Context:
The international market of recycling and waste has been estimated at 450 million US$ in 2010. Extrapolating the data of a research done by the Paris-Dauphine University from France, it was established that the unwanted things weigh around 4 billion tones of which only 2.7 billion tones are being collected. The difference is a polluting factor, being a danger to health.
The concept of transforming something old and unwanted into something new, useful and pretty, is an issue that the creative industries are trying to resolve. Using materials in a creative, innovative, unconventional manner can develop the imagination and creativity in a different way than working with conventional materials. In the last years successful ideas and business have been developed on the principle of using materials that are at hand, recycled or unwanted, and transforming them into something new, innovative.
Taking this aspects into consideration we appreciated the need to organize a follow-up, EcoBusiness vol.2, because the situation of young people in most of the European countries hasn’t improved, and from the evaluation of the previous projects the participants emphasized that they would have appreciated receiving this information about entrepreneurship and creative workshops during school years, for a time-wise career guidance. To answer to these needs, EcoBusiness vol. 2, additional to the creative workshops and the business ones, has organized also sessions to make a guide that presents entrepreneurship, using the up-cycling method.
Objectives:
- Developing entrepreneurship abilities among 36 young people from 6 european countries
- Exchange of ideas and experiences regarding entrepreneurship and recycling between youngsters of different European countries
- Understanding the role of creativity and using recycling materials in starting a business based on concepts of sustainable development
- Promoting collaboration and intercultural understanding
- Empower and developing civic initiative among the 36 participants
- Building a base of knowledge and creating a guide for disseminating the information in the participants’ communities
- Networking among young people and NGOs from the European Union, partner in the project
Period: 01.05.2013 – 01.11.2013
Location: Iasi, Romania
Beneficiaries
Direct beneficiaries:
36 youngsters from Spain, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Romania, participants in the youth exchange
Indirect beneficiaries:
- The local community, but also the local communities of origin of the participants
- The volunteers of P.O.D. Association that have formed the organizing team, experience through which they developed planning, management, communication, team work, etc.
- The volunteers of the partner organization through the dissemination activities made by the participants in the youth exchange
- P.O.D. Association and the local partners though the visibility in the local community and the media coverage, as organizers of the project
EcoBusiness Guide:
Partners:
Asociación Juvenil Intercambia
Business club – Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Co-funded:
Promotion: