by Bahanur Nasya
Today the diversity of cities takes on a new dimension due to globalization, political, economic and social restructuring. Globalization and the increasing interdependency of settlements, crystallises and emphasizes the collective challenges. People are more and more seen and treated as a nation and group of citizens, which are competing for the same positions (housing-, working- and education-places). Most of run through the same education and same socialisation processes. At the same time migration from countryside to cities and from cities to new adventures and cities is decreasing the sense of belonging. The community aspect, growing organically to a community, taking care of each other, knowing each other’s needs is more and more less accessible for younger generations. Without the social skills and without the bound with the community a whole field of economy is almost not accessible for the younger generation. Our current dynamics, do not allow youngsters to grow in a network, to find their mission and role in the society. Therefore, they rely on given opportunities, given job roles, given and perhaps old companies. The increasing lack of local jobs, have led to the accelerated circulation of people, commodities, capital, identities, and images through global space. This leads to increasing mobility of ideologies, economic principles, policies, and lifestyles. This is true, for especially young people, who could have real impact in their local communities. This consortium therefore recognizes the urgent need to implement actions to improve the teaching of the civic and citizenship education. The partners in this project identified the Erasmus+ programme as the right framework and funding scheme for the implementation of this project idea. The project is based on a lab constellation for youngsters which can be inspired from rather established entrepreneur counterparts, for a lively exchange and direct knowledge transfer. The “Urban Civic Education LAB” project is designed with practical approach to learning and education. We strongly believe that for the social entrepreneurship, we can only successfully work in the field of non-formal education. The applied methods will allow the development and increasement of social entrepreneurship capacities for youngsters, who are living in the urban areas. At the same time the international exchange and trainings are enhancing the social networks of youngsters, the accessibility of real examples and entrepreneurs, which altogether adds social value to their lives and their communities.
“Urban Civic Education Lab” is a 24-month strategic partnership youth involving three very well-established NGOs located in Austria, Italy and Germany. The partners are experienced in working with young people. In this project they want to open up the avenue of social entrepreneurship for youngsters, especially NEETs. Since the employability and job opportunities are decreasing for people with soft skills and experience. The aim here is to foster transition to autonomy, which can lead to entrepreneurial engagement. At the same time gained experience in such engagements, increase the future employability, as well as have a very good impact on the local community.