Entrepreneurial Citizenship for Social Change

ongoing

EPIC will produce a set of learning tools to empower youth workers and youth in the Western Balkans to attain an active mindset that will facilitate the development of youth-led social enterprises that will identify and address social issues. Fusing the principles and concepts of active citizenship and social entrepreneurship, EPIC will guide and support young people in realising the vital contribution they can make to social issues, adopt a more active stance towards societal developments and challenges and transform their ideas and passions into concrete and innovative businesses with a social focus that will have an impact and create meaningful employment opportunities. To complement this process it will organize a series of National Social Entreprises Hackathons - in AL, BA, XK - to bring young people and stakeholders together to initiate new innovative ideas. To that end, and to ensure the success and viability of its intended actions and objectives, the project will have a dual focus. It will work on two pillars that are interlinked and complement one another: i) educate and empower youth workers and organisations to engage, guide and support youth to take an active stance and contribute to social affairs by developing social enterprises; ii) provide a comprehensive support structure and tools to guide youth workers in developing social enterprises. EPIC has the following objectives: - Develop a full-suite of catered educational and capacity building resources and tools to build up the capacity of youth organizations – in AL, BA, XK – in the field of social entrepreneurship - Educate and empower young people to develop and manage social enterprises - Build up the conception and capacity of youth workers and youth organisations to promote active participation and social entrepreneurship - Lay the ground for the development of a support structure for youth to become social entrepreneurs - Raise awareness on social entrepreneurship in participating countries