The main objective that we wanted to achieve with the project is to offer an alternative to youth unemployment in their local communities through social entrepreneurship.Job insecurity in Europe affects especially young people of ethnic minorities, determining their greater vulnerability, as the most affected group. The main factors are, on the one hand, their educational level, to the extent that the crisis has affected the employment of young people with intermediate-low educational levels. To this is added a high temporality in employment, the presence of a significant, although indeterminate, volume of young people in the underground economy, low salaries, or the ignorance and fear that citizens have of Roma, immigrant or refugee groups. which must fight against stereotypes and preconceptions when it comes to finding a decent job. The project is aimed at unemployed young people, from 18 to 30 years old, from ethnic minorities, who do not find their first job, and seek to enter the labor market in the best conditions. This group is the one that has experienced a more rapid and intense loss of employment and also has a lower level of social protection coverage, associated with its greater degree of job insecurity. The objectives that we had set and in which we have worked are:-To promote the active participation of young people with problems of integration in project activities using non-formal education methods. -Develop initiative, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of young people, as a solution to the problems of youth unemployment. -Increase the debate, discussion and activities related to youth, of relevance to local communities involved.-Design of business plans for future young entrepreneurs. -Develop the entrepreneurial spirit of young people, and improve systems of information and advice that are provided in their local communities.The project involved young people between 18 and 30 years of age from the local communities of the participating partners, most of them in situations of unemployment and difficulties in accessing it. The activities that have been carried out are: -Coordination, evaluation and monitoring. Online coordination meetings have been held between the partners to establish the training methodology, as well as the steps to follow.-3 transnational events for youth and youth workers. The first one in Novo Mesto, (Slovenia), the second in Rotterdam (Holland) and the Third one in Andújar (Spain). The first meeting has served above all to exchange experiences between technicians and youth workers. The second to develop and improve the methodology of workshops and training in social entrepreneurship, as well as the development of business plans, as well as learning about local entrepreneurial experiences. In the final meeting we had the opportunity to meet and discuss the business plans of the young people, as well as visit in Seville, (Andalusia) some of the best experiences in the field of social entrepreneurship.- Local workshops for young people in charge of each partner. In total 100 young people have participated in these training sessions to learn about the operation of social entrepreneurship and develop their business plans to start their own work activity.-Edition of a website, https://yse-project.eu/ and social networks to disseminate regional information on educational and employment opportunities, resources in each community and pedagogical material, as well as the activities and results of the project and business plans of the participants-Edition of an electronic manual that helps trainers and youth technicians to improve informative and guidance systems for vulnerable youths. As a final result, 100 business plans have been achieved, that is, 100 ideas of social enterprises to start creating jobs, focused on the social economy by young people in the five countries.More than 30 workers and youth technicians have received updated training on employment guidance in social economy for young people, with tools to successfully access the labor market. There have been presentations and training meetings, as well as dissemination to the press and social networks, which has allowed us to actively involved in each community all the groups of interest in the field of youth, education, etc.We have reached more than 800 young people, reinforcing the youth structures and improving the labor and educational orientation in the field of social entrepreneurship and involving all the educational and employment agents of each community in the process, creating a network of contacts that will work for youth insertion, in the social sector.

Roma face a number of challenges in gaining employment in the form of paid work. To begin with, lagging educational levels and the lack of qualifications and vocational skills lead to highunemployment rates and high inactivity levels among the Roma population. Moreover, Roma have faced significant changes in their employment patterns, as the demand for traditionalcrafts, products and services progressively diminished. Furthermore, the economic crisis seems to have had profound negative effects for those at the bottom end of income distribution,Roma included.Persons with low qualifications, in low-wage sectors and in precarious employment were among the first to lose their jobs. Also, extreme residential segregation, both in urban and inrural settings, and poor housing conditions experienced by Roma population throughout Europe, exert a detrimental impact on their employment opportunities.Finally, the pathway of Roma to employment is hindered, also, by a number of structural barriers. Roma in Europe face prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion. Theproblems faced by Roma are complex and therefore require an integrated approach. The vulnerability of Roma households is rooted in multiple and interlinked deprivations. Within this context, and in view of the present economic downturn and increasingly competitive labor markets, Roma need more than ever to gain skills and competences to enhance their employability. Since any attempt to increase Roma employment by others faces such high hurdles, the alternative of fostering entrepreneurship and self-employment for Roma becomes an important consideration.The main focus of the ROMA STARTUP project is dealing with the issue of young Roma entrepreneurship. The ROMA STARTUP project rests on the assumption that as long as the social and economic conditions of the Roma preclude a significant proportion of its population from being assimilated into the workforce, entrepreneurship can emerge as a viable alternative to traditional employment; much more so, if we take into consideration the fact that Roma – especially in the countries under consideration –have a long tradition of selfemployment and entrepreneurship and still many carry out crafts, trading and artistic activities. According to FRA “in southern and western EU Member States, such as Spain and Greece, a long tradition in trading, crafts and seasonal work is still visible in the high proportion of self-employment”, contrary to the cases of central and eastern Europe in which the communist patterns of full employment in many large-scale state owned or collective enterprises, led to the oblivion of this tradition.RESULTSThe main primary result is that young Roma may find an alternative viable way to social and economic integration, that of entrepreneurship. Also:• promotion of entrepreneurship education in Europe, especially for vulnerable social groups.• promotion of an inter-agency and inter-discipline approach to address specific challenges for socially marginalized groups.• creation and development of innovative approaches to support a specific target group which is normally recipient of negative stereotypes and behaviors.• development of specific methodologies and tools to enhance social inclusion and cohesion,by combating existing inequalities among European citizens. Apart from these long term expected results, there is a series of subsequent results which areexpected to occur in terms of project outputs and deliverables. These expected results are:1. Entrepreneurship Vocational Training Curriculum2. Trainers ´Resource Pack3. Mentoring Protocol4. A Book with collaborative work methodologies.These results, expected to occur during the project implementation phase and after itscompletion, promote the innovative aspects of the project as well as its broad Europeandimension, hoping to bring a permanent change in the lives of all the people who will bedirectly or indirectly involved in it

The EU energy system strongly relies on centralised electricity generation and on fuel imports, with 95% of its oil and 84% of its gas consumption sourced from outside the EU. The REPowerEU Plan proposes a set of actions to reduce the EU’s dependence on fossil fuels and diversify its energy supply ‘well before 2030’. The three pillars of the plan are to ramp up the production of green energy, diversify our energy supplies, and reduce our demand for fossil gas, coal and oil. Renewable energy valleys are understood as decentralised renewable energy systems that offer a viable and efficient solution to these challenges mentioned above. By implementing a high degree of renewable energy sources as well as storage technologies and intelligent management algorithms for synergetic use of a wide variety of technologies, they can be 100% self-sufficient on a yearly basis. For the next 5 years, the REFORMERS project aims to develop, implement an exploit such an energy valley in the Boekelermeer next to the city of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, that serves as a living lab for testing and validating technologies, business models, stakeholder ecosystems, including industrial partners, DSO, the municipality, and residents, and user acceptance in real-life circumstances, in a peri-urban and industrial environment. Furthermore, the project aims to support the deployment of multiple self-sufficient energy valleys throughout Europe beyond the flagship in the Netherlands. Therefore, it will deliver a roll-out blue print and replication toolbox that encompass: (i) Energy System Design, (ii) Environmental Impact Assessment, (iii), Stakeholder Engagement and Social impact assessment, (iv) Governance and policy assessment, and (v) Business modelling, and allow other sites and regions to develop a pathway towards a carbon neutral and self-sufficient energy valley, that can be fed into e.g., a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan.