Project Summary
YOU_WEEN (YOUng Women grEen ENtrepreneurs) is a 2-year, Erasmus-funded, innovation-focused project aiming to give effective tools (such as educational videos, networking, and specialised training) to young women living in rural areas (or sustainable urban areas) to increase their employability, socio-educational development and personal development.
Through the promotion of green thinking, raising awareness of sustainability, promoting ‘green’ development in rural/isolated areas or urban sustainability areas, exchanging good practices, providing expertise and knowledge for women, the project will promote entrepreneurship-education and activities amongst ‘green’ young women.
The project is pan-european with partners from the UK (IARS), Poland, Lithuania, Spain, Italy, Greece, and North Macedonia. The project start date is January 2020 and end date is December 2022. YOU_WEEN project partners aim to develop three ‘intellectual outputs’, which include a set of educational videos, a virtual interactive network and platform and an exploitation roadmap and guidelines for policy influence.
Youth Workers/Trainers and Young Women
For the youth workers and young women involved in this project, there are two opportunities for specialised entrepreneurial training in green/sustainable business, which depending on COVID-19, might be online or abroad (Poland/Lithuania). The first is in May 2021, where youth workers will undergo a five-day ‘train the trainer’ program (online or in Poland – with expenses paid), the second is for the young women, again for five days, in March 2022 (held in Lithuania – with expenses paid).
During the project, ‘green’ young women will be directly involved in:
1) Grass-roots projects across Europe and meeting other green young women from around Europe
2) The creation and piloting of the European Virtual Interactive Network and educational videos
3) Training to develop entrepreneurial competences
4) Representing IARS as constituents of the Youth Board of the project and participating in all activities that will take place locally (attend meetings)
5) Project communications and dissemination as and when required e.g. featuring in educational videos
The youth workers will be directly involved/trained in:
1) Coaching circles methodology as part of sustainable businesses ‘train the trainer’ 5-day program
2) YOU_WEEN non-formal training methodology for involving young women in local grass-roots projects
3) Use of the platform in order to follow the activities through blended learning
4) Coordinating the young women and supporting them in their development throughout the project
5) Project dissemination and communications as and when required e.g. featuring in educational videos
We are an inclusive organisation, welcoming women who are trans-sexual/gender, disabled, and of any race, religion, class or background. However, this project is fundamentally young women-focused so we would ask for at least half of the youth workers to be female/identifying as female. The youth workers can be any age, but ‘young women’ must be adults between the ages of 19-30 years old.
Youth workers and young women interested in being a part of this project need to ensure they can provide/have the following:
- A two-year commitment to the project (around 2-4 hours per month, with the exception of the five-day training sessions)
- A sincere interest in gender equity, sustainability and sustainable businesses
- An up-to-date CV and short letter of interest addressed to:
Sophie Nicholas at IARS (s.nicholas@iars.org.uk)
