Social Enterprises' Sustainability Tools

The social economy (SE) is a growing reality in the economy of the EU. It comprises 2.8 mln enterprises and organisations engaged in economic activity, representing 8% of GDP in the EU and 13.6 mi...

Social Enterprises' sustainability/scalability is an ongoing challenge with several conflicts regarding the ideal formula toward this objective. Since this business model is expected to become an integral part of the European economy in the subsequent years, the EMPOWER project aims at fostering sustainability and scalability of new and existing SEs and supporting young entrepreneurs through the development of new learning partnerships. The project's objectives are: 1.Build the capacity of front-line youth workers through a tailored Training Package to harness alternative tools, non-formal education, innovative teaching methods, simulation games, and resources for young people and young entrepreneurs. 2.Support SEs owners, SMEs owners and young entrepreneurs through bespoke, training material to develop the required skills & competences to formally incorporate sustainability tools and methods to strengthen and scale up their enterprises 3.Improve the digital entrepreneurship competences of young people by developing a MOOC with free online mini-learning gamified resources, OERS. 5.Enhance synergies among key stakeholders and the labour market by developing Policy Paper with practice recommendations and Open Area for collaboration.

The project consortium used a youth participatory method, a bottom-up approach in designing the project results to ensure the development of quality and relevant project results and activities. A Stakeholder Consultation Group was established in each partner country representing key stakeholders (social entrepreneurs, SME owners, startup experts, youth workers, youth officials, young people) policymakers, and researchers. The SCGs were involved in the initial design of the Training Package, simulation game and focus groups for the Policy Paper, as well as in the pilot testing of all project results. The EMPOWER consortium implemented a series of activities: -Design and development of the R1: Training Package, R2. Social Entreprise Simulation Game, the R3. MOOC for fostering social entrepreneurship and R4. Policy Paper. These project results support youth workers to develop capacities that will help them in fostering sustainability and scalability of new and existing social enterprises and young entrepreneurs. -A user-friendly MOOC and e-learning modules and digital resources and OERs were designed and developed. -Selected parts of the website and the MOOC for fostering social entrepreneurship were localised and translated. - Training resources that are freely accessible to all interested parties to use and/or adapt in their practice were developed. - Focus groups in the frameworks of R1 and R4 were conducted in order to prepare national and final reports including information on social entrepreneurship and practices, lessons learned, good examples and practices, challenges and policy recommendations. -A Learning Training Activity for youth workers and young people from the partner countries was organised in Bulgaria. - Multiplier events in each partner country were organised with more than 150 participants in total for the dissemination of the results in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal.-Numerous dissemination activities were implemented by all partners and their associate partners during the whole duration of the project.

The concrete results of EMPOWER project are: R1:Training Package for Sustainability in Social Enterprises – a compendium of mini-learning format resources (7 modules) for training of youth workers, educators/trainers living or intending to move to rural areas, social enterprises owners, unemployed workers, NEET, young entrepreneurs, and youth active in social entrepreneurship. It is available in all partner languages. R2: Social Enterprise Simulation Game – contains 3 scenarios and simulates real-world activities by implementation of workshops in the form of role-playing based on the content of real-world business cases. The Sustainability and Scale Simulation Game includes guidelines with an explicit learning outcome (LO) and allocated time for each learning unit. It also contains a tutor manual, the contents about each scenario selected outlining what it is, why is it important, its relation to other learning units and introduces the assessment framework. It is available in all partner languages. R3: MOOC for fostering social entrepreneurship – a free online course of 3 modules hosted on the online platform of the project. The MOOC includes a Collaboration area to connect social entrepreneurs from across Europe. The format of the MOOC supports the ''learning on the go'' and represents a significant innovation in the field of Youth. Among others, this portal includes an e-library in the forms of Result Description (including: needs analysis, target groups, elements of innovation, expected impact and transferability potential),videos, reports, and online publications. The training package derived from this project is also included in this portal. It is available in all partner languages. R4: Policy Paper: Building a sustainable social enterprise sector - includes real-world lessons from social enterprises to help young entrepreneurs explore challenges and brainstorm innovative solutions and recommendations for both practitioners and policymakers. It is available in all partner languages. Additional results of EMPOWER project are also: - Project website: the project website that promotes and presents the main outcomes of the project, partners, general information, social media pages, objectives and activities in all partner languages. - Dissemination materials: A variety of materials were produced, designed and used, including flyers, posters, news items, newsletters, publications in social media, publications on partners’ websites. - Project Management Guidelines, Quality Assurance Plan, Dissemination plan, Impact Plan, Exploitation and Sustainability recommendations. -Partnership agreements. -Workshops, blended learning mobility training, case studies.