Youth Unemployment in Central Europe - Is Youth Enterprise the Answer?

Feb. 28, 2009 - PRLog -- Enterprise Development Worldwide (EDW) has officially launched three new enterprise programmes and business incubator offices in Hungary. This initiative is part of youngbusiness.net, EDW’s wider collaborative programme of enterprise support for young people in the UK and Central Europe, which has been operating for over ten years.

The current youngbusiness.net 3 programme, headed up by EDW, is supported by the EU’s Leonardo Da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme. The launch of these new initiatives is set to make a major contribution to the lives of young people in communities in North Eastern Hungary, where unemployment ranges between 40% and 90%, and where social exclusion is high.

Based in Nyíregyháza, Debrecen and Ibrány, the new enterprise programmes have a particular focus on helping disadvantaged young people from Romany communities. Support in the development of these programmes has been provided by Budapest Youth Enterprise Centre and EDW, and they are being led locally by the project partners, Abigél Multifunctional Institute and Móricz Zsigmond Secondary School. Local communities are very supportive of youth enterprise as a solution to the possible alternative of a life of poverty or crime.

Speaking about the launch of these initiatives, Michael Manning-Prior, Chief Executive of EDW, says:

“The enthusiasm with which our partners in these vibrant communities in Central Europe have embraced the youngbusiness.net 3 programme is inspiring. The spirit of support and collaboration in which they work will ensure the success of their new youth enterprise initiatives.”

The youngbusiness.net 3 programme is aimed specifically at helping organisations to establish sustainable youth enterprise programmes and develop and promote good practice in the field of youth enterprise development.

ENDS

Notes for Editors
Contact: Michael Manning-Prior, Chief Executive, EDW, Tel: +44 (0)208516 7700
Email: info@edworldwide.org

The Current youngbusiness.net Programme

The current programme, called ‘youngbusiness.net 3′, is building on the earlier work of the EDW team and working with partners in urban and rural areas in the transitional and emerging economies of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. With funding from the EU’s Leonardo Da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme, the youngbusiness.net 3 programme is extending the network developed in the earlier youngbusiness.net 1 and youngbusiness.net 2 programmes into new regions, while facilitating the cascading of knowledge and expertise from our ‘older’ Central European partners to four ‘new’ Central European partners, with the support of EDW. The project is running from late 2007 to the end of 2009.

In order to sustain the momentum in the longer term, a key outcome of the project will be the establishment of a Central European Society for Youth Enterprise Development. This entity will be unique to the region, with the potential to be the engine that drives forward the development, innovation and dissemination of this model of support for the foreseeable future.

EDW is Leading the Collaboration with Seven Partners:

•   Budapest Youth Enterprise Centre, Budapest, Hungary;
•   Neuman Youth Enterprise Centre, Eger, Hungary;
•   Móricz Zsigmond Secondary School, Ibrány, Hungary;
•   Abigél Multifunctional Institute, Nyíregyháza and Debrecen, Hungary;
•   Inkubator De Afaceri, Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania;
•   Regional Development Agency, Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia;
•   Regional Development Agency, Moldava nad Botvou, Slovakia.

The Project Aims to:

•   Transfer the innovative enterprise learning processes and methods developed in the youngbusiness.net 1 and 2 projects to new areas in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania;
•   Develop an interactive internet platform to provide advisory services dealing with such matters as setting-up an enterprise, business planning and taxation;
•   Help create a more supportive environment for young entrepreneurs, by promoting accreditation standards for youth enterprise and by setting up the above-mentioned Central European Society for Youth Enterprise Development, to promote youth enterprise in the region;
•   Disseminate the lessons learned under youngbusiness.net 1, 2 and 3, through events and conferences held in our partners’ countries. The target audiences will be policy-makers, business people, educationalists and potential service providers.

In addition, it is expected that about 800 young people will be provided with awareness training; 150 will be trained or counselled in enterprise skills; 50 new youth enterprises will be set up, and 200 young people with disabilities or from minority ethnic communities - mostly Roma - will be supported.

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Enterprise Development Worldwide (EDW) works with communities and organisations around the world. Together, we create, adapt and refine holistic enterprise support and business incubation programmes in disadvantaged and developing regions,