Skopje, 26-28 March 2024. During this evaluation meeting we had the chance to evaluate the capacities of partners raised through the project, to have a discussion on feedback given by participants and partners on mobility activities, by gathering lessons learned from mobility activities and moreover to review the financial documentation for the partners budget with the financial administrative team. This meeting is a new beginning in the development and promotion of the Social Enterprise Map (https://www.socialenterprisesmap.org/)! Expect new opportunities and new regions on the map.
International Conference: the main aim of the international conference was to share lessons learned at the international level. The conference run for 2-days and combined interactive presentations with the methodology of OPEN SPACE enabling the participants to directly contribute to the conference program. The International Conference was held from 07.02.2024 - 09.02.2024 in Skopje, North Macedonia. The International Conference on #roadse, introduced over 100 young people, social entrepreneurs and important persons from the social economy. The conference combined interactive presentations with the methodology of open space enabling the participants to directly contribute to the conference program and welcomed 80 young people from North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and Greece, representatives from social enterprises, professors and experts as well as talked about the future usage of the map with our distinguished guest speakers.
You can check the map, here in this link: www.socialenterprisesmap.org
More details about the International Conference you can find here.
Testing of the web platform "Roadmap of Social Enterprises" was carried out in Greece, with a specific emphasis on the region of Western Macedonia. The initiative commenced on 05/01/2024 and concluded on 08/02/2024, organized into two primary phases. The initial phase aimed at informing a minimum of 50 individuals selected to test the web platform, thereby enhancing awareness regarding the vital role and mission of social enterprises within the local community. This phase particularly highlighted the value and impact of such enterprises on the youth, with all preparatory materials and presentations crafted to this end.
Following this introductory stage, the project transitioned into its second phase, which was dedicated to the hands-on testing of the platform and the gathering of feedback. This part of the process focused extensively on the core functionalities of the platform as identified by the project’s objectives:
operational efficiency, search capabilities and navigation, design aesthetics, data accuracy, and overall user experience as outlined at https://www.socialenterprisesmap.org/listing-category/greece/.
The methodology employed during this phase was twofold:
1. The distribution and collection of responses via Google Forms, addressing specific areas such as the platform's functionality, usability, design, data integrity, and overall satisfaction.
2. The execution of two in-depth online sessions facilitated through Teams. These sessions were designed to delve deeper into the survey findings, providing a platform for participants to clarify their feedback and offering the project team a nuanced understanding of user perceptions and experiences related to the platform.
The outcomes from both the survey and the interactive sessions form the crux of this report, offering valuable insights into the platform’s strengths, areas for improvement, and user engagement levels.
This feedback is instrumental in refining and enhancing the platform to better serve the needs of Greek
social enterprises and their communities, particularly in fostering youth engagement and participation in the social economy sector.
You can find the report of the testing of digital map of social enterprises, here.
National Multiplier Event: In the framework of the Road Map of Social Enterprises - Erasmus+ programme we organized an event for the results of the programme and the presentation of the interactive map of social enterprises in Greece.The National Multiplier event was held in Florina, Saturday 10/02/2024, Suites Hotel, starting time 9:00 am. The event hosted 50 people from different entities, institutions, institutes, faculties, NGOs, etc. and served as a dynamic platform where we presented the digital map of social enterprises created in cooperation with partner organizations from the region. Additionally, we welcomed short presentations from a couple of owners of the social enterprises that are part of the map, as well as engaged in a discussion with our distinguished guest-speakers who gave their insights on the future usage of the map.
You can find more details about the National Μultiplier Event, here.
From the 12th to the 14th of May 2023, in Belgrade, Serbia, we had a #roadse meeting of project coordinators. During this mid-term meeting we agreed that the digital map of social enterprises will be an important product relevant for the young people, we talked about the content development materials and DATA collection for the map and we discussed the so-far project implementation and the quality of this cooperation.
More information and the agenda, here.
The Erasmus+ Training Seminar, entitled: "Road Map of Social Entreprises", was held in Skopje, North Macedonia, from 25 May to 31 May 2023. Association of Active Youths of Florina participated in the above programme with a group of young volunteers, in cooperation with the youth organisation "Youth Alliance - Krusevo".
The "Road Map of Social Entreprises" was created to bring together people from 8 countries (Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia). The main purpose of this project was to inform young people about social entrepreneurship issues. More specifically, the objective of this training course was to create a durable tool, an interactive and online map (MAP), as well as a website and application for networking and knowledge sharing opportunities on social entrepreneurship, through concrete examples of social enterprises and tools supporting cross-sectoral cooperation.
More info about the training course here.
Α Training course in Krusevo, North Macedonia, was held at 24-29 November 2022, during which young people had the chance to expand their knowledge about social entrepreneurship, to learn how the circular economy works and to explore innovative tools of social entrepreneurship.
The kick off meeting of the project "Road Map of Social Enterprises" was held in Skopje, North Macedonia by the leading organization Youth Alliance Krusevo from 25th of May 2022 utill 27th of May 2022. The main purpose of the kick off meeting was to introduce the representatives of the partner organizations with the project aim and activities and provide them an opportunity to start planning the activities, to review the responsibilities of the partner organizations and other aspects of the project.
The project was implemented by the partners coming from the following countries: North Macedonia – Youth Alliance Krusevo, Bulgaria – Foundation The Social Teahouse and IDEA, Serbia – Coalition for Solidarity Economy Development, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Enterprise Development Agency – EDA, Montenegro - Student Business Center, Albania - Youth for Social Changes, Kosovo - Balkan Green Foundation and Greece - Active Youths of Florina.
More details about the kick-off meeting of the project, here.
Official website of the project: https://www.oenef.eu/local/
