Youth in Action Program
The “Youth in the World” project was implemented in Vilnius, Lithuania as part of the Youth in Action Program co–funded by the European Union. Social Business Earth offered a number of activities for this program (workshops and lectures) to train about 50 local youth in social business.
The association “Youth Initiative Group” is a regional non-governmental youth organization established in 2004. Initially, the organization was created to work with youth belonging to minorities in Lithuania; however, in recent years it has broadened the spectrum of its activities, and today the NGO works with all young people.
The association “Youth Initiative Group” collaborates with various funds, national institutions, youth organizations and unions of youth organizations from Lithuania, European Union and neighboring countries. The main activities of the organization involve publishing, active citizenship, art, creativity, intellectual as well as economic development among others. The association has short-term and long-term projects; it also is a partner in many regional and international projects. Representatives of the”Youth Initiative Group” often take part in working-groups concerning the development of the non-governmental sector in Lithuania. Members of “Youth Initiative Group” have been developing the idea of social entrepreneurship for several years (since the joint project on this topic with Estonian youth NGO), which eventually grew into this project.
Social Business Earth improved the general competences of participating youth in social business, building their capacity and empowering them to take action and start a social business. The goal was to create a favorable environment to enhance social entrepreneurship skills in young people and to create the right conditions for the self-expression of youth through social business. The training was part of a non-formal education program.
