TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Kunka Velikova
This project familiarised the participants with the concept of social entrepreneurship and how it can be used to solve community problems at the local/regional/national/EU level.
By teaching young people how to create, develop and realise a social entrepreneurship idea we can teach them how to help themselves, overcome their barriers and help their communities.
These are very useful skills, especially for young people with fewer opportunities, who can use the concept to benefit whole disadvantaged groups and communities.
During the project, the involved youth workers developed the following skills:
-the ability to accurately define a social problem and the reasons for its existence;
-a framework for creating an action plan towards its solution, with a lasting social impact;
-understanding how to implement the social business plan;
-the ability to present the idea to different groups of people for fundraising purposes;
-the skill to successfully involve young people in solving the social problem, in the life of the organisation and the community they live in;
-the means to measure the social impact after implementing the plan.
The project included 21 youth workers from 7 countries: Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, North Macedonia, Ireland, Croatia and Lithuania.
NFE methods used: role-plays, simulations, public speaking workshops, discussions, small group activities, reflection, developing a social business plan in teams of 2 people
The participating youth workers developed the following skills:
-enriched their ability to plan and implement targeted activities with a clearly defined and measurable social impact
-learned how to transform their ideas and causes into sustainable ventures by actively involving the young people they work with
-practiced creating a business plan and utilising tools such as Business Canvas and budgeting tools
-improved their public speaking skills and ability to persuade audiences and attract the attention of various stakeholders
-understood basic Marketing concepts and how to use them for the successful promotion of a social entrepreneurship idea
-built a support network with like-minded colleagues from other countries with whom they exchanged good practices and experiences not only during the project but also afterwards
I was one of the two main trainers during this project, focusing mainly on the topics related to identifying social problems, planning and measuring social impact and inclusion.