How can young people who face barriers to employment and social participation be supported not merely as beneficiaries, but empowered to become creators of social and economic solutions themselves? This question lies at the heart of the Erasmus+ project “EmpowerYouth – Fostering Social Entrepreneurship to Bridge Opportunity Gaps,” coordinated by the Cologne-based non-profit organisation Migrafrica gGmbH and currently being implemented in Palermo.
The project focuses on strengthening the professional capacities of youth workers. 28 youth workers from seven European non-governmental organisations bring together their experience from Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Türkiye and North Macedonia. Seven participants are specifically included as people with fewer opportunities.
The central idea is to connect social inclusion with entrepreneurial thinking. Social entrepreneurship is explored as a practical instrument for developing responses to social challenges while creating pathways towards employment, self-employment and greater economic independence. Particular attention is given to young migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and other groups who may experience structural barriers when entering the labour market.
At the same time, the project addresses equal rights in the workplace and examines how discrimination, stereotypes and unequal opportunities can be challenged through youth work, education and entrepreneurship.
The training programme combines different methods of non-formal education. Workshops on equal employment rights, diversity and inclusion are complemented by an international exchange of national practices. A World Café explores migrant and refugee entrepreneurship, while interactive theatre makes situations involving stereotypes and discrimination in the workplace visible and open to discussion.
Participants also develop their own socially oriented start-up ideas and examine how entrepreneurship can contribute to supporting disadvantaged communities. Discussions with experienced entrepreneurs, practical visits, panel discussions, teamwork and continuous reflection connect theoretical learning with real-world experience.
A key objective is to ensure that the learning does not end with the international training. Participants are expected to transfer the methods and knowledge gained into their organisations and local communities through workshops, educational activities, public events and digital communication. The project also foresees awareness-raising activities focusing on social entrepreneurship, fair access to employment and the potential of young people with migration and refugee experiences. Learning outcomes are documented through Youthpass.
For Migrafrica, the European cooperation represents an opportunity to connect youth empowerment, employability and social participation across national borders.
“We are very pleased to implement this European learning and exchange programme in Palermo. For us, the decisive question is what remains after an international meeting: practical methods, stronger organisations, new partnerships and, above all, better opportunities for young people to shape their own futures,” says the Migrafrica project team.
The longer-term ambition extends beyond a single training programme. The project seeks to strengthen a sustainable European network of organisations and youth workers who can continue exchanging approaches, developing new initiatives and establishing social entrepreneurship more firmly as a tool for inclusion, economic participation and equal opportunities.
The planned dissemination strategy therefore includes public events, online communication, media outreach, workshops and the sharing of project materials across the participating countries.
At its core, EmpowerYouth is based on a simple principle: social inclusion becomes more sustainable when people are given not only support, but also the knowledge, networks and confidence to create opportunities themselves.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme and JUGEND für Europa, the German National Agency for Erasmus+ Youth, for their valuable support and for making this European collaboration possible.”
“The project is funded through the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, with funding administered by JUGEND für Europa.”
Report: 01.09.2026
“They do not have to wait for opportunities to emerge – they can also help create them” (Amare)
The international EmpowerYouth – Fostering Social Entrepreneurship to Bridge Opportunity Gaps training in Palermo concluded with highly positive results and a strong sense of motivation among participants. Bringing together people of different ages, professional backgrounds and levels of experience, the programme created an environment in which social entrepreneurship became not only a theoretical concept, but a realistic pathway for personal and professional development.
Participants included students, employees of companies and civil society organisations, representatives of partner organisations and individuals recruited through the project’s international cooperation network. Despite their different starting points, they shared one common experience: throughout the programme, many began to look at their own skills and future opportunities from a new perspective.
A particularly important achievement was this change of perspective. Participants moved from discussing employment opportunities primarily as jobseekers towards exploring how they could become entrepreneurs, social innovators or founders themselves. They examined their existing competencies, identified opportunities within their communities and developed concrete steps for creating social enterprises and entrepreneurial initiatives in their respective countries.
This directly reflected one of the central objectives of EmpowerYouth: strengthening the capacity of youth workers and participants to use social entrepreneurship as a practical instrument for inclusion, employment and social change. The original project concept specifically aimed to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking, promote innovative responses to social challenges and equip participants with tools that could later be transferred into their daily youth work.
An additional practical dimension was the introduction to Artificial Intelligence and AI-supported tools. Participants explored how AI can assist with research, project development, funding searches and the identification of European opportunities. Agent-based tools were demonstrated as a means of systematically identifying potential funding programmes and supporting the development of project and business ideas.
The programme also provided participants with a structured understanding of how an enterprise or social enterprise can be established: from identifying a social challenge and developing an idea to defining target groups, resources, financing possibilities and concrete implementation steps. Participants subsequently transferred these approaches to their own national contexts and developed individual pathways for future initiatives.
Another important component was the introduction to European funding, mobility and learning opportunities. Participants discovered that European programmes can provide access not only to project funding, but also to training, professional development, international mobility and cooperation. This corresponds closely with the project’s ambition to strengthen employability, entrepreneurial competencies and international cooperation among youth workers.
Beyond the technical content, one of the strongest outcomes was the quality of the exchange itself. Participants actively shared experiences, discussed different national realities and developed new connections. Several expressed a clear interest in continuing cooperation with Migrafrica and the partner organisations, including around future projects and entrepreneurial ideas.
From the facilitators’ perspective, the programme demonstrated that a diverse international group can be successfully engaged around a complex topic when learning is connected to participants’ own experiences and potential. The training encouraged participants to recognise their existing abilities, strengthen their confidence and consider how those competencies could be transformed into concrete initiatives.
The learning approach therefore went beyond knowledge transfer. The project sought to strengthen communication, entrepreneurship, organisational abilities, digital competencies and the capacity to work with socially disadvantaged groups – competencies explicitly identified in the original project design.
By the end of the programme, participants were not simply discussing social entrepreneurship. They were beginning to formulate their own ideas, identify opportunities and consider their next steps.
For Migrafrica and the participating organisations, this represents one of the most important achievements of EmpowerYouth: enabling people to recognise that they do not have to wait for opportunities to emerge – with the right knowledge, networks and confidence, they can also help create them.
The project has therefore laid a strong foundation for continued European cooperation, new initiatives and future partnerships. This longer-term transfer is an integral part of EmpowerYouth, which was designed to create lasting cooperation between organisations and encourage follow-up activities beyond the international training itself.
