Students and NEET young people, Professionals and Educators work on Employability and Entrepreneurial skills in the battle against school Dropout and Youth UnemPloyment | 2 Mers Seas Zeeën

SPEED-You-UP

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Students and NEET young people, Professionals and Educators work on Employability and Entrepreneurial skills in the battle against school Dropout and Youth UnemPloyment

Priority Axis

Technological and Social Innovation

Specific objective

Social Innovation

Lead partner

Arteveldehogeschool Gent

Contact

Start Date

01/02/2020

End Date

31/03/2023

Project budget

4 269 293

ERDF amount

2 561 576

ERDF rate

60%

    About

    Common challenge

    The number of young people (15-24) Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) remains sizeable in the 2 Seas area. A significant proportion of these young people leave school early and struggle to find sustainable employment. There is a mismatch between the education system, the labour market and the realities of vulnerable youth. For some young people, this leads to demotivation, loss of self-confidence and eventually school dropout and unemployment. This poses long-term negative consequences for their future and society. Existing solutions are fragmented, focus mainly on cure and do not lead to closer collaborations between key stakeholders or substantial system changes. The challenge for SPEED-You-UP was to develop a sustainable shift towards a prevention method in order to meet the needs of NEETS whilst meeting the demands and regulations of all stakeholders.

    Main Achievements

    The number of young people leaving school early and becoming unemployed remains high in the 2 Seas area. The COVID19 crisis adds to this challenge and calls for a different approach to support and motivate vulnerable young people to get back on track. SPEED-You-Up offers NEET young people, or those at risk of becoming NEETs, a different approach. From within schools or together with community organisations, they have the opportunity to develop a business pop-up, while at the same time developing entrepreneurial and employability skills. Project partners have collaborated to develop an entrepreneurship programme that is tailored to the needs of vulnerable young people. It is based on a coaching and community-oriented approach as well as learning-by-doing. The entrepreneurship programme consists of 8 modules: Intro; Talent & Skills, Discovery; Dreaming; Pitching; Designing; Doing; Lessons Learned. The entrepreneurship programme is accessible on the project website.

    There have been 10 pilots of entrepreneur hub in which young people have been able to experience the SPEED-You-UP approach. Based on the experiences in these hubs, they have developed four models of working on entrepreneurship in local communities which formed the basis for upscaling their approach. 

    9 project partners created an entrepreneur hub. During the course of the project, partners have created a feasibility framework, in order to allow organisations to understand the prerequisites, step by step guide, as well as the implications but also benefits that can be derived from implementing their approach. Finally, coaches from multiple new regions have been contacted and have been given a train-the-trainer session, so that they can set up and implement the Speed-You-Up approach. 

    This projects' impact has become very visible not only in the reports, but also thanks to the registration files, the surveys, the video testimonials, but also from the interviews that were conducted with young people and coaches who took part throughout the project lifetime. The impact was not solely noticeable in young people but also in coaches as well as partners, organisations and even whole communities. Project partners really believe this type of approach can help young people now and in the future. 

    Testimonial

    …I was helped tremendously by them…they helped me tremendously with the creation of my website, I myself had never done anything like that before.

    Something I've really learned, is to be creative…to step out of my comfort zone, to do things I normally wouldn’t do. 

    I would definitely recommend SPEED-You-UP to other youngsters, because they helped me so much…they really went along with what I wanted, and they could guide me very well.

    When I quit school and had nothing else to do, this project is what got me back on track…it’s a great experience, I had a beautiful time.

    Partnership

    Partners

    Economisch Huis Oostende

    Stad Gent

    Stad Sint-Niklaas

    Association des Centres Sociaux de Wattrelos – ACSW

    Centre Social Salengro

    Ville d'Amiens

    Jong Ondernemen

    Stichting Kenniscentrum Pro Work

    Bournemouth University - Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation

    Devon Mind Ltd

    Digital Peninsula Network Ltd

    Plymouth Marjon University

    WSX Enterprise

    Outputs

    Output title
    Type
    Target
    URL / Download
    28/02/2023

    SPEED-You-UP

    Theme: Innovative social servicesSocial economy & entrepreneurship

    Pilot of a training programme for new cities/regions that will implement the SPEED-You-UP entrepreneur hubs

    Type: Pilot and demonstration action
    Target: Local, regional and national authorities
    30/06/2022

    SPEED-You-UP

    Theme: Innovative social servicesSocial economy & entrepreneurship

    Feasibility study on the continuation of the SPEED-You-UP approach including a clear business plan for future users

    Type: Feasibility study
    Target: Local, regional and national authorities
    30/04/2022

    SPEED-You-UP

    Theme: Innovative social servicesSocial economy & entrepreneurship

    Entrepeneur hub pilots in which at-risk NEET young people (aged 15+) create pop-ups from within secondary school together with local stakeholders

    Type: Pilot and demonstration action
    Target: Universities, research and training centres
    31/10/2021

    SPEED-You-UP

    Theme: Innovative social servicesSocial economy & entrepreneurship

    Pilots of entrepreneur hubs in which NEET young people (15-24) create community-oriented pop-ups together with local stakeholders

    Type: Pilot and demonstration action
    Target: Social enterprises and non-for-profit organisations