Although EU has prioritised investment in youth employment and entrepreneurship over the last years – most recently announcing the launch of a Youth Entrepreneurship Policy Academy in 2022 – thousands of young entrepreneurs are still facing barriers and social exclusion when it comes to establishing their business, while in other cases their initiatives are unsuccessful as they lack the skills, knowledge and peer supports to succeed.
Aiming to address these barriers, seven organisations from Belgium, Italy, Greece (2), Cyprus, Austria, and Ireland have joined forces under the Erasmus+ programme to deliver the “Stars4SD Project – Supporting youth entrepreneurs in meeting Sustainable Development Goals through a peer certification system,” to offer key educational resources to young entrepreneurs and to foster youth employability with a keen emphasis on the sustainable development goals.
The objective of this initiative is to strengthen youth entrepreneurship, innovation, and active citizenship by specifically promoting the following five Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in practice; 1.) provide quality education 2.) gender equality, 3.) decent work and economic growth, 4.) reduced inequalities, and finally 5.) responsible consumption and production.
More specifically, Stars4SD aims to provide the necessary entrepreneurial skills and competences to young people interested in running a business; develop innovative methodologies to support young entrepreneurs to meet sustainability criteria in their businesses; provide information to policymakers in order to promote the adoption of sustainable approaches to youth entrepreneurship; and raise awareness of the importance of SDGs in business and the role of social entrepreneurship in achieving them.
Under the Stars4SD programme, 120 youth workers will be equipped with new methodologies to support youth entrepreneurs to enforce sustainable goals in their businesses, while 120 young entrepreneurs will be involved in the Stars4SD peer-learning network across the partner countries.
The project is funded with support from the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme and has a duration of 24 months (01/12/2021 – 1/12/2023). It is implemented in 6 countries by the following organisations: KMOP Policy Center (Belgium), KMOP (Greece), CESIE (Italy), Amazing Youth (Greece), Sudwind (Austria), Future in Perspective Limited (Ireland), and CARDET (Cyprus).
