As partners in the SESI Project: Social Entrepreneurship as an Enabler of Inclusion, we have had the wonderful opportunity to learn and grow through our two recent mobilities to Romania and Poland. These experiences form part of a larger learning itinerary, funded by Erasmus+ KA2, and implemented together with Youth Proaktiv, Fundacja Regenercja, Asociatia AIDE and Imagine Apps.
During these cultural exchanges and non-formal learning opportunities, each partner country (Belgium, Romania, Poland and Spain) brings 3 youngsters and 3 youth workers. In our case, we travelled together with three youth from the Professional Training Center Padre Piquer, two members of our team and a youth worker who forms part of our coworking space.
Hosted by our friends at AIDE Association, we travelled from May 20th to the 25th to Râmnicu Vâlcea. There, we had the chance to work together using design thinking and business model canvas methodologies to identify local community needs and define potential business ideas.
We also visited local NGOs and social businesses who are having a positive impact on the community of Ramnicu Valcea in areas such as robotics, children living with disabilities or art and music promotion.
Throughout the week, youth developed and fine tuned their business ideas presenting their projects for feedback from the group and local entrepreneurs. Youth workers gained important skills in coaching, mentoring, value proposition development, team building and talent management.
Then, we travelled to Ciechanów, in Poland, hosted by our friends at Fundacja Regeneracja to deepen in the financial aspect of social entrepreneurship. From 2nd to 7th of June, the same three youngsters had the opportunity to keep developing their business ideas. Both youngsters and youth workers learnt very valuable lessons such as identifying market gaps, the balance scorecard, ways of funding, how to transform a NGO to a cooperative or financial planning among others.
We also had the chance to visit social businesses and local NGOs that worked with different targets and goals such as rural women, youngsters with disabilities, stray cats, ethical consumption, etc.
We finished both mobilities energized and inspired, grateful for the opportunities for exchange and learning and convinced of the importance of these types of experiences for youth and emerging leaders. Looking forward to keep working with our SESI partners and creating a positive impact for youngsters.