There is around 25 million people were unemployed throughout the European Union. The youth unemployment rate (for 15-24 year olds) is worst than the EU average. Apprenticeships cannot solve the problems of youth unemployment, but they can bridge the gap between school and the labour market. There are various activities that can be undertaken in order to bridge the gap such as: ensuring that VET programmes correspond to the needs of the labour market; contributions to the development of professional qualifications; advising on the content of training, both in training institutions and at the workplace; improving terms and conditions for apprentices, particularly possible wages; providing guidance for apprentices via chambers representatives; improved system for monitoring the quality of work-based training; deciding on the funding arrangements for work-based training by means of bilateral training funds. Apprenticeships have traditionally been designed to serve intermediate technical occupations. However, over the last 50 years there has been a gradual ‘hollowing out’ of mid-skilled jobs, with more jobs created either in high-skilled professional occupations (such as management consulting), or low-skilled service sector occupations (such as retail and hotels). Many people work in low-wage sectors, accounting for big portion of all employment. Many of these sectors do not have the same need or commitment to train their workforce.Upon the privatization of the large companies from the past the SEE region exhibits a growing trend of establishing micro and SMEs. This has marked rise of new job market flexible working large growth in self-employment at the lower end of the labour market. More and more people shift away from ‘career jobs’ with large employers which lend themselves well to the sort of employer-led. These new processes have made the transition from school to work that much more complicated. Due to this, the apprenticeship schemes/systems need to reflect the reality and become more attractive for students to engage in them. According to the European Commission various forms of apprenticeship practices have shown that countries with strong, attractive VET systems and especially those with well-established apprenticeship systems and strong work-based learning tend to perform better in terms of facilitating the transition from school to work and keeping youth unemployment down. Improving the supply and quality of apprenticeships is therefore an important part of the youth employment strategy.The consortium will contribute towards the Agenda 2020 and EU's targets: early school-leaving rate below 10% & more young people in higher education or equivalent VET education (at least 40%), as well as to have at least 20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2020. To the point, the project is in line with the agenda's concrete actions aiming at, among other things, improving flexibility and security in the labour market, equipping people with the right skills for the jobs of today and tomorrow and improving the conditions for job creation.Target group: The project is foreseen to be implemented in close communication and coordination with involvement of various social partners and appropriate intermediary bodies such as chambers of commerce, association of employers, industry and crafts, professional organizations, sectoral organizations with established apprenticeship systems, public bodies (national employment agency, regional development centers etc.). However, as final beneficiaries and target groups the consortium sees the student support centers at universities, VET schools and the students (secondary and tertiary level) themselves. Common problems for hiring apprenticeships are the lack of training infrastructure and personnel to supervise apprentices, as well as insufficient expertise and capacity to manage complex rules, employment law and administrative requirements.The overall objective is to facilitate the uptake of high quality jobs, apprenticeships and traineeships positions in SEE countriesSO 1: To facilitate exchanges of good practices, the development of networks and discussion platforms between education providers and the private sector to boost employability of learners.SO 2: Support transnational cooperation and public-private partnerships to adapt the existing education provision in order to meet the emerging needs of employers and reflects new trends and developments in the labour market related to youth needs.SO3: Enable and encourage, through utilization of ICT tools and platforms, job seekers and businesses, particularly SMEs in order to find and offer apprenticeships and jobs in various industry.SO4: Enhance policy development related to apprenticeship through improving apprenticeships' standards and policies based on transnational cooperation and EU best practice.

The project promotes the idea of self employment to young people as a viable route to employment and creates learning opportunities that enable them to explore this option further. For those that want to progress, it provides a new approach and a new pedagogy for entrepreneurship training using teams of Young Ambassadors, who are themselves successful young entrepreneurs to act as role models, deliver workshops and peer support through a young entrepreneur network.The project outputs include all the materials and resources that other organisations need to replicate the model which are stored on a content rich website together with training videos. The materials include a Training the Trainer pack for training the Young Ambassadors in workshop design, presentation skills, coaching and mentoring skills as well as an innovative curriculum and methodology for entrepreneurship education. There are a set of detailed entrepreneurship training modules complete with indicative content, trainer notes and a menu of activities. This is supported by a databank of web based multimedia materials so that the programme can be delivered on line as well as face-to-face.The incentive for this project was that outside the formal education system, existing structures for supporting young entrepreneurs are not working. The popular ‘one-stop-shop’ model presupposes that someone already has a business idea and focuses on how this can be taken to market. Young people need much earlier intervention to help them think creatively and generate the ideas. Also there is a problem of scale and the standard formal instruments (such as bank-generated business plans etc) do not meet the needs of, for example, the 16 yr old who wants to start a window cleaning round. Nor do the existing agencies actually provide real entrepreneurship skills training or help young people set up alternative business models such as social enterprises. There is no specific demographic targeted by the project but because all four partners are based in areas of high social deprivation, high unemployment, low educational achievement and an average of 25% of the population with household incomes below the official poverty line, many of the participants will be suffering from multiple disadvantage.A focus of the training for aspiring entrepreneurs is the embedding of communication, numeracy and IT skills into the technical training they receive in the workshops. The topics are also very different including using story-telling as a business tool, creating radio programmes about their business, using video workshops, creating digital histories and so on.Over 300 young people participated in the project and 20 other agencies and youth organisations participated in events to enable them to roll out the model to their own organisations.Impacts are measured using standard impact indicators drawn from ‘Effects and Impactof Entrepreneurship Programmes in Higher Education’ (European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry 2012). Although this is not a higher education project, it nevertheless has the same aim - to increase the numbers of young entrepreneurs. This report provides base-line data in 4 key dimensions against which the impact of enterprise education can be measured, Adopting the same measurement scales and data collection tools also allow comparisons to be made between the impact of this project against the impact of university entrepreneurship programmes. The most important targets for dissemination are policy makers and policy influencers and the medium term impacts will be a change in policy and a corresponding change in the nature of support available to young entrepreneurs which better matches their needs. If this can be effected, long term benefits will be an increase in the number of new entrepreneurs, improved viability of their businesses and a corresponding improvement in the regional economies.

THE PROFESSIONS IN LIVE EVENTS INDUSTRY Live events is one of the most important cultural and social fields in contemporary society; an area that has evolved greatly, from all points of view in the last decades, not only from a technical, artistic and economic point of view. In fact, it is a cultural area that attracts a wide audience and influences mentality.The impact on the professions in this area have transformed as technology and demands for production have grown. The cCLEP project! - Certified Competences for Live Events Professionals, was started because of some fundamental problems:-there are some key professions in live music, namely the professions of Rigger, Scaffolder and Production Manger, which share internationally professional practices, with a strong professional identity, but which are practically invisible to the systems of recognition and certification of professional profiles in most of the European Countries;-in addition to the lack of certification and recognition, there is also a lack of specific training opportunities for these roles;-this involves a series of consequences, both in terms of safety and the employability of these roles. AIMS OF THE PROJECT cCLEP! The aim of the Certified Competences for Live Events Professionals, Erasmus Plus Programme -Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training, was to promote the official recognition and validation of qualifications, skills and competences of some key professions of the live music events industry, by developing a replicable advocacy methodology to support recognition processes at the regional/national or EU levels.. Particularly the professional profiles we focused on are:-Rigger;-Scaffolder;-Production manager.Other general objectives have been:-Strengthen cooperation and networking between partner organizations,-Encourage cooperation between public, private and VET bodies.-Strengthen partners’ advocacy ability and training offers. RESULTS OF THE PROJECT During the two years of the project life, several outputs and advocacy actions have been set up in order to achieve this aim.Particularly the project has seen the creation of several intellectual outputs:- O1-A1 - cCLEP! Background research about Rigger, Scaffolder, Production Manager;- O1-A2 - cCLEP! Job description of: Rigger, Scaffolder, Production Manager;- O1-A3 - cCLEP! Training opportunities for Riggers, Scaffolders, Production Managers;- O1-A4 - Cclep! Training Models for the professions of Rigger, Scaffolder and Production Manager;- O2-A1 - Set up and functions of an advocacy work group;- O2-A2 - cCLEP! National report of Roundtables; - O2-A3 - cCLEP! Methodological Guidelines for the recogniction of the professions of Rigger, Scaffolder, Production Manager.Other tangible results concern the realization of 7 multiplier events, also in occasion of international festivals.In terms of intangible results, the project has:-initiated an awareness process, aimed towards the institutions of the partner partners and the stakeholders of the sector, on the importance of recognizing Riggers, Scaffolders and Production Manager as key professions in the field of live events;-strengthened the cooperation and networking between partner organizations;-strengthened partners’ advocacy ability and training offers in the field of live event professions.PARTICIPANTSThe project has seen different categories of participants and recipients:-Staff of partner organizations.-Representatives of public bodies entitled for the reogniction and certification of the professional profiles.- VET providers and trainers.-Stakeholders in the field of live events, in relation to the different areas of reference, that is Live Music, Live TV (sporting, awards, talent shows etc.), Corporate live events (conventions, fashion shows, political & religious etc.).-Political decision makers at national and European level, with particular attention to those responsible for labor policies.-Population in general. MAIN IMPACT:-Increased advocacy/campaigning/lobbying capacity of all partner organizations to activate processes for the recognition of the professions of Rigger, Scaffolder and Production Manager -Organizations working in the live events sector in the 5 countries of the Consortium as well as beyond these borders, will be able to use the cCLEP! Methodological Guidelines as a basis for the recognition of the 3 selected professions in other regions/countries.-Enrichment of the certified training offer available to professionals active in the live entertainment sector -Close cooperation with organizations of different nature (public bodies, VET providers and representatives of the live events sector) will open up new synergies in different fields, resulting in the development of innovative ideas to be carried out as a growing Consortium after project’s conclusion.