Summary
ENTRE-EU focused on education, employment & civil society and promoted social entrepreneurship/ enterprise as a means to bring citizens together, promote EU values (intercultural dialogue, solidarity, volunteering) & address regional issues. The participants in the project were citizens including youth, students (high school & university), and representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs), SMEs & cities/towns. In the countries involved (HR - Croatia, SI - Slovenia), citizens are unaware of EU policy agendas & values; how they contribute to employment & strengthening civil society; and how to take actions to enhance the community. To address these topics, 2 pre-event seminars & 1 3-day event were organized which brought together Slovenian & Croatian citizens. The activities organized at the 3-day event included best practice presentations, panel discussion, EU quiz, 1 workshop focusing on developing social enterprise ideas via group work and 1 cooperation workshop (which included a group discussion & presentation by the Croatian Office for Cooperation and NGOs on the EfC – Europe for Citizens Programme). 122 participants were directly involved in the project activities, and 50.000 persons were reached indirectly.The partnership considers social enterprise as a concept that promotes the Agenda for New Skills & Jobs. It has been used as a concept in the EU to create sustainable growth and simulate positive socio-economic changes. As a concept in HR and SI, citizens are unaware how it works and how it is linked to EU values/programmes. ENTRE-EU increased citizen involvement in local & European actions that promote social enterprise and improved cooperation b/w cities & towns in developing actions promoting social entrepreneurship (in line with European values and programme goals). The achievements include:1) Increased knowledge among participants to manage actions in line w/EU policies: Participants gained knowledge/skills on how to prepare/manage actions that promote social enterprise & employment. By presenting information & best practices based on EU values (i.e. intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding, social inclusion, etc.) and EU policies in an interactive way (E.g. EfC programme presentation), participants learned from each other. Group work was also considered an excellent way to encourage participants to share experiences, knowledge and develop new synergies. Moderators/presenters described how EU policies create opportunities, connect citizens & benefit towns. The quiz, panel discussion & presentations addressed myths & facts on EU integration and informed citizens of the importance of active citizenship, public debate & volunteering in local actions.2) Citizens becoming social entrepreneurs: Concrete cross-border ideas (4) were developed based on socio-economic issues facing HR & SI. Citizens became aware of how social enterprises form. This encouraged them to consider such start-ups; contributing to Europe 2020 goals. POU Varaždin has used ENTRE-EU's results for its Entrepreneurship Academy, so that social enterprise is included as a topic. 3) Transnational partnerships/projects: Project ideas based on scenarios & economic conditions in HR & SI were developed. The partnership also discussed new project ideas focusing on social enterprise at meetings. The partners concluded a MoU (memorandum of understanding) that describes measures to promote social enterprise, serving as a basis for further projects.Moreover, the wider public (i.e. 50.000 indirect participants in the Varaždin and Ormož regions) were informed about the project, its activities, and other related themes (e.g. how EU programmes and values contribute to social enterprise, employment and education in Europe). This was conducted via social media, web posts, news reports, radio reports, and by holding a presentation about the outcomes of the project after the main event to potential EfC applicants in Krizevci, HR on 11.8.2018.
