This is what it looks like when the good news about HUKI's training spreads beyond the borders of Croatia!

Our international Erasmus+ training “Be enterprising – fostering entrepreneurial skills in youngsters” ended a long time ago, but the end of the training itself was not the end of the whole story! In fact, our participants remained diligent even after the end of the training and did a whole series of informative workshops and lectures on entrepreneurship in several different countries: Poland, Croatia, Portugal, Estonia, Germany and Austria.

The following are the experiences and stories we received from each country participating in the project:

Poland

“I shared the results of the project in 2 ways: the first was a city game for the citizens of Poznań on Saturday 7/5 and there was a task about the EU and Erasmus, when we told people about the possibilities of the Erasmus program for young entrepreneurs. Second, I had a meeting with with my team where we talked about different Erasmus+ opportunities to teach young people about entrepreneurial competences, we talked about our strategy for the next year, plus we planned small educational projects about entrepreneurship and we are currently writing a grant application to the US Embassy, moreover, I told about the possibilities of the Erasmus program for young entrepreneurs to some of my friends because we didn’t know about it before”

“At the end of April, our young associates of the Foundation participated in an education funded by the Erasmus+ program “Be Entreprising: fostering entrepreneurial approach in youngsters”. During the education, they learned a lot about entrepreneurship and how to encourage young people to think creatively. A month later, in our foundation, the same young people organized training on this topic! 🤩 During the training, employees and volunteers of Agera Auda learned what an entrepreneurial attitude is and how it can be used in everyday life, and learned about tools and games that support work with young people.”

“Two separate sessions of 1.5 hours with students aged 14 to 15 were held at Tabasalu High School near Tallinn. Both sessions began with an introduction to the possibilities that Erasmus + offers to young people (youth exchanges, future internship and volunteer opportunities) and an exchange of personal experiences regarding youth exchanges. Students also got more information about different youth organizations in Estonia.

After that, the students had the opportunity to try the educational game Pitch Perfect, the goal of which is to come up with business ideas in groups and present them in a limited time (More here: https://shop.playversity.co/product/pitch- prěčlna-fizička- copy /). The game was followed by a short reflection.

The goal of the dissemination activity was to familiarize students with Erasmus + opportunities, but also to arouse interest in the topic of entrepreneurship and creativity and to experience first-hand the tools for informal learning. All these goals were achieved, and the students’ feedback is positive. The students were very engaged during Pitch Perfect, and the discussion about entrepreneurial opportunities continued among them long after the session ended. Some of them also mentioned that they would never have thought of themselves as creative people, but the game helped them realize that creativity has many sides and opportunities to be exploited.”

“Yesterday, the 6th. May, we held two workshops – one on the topic of mental health, and the other on the topic of entrepreneurship.

Our members participated in the trainings “Unmasking your mental health” in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia (Seline Stankir and Vladimir Miloš) and “Be Enterprising: fostering entrepreneurial attitude in youngsters” in Samobor, Croatia (Lucija Šerbeđija) and decided to share the knowledge gained with members of the Association and everyone interested in these topics.

As part of the workshop on mental health, those present through interesting informal educational methods had the opportunity to learn how to set boundaries, how to assign tasks and how to complete them, while at the workshop on entrepreneurship they had the opportunity to learn what entrepreneurship is, how to work in a team, which methods we can improve self-awareness, what initiatives the EU offers for young people, how to finance a business, etc.

After untying their shoelaces and marking their own boundaries with crepe tape, attendees were introduced to the Johari Window model of self-awareness improvement and competed in teams to build the largest free-standing spaghetti structure with a marshmallow cookie on top, and the whole process was accompanied by a lot of laughter.

Shared experiences from international trainings within the Erasmus+ program delighted everyone present and, after the workshop, new potentials were born for going to a new training or a new youth exchange to another country.

Dare you! Make an effort! Follow your dreams!”

In our country, youth entrepreneurship is particularly atypical for foreigners living in other countries, so as a group we decided to expand our activities among foreign youth living in Austria.
We organized an informative meeting with the students of our university on the 3rd. July 2022, where we described the various opportunities within Erasmus+. During the training, they learned a lot about entrepreneurship and how to encourage young people to think creatively.
In order to encourage ‘entrepreneurial competence’ we played an entrepreneurial game.

As a result of our project, young university students became aware of entrepreneurship and the opportunities they might be missing, and learned for the first time about Erasmus + and
the opportunities he has. At the end of the games and lectures, we had a 30-minute conversation where we answered their questions.

All 10 students received informative documentation with instructions for the game at the end of the workshop. We let them know that they can share all the material with the young people around them, to spread even more information about entrepreneurship and the knowledge gained during the workshop and training in Samobor.”

“Mariana led a Zoom session on July 3rd for 2 young people who were interested in the topic of entrepreneurship. She talked about her journey as an entrepreneur and then showed a Ted Talk about how passion and persistence are two important things to succeed in anything. Afterwards, the participants were asked what other factors are important for an entrepreneurial mindset and also discussed some creativity blockers. Finally, Mariana shared 4 important steps for building a business.”

The project is implemented within the Erasmus + program co-financed by the European Union and which supports the development of knowledge and skills in the fields of education, training, youth and sports. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Croatian Office for Creativity and Innovation.

You can read more about the program here: https://ampeu.hr/erasmus