Ready to build the future? YES

Ready to Build the Future YES

On 27 June 2018, YouthProAktiv took part in an inspiring event highlighting good educational practices called YES – Youth Entrepreneurial Spirit, promoted by Giovanisì and the Tuscany Region EU Liaison Office, within the framework of the EARLALL‘s (European Association of Regional and Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning) Youth Policies working group coordinated by the Department for Education, Training and Employment of the Region of Tuscany.

The Giovanisì project has worked in seven main areas, including Education and Training, Employment, Internships and Entrepreneurship. The main objective of this conference was an exchange of Europe-wide good practices in entrepreneurship education and promoting entrepreneurial spirit and of effective approaches to encouraging self-employment, boosting youth entrepreneurship and improving the transition from school to work. An opening session was followed by three panel sessions – Training Alliances, Supporting business start-up, and Comparing regional pilot initiatives – and complemented by contributions from project partners.

The opening session was chaired by Enrico Maria Mayrhofer, Head of Tuscany Region EU Liaison Office in Brussels, and featured: Cristina Grieco, Regional Minister for Education and Training of the Region of Tuscany; MEP Brando Benifei; Cinzia Masina, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission; and Rikardo Lamadrid Intxaurraga, Technology and Advanced Learning Director, Department for Education of Basque Government.

The speakers agreed that the first step was the development of regions with good mobility programmes to enhance personal and professional skills of young people in order to better prepare them for the changing labour market. Recent changes in production systems and business models require also changes in the skill sets required for different professional profiles. Training therefore needs to be able to teach people the concrete sets of competences needed by particular companies and sectors.

Some programmes successfully implemented in schools were presented too by their representatives, such as a school-to-work transition model in the Region of Tuscany (Italy), promoting entrepreneurial attitudes and enterprising spirit in school in Baden-Württemberg (Germany) or the regional strategy for education and entrepreneurship in Hauts de France. Entrepreneurial Basque VET system (Spain); social entrepreneurship programme “Coaching you” in Lleida province (Spain); and Co-working vouchers in Tuscany (Italy) were some of the other initiatives presented.

It was exciting to see so many valuable regional initiatives, and the will to ensure the best possible future for entrepreneurially minded young people.