Be Your Own Boss is a project which responds to the growing need for adults in peripheral communities to be able to develop their entrepreneurial skills so that they can enter the labour market at a point of their own choosing through creating their own jobs. This set against a background of economic recession, persistent unemployment and a shrinking job market. The context for Be Your Own Boss is that job creation, and entrepreneurialism, are proven ways for peripheral communities to develop their own futures and grow local economies – yet they are rarely given access to the tools and support, such as business incubation, which is necessary to allow this to happen.BYOB aims to transfer and adapt a successful methodology of raising entrepreneurial skills and job creation to new socio-cultural and linguistic contexts across Europe. The objectives are to give adult educators, and therefore learners, access to a proven methodology, which is grounded in experience provided inside business incubators and supported by online learning materials. The results will be increased capacities of adult educators to develop entrepreneurial skills in learners and the actual creation of micro-businesses and jobs by the adult learners.The partnership brings together a private business, an international NGO, national incubators, and those experienced in adult education from 6 different countries with a broad geographical scope. The profile of those the project will work with are adult educators, adult learners and business incubators who work in, and alongside, peripheral individuals and communities. These groups could be peripheral for any reason such as geographical, economical, social, etc. The aim is to work alongside these groups to create 30 new businesses, and therefore jobs, by the end of the pilot. The partnership activities will include creating a detailed state of the art review of entrepreneurial support for adults and those in peripheral regions, the creation of handbooks for adult educators and business incubators to engage with these individuals, 30 e-tutorials for those both using and experiencing the methodology, a pilot in 3 different countries of the methodology and a website where the project experiences and created tools will be available in all partner languages. Alongside this there will be a detailed dissemination and exploitation plan, a monitoring and evaluation plan, a quality assurance plan and a set of 5 transnational meetings between partners which will include multiplier events in the forms of conferences, seminars or press events.The methodology to be used in carrying out the project is an open approach to project management and participation where each partner has the lead on a different activity under the ultimate control of the project leader. There will be monthly skype meetings between the project lead and each partner and technology such as skype and dropbox will be used to allow all partners to access necessary documents and pro formas.The results of the project will be a flexible model and methodology of job creation and entrepreneurial teaching for adults. It is a programme which will be supported by downloadable tools and resources. The result of the pilot will be 30 peripheral adult learners who have been supported to set up their own micro-businesses in their regions and the jobs which result from this. There will be a replicable and robust teaching model for the adult educators which has been disseminated at local, regional, national and international level. This will result in an impact at policy level.

Project Claim your Future set the ambition to inspire students to steer change and innovation in their region. In the rapidly changing and globalising world of today and tomorrow, you need to be financially and economically independent. This independence asks for developing new skills such as personal leadership and an entrepreneurial mind-set. Young people recognize this need, along with the urgency to develop their ambitions and sense of belonging in an inclusive society. Project Claim your Future was an initiative of VET schools, universities (of applied sciences) and NGO’s of 6 countries in Europe, placing students in the lead position. The project was a unique multilevel and cross-sectoral collaboration in regions and in Europe, where innovation took place initiated and executed by students themselves. Consortium partners Friesland College (NL), Inova+ (PT), Bridging to the Future (UK), KSPMC (LT), Servei Solidari (ES) and Hamburger Stiftung fur Migranten (DE) developed innovative tools through regional and European action: a transnational training for social entrepreneurial thinking and action with impact, peer workshops and training, a think tank platform and activities, a longitudinal measurement tool of learning and a method about students in the lead. Aim of the activities and tools was to inspire young people to steer change and innovation, through becoming role models to their peers and through raising awareness. Students became aware of the fact that an ongoing investment is needed in skills and ambitions for the rest of their lives. Innovation asks for new role models, therefore Claim your Future students will be the first generation to start change. More than 180 students were part of Claim your Future teams in the course of 3,5 project years. They reached more than 1000 young people around them with their workshops and presentations as role models. Altogether, Claim your Future students and teams involved more than 3000 people with their activities.The sustainable collaboration of students, educational institutes, regional social entrepreneurs and government created new infrastructures that allow young people to get involved and create an ongoing impact. They influenced the process of local /regional policy- and decision making so that they influenced the future. Local and regional government developed a sense of relevance and urgency in involving students in policy and decision making. Through the collaboration of different educational levels (VET and HEI), participating organisations contributed to a higher educational level, a better employment and employability of their young people and a focus on social entrepreneurial skills. Due to the wide range of innovative activities, the project delivered input for the improvement of educational systems, of local / regional government and of the socio- economic infrastructure.

SELF-REGENERATE will equip VET institutions with an enterprise coaching methodology that enables their students to enter the business world fully equipped with the business and English skills to become successfully self-employed. By supporting the creation of an incubation programme in VET, students will become active economic players of the region - thus supporting the local development. SELF-REGENERATE recognises that developing entrepreneurial competences and business English are two sides of the same coin. The need to develop entrepreneurial competences is urgent, as is set out by the EU’s EntreComp. As recognised by Eurostat (2012), we need to increase the entrepreneurial careers of young people. This can only be done by raising awareness of entrepreneurship, developing entrepreneurial competences and helping them set up an enterprise that is adequate to today’s markets. Moreover, it is recognised that no second language is a barrier to career progression and becoming a successful entrepreneur. Eurobarometer’s ‘Europeans and their Languages’ (2012) reported that one of the main motivating factors to learn a language is to improve career prospects and work abroad. However, language support is limited and costly for young people (Eurobarometer, 2012). SELF-REGENERATE will achieve this by creating a practical methodology that combines the Bridge Model and business English. The Bridge Model is a structured method with 4 stages from pre-start up to a mature and sustainable business. This is based on BTF's experience of supporting over 40 enterprises of different sectors and countries to become fully fledging enterprises. This methodology will be complemented by the improvement of students' English. The ability to speak English is seen as a key to raise your career aspirations. It plays an important role in upskilling the students so that they can make their enterprises more sustainable and also become more employable. This will result in a flexible methodology, allowing students to start at the stage they wish. It will be delivered by mentoring and/or independent student work. These results will be achieved through the development of the following outputs and their targets: O1 - SELF-REGENERATE Curriculum & Trainer's Manual: the curriculum and how to implement manual that will equip Trainers to become expert start-up and business English coaches. 2 trainers will be trained during the pilot stage of this output. The manual's will be part of the online platform and shared during the multiplier event so that more VET institutions can access the material. O2 - SELF-REGENERATE Training Manual for Learners: Aimed for the students, this manual will enable them to become entrepreneurs that can revitalise their peripheral region. 20 students will receive business coaching during the pilot of this output. The manual's will be part of the online platform and shared during the multiplier event so that more students can access the material from any background. O3 - SELF-REGENERATE OER and Online Platform: An online platform where SELF-REGENERATE products with interactive learning material and handbooks will be downloadable. Moreover, it will also have an action platform encouraging peer support in English and Enterprise. Multiplier Event: Final conference in each partner country

Following the research prior to the application stage, the ETC4SE partnership had identified that the long-term unemployed needed the encouragement to enter into the social entrepreneurship world, in order for them to develop economic activities as presented in the project and being social responsible.An overall solution was needed, an ecosystem containing information on training resources, case studies, examples, a simulator as well as mentoring support to help them achieve their goals, materialise their project and solve community challenges. The project aimed to improve certain general social competences of the TG users such as active entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and the use of digital competitions. By also providing information and data on Social Economy and localised information, our TG could work and develop the above mentioned competences. This project also aimed to put into service a specific method for social entrepreneurs to learn in the European countries and more elaborately, a method based on specific didactic material related to social entrepreneurs and economic activities creation, integration with social inclusion, user guides and How to Guides, containing different contents that can be adapted to other countries and different didactical / educational programmes. The main objectives of the project have been to create the followinga) an online multilingual platform containing training material, resources for mentors and users, and a business simulator for the creation of a social enterprise business plan,b) an ecosystem for social entrepreneurshipc) national competitions for social entrepreneurs through the method of pitching (4) with more than 80 TG members applying to participated) 5 multiplier eventse) marketing and dissemination material such as brochures, newsletters, a website (www.etc4se.eu) Taking this project as a model of management in the sector of the Social Economy for long term unemployed, the impact witnessed is great, the target group members had the possibility to understand the importance of the human capital over the capital as base for the creation of a stable and competitive company, the support structure to set it up, the resources and simulator tool to try and error. The project lasted for 24 months with the following partners participating: 5 organizations led by Drosostalida, a Greek social enterprise. SPI, a consultancy company from Portugal, IRIS, a VET center in Greece, Stichting Incubator, a Dutch incubator and BtF, a company from the United Kingdom.

CONTEXT: The Council recommendation of 20/12/12, according the validation of the non formal learning (2012/C398/01), has invited all members of European Union to approve validation' dispositions for the validation of non formal learning before 2018. Subsequently, within the recommendation according the entrepreneurship' promotion among young people in order to facilitate their social inclusion (2014/C183/04), has emphasized the role of non formal education with a view of a holistic approach towards the personal development of young people and their integration within the labour market. Within that frame, the recognition of young people' competences and skills turns into a real need, so as to demonstrate their employability competences and with that to contribute to their social integration. In Spain, on 28th of March will be held first meeting at the National Youth Institute INJUVE in Madrid, with the aim to see the way to recognize professional comptences aqcuired through non formal learning within the youth sector. The project IMPACT pursues to answer this need by developing a measurement methodology of entrepreneurship competences acquired by young people during educative programs. This methodology will be designed from out the experience of each partner in designing educative methodology for entrepreneurship promotion from different point of view, and with participation of a broad scale of actors involved: youth, investigators, youth workers, youth organisations, secondary schools, universities, companies and public organisations. We will measure a series of skills and competences in order to monitor the development of so called soft skills in young people, competences that are characteristic for entrepreneur's spirit: the self-esteem, autonomy, critical mind set, efficiency, identity, knowledge of the community, active participation, responsibility, teamwork, resilience, creativity... competences that normally assemble the so called social and transversal skills. OBJETIVES: IMPACT wants to give answer to the need of creating innovative views related to the competences validation by designing as main aim a measurement methodology for acquisition of competences related to the entrepreneurship of young people. The methodology will be tested on young people that will have participated in one didactic methodology designed by project partners. Specific aims: • To design a measurement system for competences related to entrepreneurship; • To create a proposal for recognition of entrepreneurship competences; The execution of the project is based on the following goals: • Cooperation and exchange of didactic experiences while promoting entrepreneurship among young people within different educative environments (formal and non formal); • Active participation of young people; • Empowerment of young people and improvement of their labour future; • Development and evolution of transversal competences (soft skills) and abilities among young people involved in the project; • To contribute to social inclusion of involved young people with less opportunities; • To provide information to political responsible of designing more adapted actions in order to enhance young people active participation and empowerment. PARTICIPANTS: There are two target groups in this project: • During the execution of the IMPACT: 2.000 young people and 50 professionals will participate in the test of the designed methodology through the implementation of didactic methodologies of our project partners. • The principal target group are the educators (teachers and youth workers) who will be able to use the tool once published, promoting improvement of their educative programs that aim on on promotion of entrepreneurship competences among young people. RESULTS AND IMPACT. LONG TERM BENEFITS: Once the project is finished we expect an impact that goes in the following four directions: • Scientific: to provide a set of variables and indicators for measurement of entrepreneurship competences. For its diffusion we will publish some articles and send them to scientific reviews; • Educative: providing a useful methodology for the educators to measure competences and skills related to entrepreneurship. This instrument will be presented to the accompaniment (advisory group) which is represented by several responsible of educative institutions; •Quality: the measurement of the competences will allow any organisation to evaluate its own educative programs of entrepreneurship promotion and to design strategies for improvement based on the obtained results. We will create a website designed to share our partners experience with the aim to facilitate the use of this new instrument. • Political: by providing information to political responsible of designing more adapted actions in order to enhance young people active participation and empowerment through a written document directed especially for them.