ECO-CIRCLE: Circular economy as a tool to develop an innovative eco-inclusive social entrepreneurship educational pattern for youth
BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT:
Young people will play a key role in the shaping of a sustainable future for our society, as outlined in “Youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Through educating young people in the power of their actions toward diversity, poverty, gender inequality climate change and other pressing societal issues, the project ECO-CIRCLE looks to instil young people with the capacities to build a more sustainable future.
ECO-CIRCLE: “Circular Economy as a tool to develop an innovative eco-inclusive social entrepreneurship educational pattern for youth” is an Erasmus+ 2-year Cooperation Partnership in the field of youth education, focusing on Circular Economy and eco-responsible social entrepreneurship. As it becomes clearer every day that current socio-economic practices are no longer suitable for our society or the Planet itself, there is a need for new educational patterns to organize and promote a more eco-inclusive approach designed to benefit businesses, employees, society and the environment.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES & RESULTS:
Through 2 years of collaborative efforts of a well-rounded international partnership representing 6 countries with high expertise in developing sustainable business models and youth education, The project ECO-CIRCLE aims to develop a framework especially designed for youth, and apply this to various non formal learning experiences to prepare youth to work towards more eco-inclusive socio-economic practices. ECO-CIRCLE aims to deliver:
- A multi-level project website – available in 7 Programme languages & Social Media pages available in EN/FR/IT/ES/NL/FI/SI
- Project Result 1: ECO-CIRCLE’s Competency Framework – for current and future social entrepreneurs, focusing on the necessary skills, capacities and attitudes needed to navigate the Circular Economy.
- Project Result 2: ECO-CIRCLE’s e-learning platform and Online Course – an interactive and cutting-edge Online Course for young social entrepreneurs as well as youth workers and educators, looking to enhance their potential through Circular Economy and embrace more sustainable economic and business practices. The course will also assist and empower the adoption of a Circular Economy model in businesses still employing a linear model.
- Project Result 3: ECO-app: educational e-game for ECO-agents of Change – An engaging web application deploying the non-formal education methods developed in the project to provide youth workers and social entrepreneurs with the knowledge needed to succeed in their field.
- National Focus Groups – with the aim of pilot testing the Project Results while capacity-building participants on their effective use, benefits and transferability potential, throughout which Partners will involve 60 experts, including established social entrepreneurs and educators on social entrepreneurship skills.
- Multiplier Events in each Country – Partners will organize final National Dissemination events in all participating countries (France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Finland and Slovenia) to share and promote the project, as well as informing the participants of project results, the project partnership, activities realized in the project, and presentation of ECO-CIRCLE’s Competency Framework alongside mini workshops focused on capacity-building through methodologies established in the Framework.
TARGET GROUPS
Initial target groups for dissemination activities inside the project consortium will comprise the following:
- Present & future Young Social Entrepreneurs, Youth workers, Educators, Trainers, Facilitators and Learners with an interest in Circular Economy as a tool for social entrepreneurship;
- Partner Organisations & their Staff;
- NGOs, Associations, Foundations, Youth Centers, Informal Groups of Youth, Non-formal training providers including SMEs, Municipalities, Development agencies as well as HEIs active in the field of environmental learning, entrepreneurship/social education, willing to test and incorporate the new training curricula into their educational offer;
- Furthermore, “wannabe agents of change” as well as other present and future social entrepreneurs not directly targeted by the project, will be also able to benefit first-hand from the project online training methodology and tools, which will eventually lead to a multiplier effect and an actual widespread socio-economic impact in Europe and beyond.
PARTNERSHIP
P1) Coordinator) CDE Petra Patrimonia – FRANCE
P2) Polygonal – ITALY
P3) Stichting Social DNA – THE NETHERLANDS
P4) MARKEUT SKILLS SOCIEDAD LIMITADA . – SPAIN
P5) OLEMISEN BALANSSIA RY – FINLAND
P6) SMARTUP N.B. SYSTEMATIC MANAGEMENT S.L. – SPAIN
P7) Mednarodni institut za implementacijo trajnostnega razvoja, Maribor – SLOVANIA
