Creating new employment opportunities through social entrepreneurship
'Increasing Students' Employability Skills & Economic Growth through Social Enterprise' (ESSE) is a Key Action 2 Vocational education and training (VET) project led by City College Plymouth. ESSE is all about giving young people the ability to create new employment opportunities for themselves in a changing economic environment, by exploring social enterprise. City College Plymouth has been involved with European partnership and mobility projects for over 26 years and is now a partner of choice for over 50 European partners to host staff, students and employers for mobility experiences, as well as to take forward strategic developments in the VET, youth and adult education sectors.
The project aims to inspire its partners in VET, in the business community and through wider strategic initiatives – such as trainers, careers advisers, local economic officers and social enterprise practitioners – to promote social entrepreneurship to their networks, customers and students; nurturing an entrepreneurial mind-set that can transform lives and address social and environmental purposes.
City College Plymouth has been working on this project in partnership with Materahub (Italy), Föreningen Urkraft (Sweden), Zukunftsbau (Germany), Gemeente ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Holland), Plymouth Social Enterprise Network (UK) and Plymouth University (UK). The ESSE project will:
- Share responsibility for delivery of project outcomes building a creative, informed and committed partnership to avoid ‘silo’ working;
- Greatly expand the knowledge of each individual partner and enable them to develop their own activities in a variety of contexts;
- Be flexible and work to the strengths of the individual participants – encouraging creativity and leading to real dedication to the project;
- Support the professional development of VET teachers, trainers, careers advisers and Social Entrepreneurs, whilst encouraging strategic co-operation with key partners in other sectors; and
- Promote a learning culture in which social enterprise can be created and grown, providing careers paths for young people that make a positive difference to their society.
Benefits and impact on wider society
City College Plymouth has benefited from networking with organisations in other sectors including higher education, community groups and local authorities both in the UK and other European countries. They have built new relationships that will facilitate future mobility for staff and students. On an organisational level, each partner has expanded their knowledge, awareness, networking and potential to engage with their local and national social enterprise sector. This has led to opportunities for growth, CPD and knowledge transfer. On an individual level, strong working relationships and friendships have developed between the partners which are encouraging further new projects and exchanges.
Esse seminar in Berlin
“I think this project has the right atmosphere to generate very positive results, because there are the right competencies involved and the partnership is well created.” – participant
Project outputs focus on developing a training course for professionals, sharing a range of inspiring social enterprise case studies and building a peer mentoring network to continue to support trainees and colleagues. The shared experiences are having an impact on engaging with the wider environment in which social enterprise can flourish and increasingly involving stakeholders including local economic agencies, enterprise networks and local government officers.
Communication across the partnership
The partnership communicates effectively which enables issues to be shared and not delay progress. It uses multiple communication methods including email, Facebook, Skype, Twitter, YouTube and face-to-face meetings which has built effective working relationships from the outset. The ESSE project has also created a website and ESSE newsletter which is disseminated to local, national and international partners. In addition, individual partners share the project through their local social and traditional media, for example press releases to Plymouth newspapers, promotion of event through partner newsletters, websites and bulletin boards.
Looking to the future
Activities include the piloting of a newly developed training course and peer mentoring platform, as well as continuing to share best practices and case studies to build knowledge and future opportunities. The partnership has also started to plan further collaborative projects which will take ESSE on to another level of partnership working. New partners have been introduced to the ESSE partnership to bring enhanced skills and knowledge to future planned activities. It is also proposing to carry out further research to strengthen the ecosystem in which social enterprises can develop and flourish.
If you are involved in a strategic partnerships project take a look at our factsheet for tips and advice on working with partners.
