Foster youth employment and entrepreneurial skills using circular economy applied at the food

<< Background >>The inspiration for the present project is given by the inadequate opportunities offered to young people in developing practical skills needed to function as a citizen in a multi-agency and fast changing environment. According to the Survey HOW DO WE BUILD A STRONGER, MORE UNITED EU, EUROBAROMETER; 2019, 42% of the responders stated that climate change behaviours, critical thinking or entrepreneurship competences are not taught sufficiently in schools. On top of that, 49% of the respondents said that schools should support them in getting ready for employment, giving them a change to succeed and fostering their creativity, adaptability and entrepreneurial mind set. For this reason, the FOOD-Y EU project promotes the empowerment, participation, active citizenship and sense of initiative, using social entrepreneurship as an effective intervention to re-engage young NEET in solving issues in their communities, connected to food and its waste.<< Objectives >>The aim of the FOOD-Y EU project is to empower young people in in solving food waste issues in their communities, because according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 30% of all food produced globally is lost (in the production phase) or wasted (in the retail and consumption phase). During the FOOD-Y EU project the consortium worked on:*increasing their staff and trainers knowledge on food waste management and its impact on the environment, *increasing their preparation on circular economy is used to manage food waste and ‘closing the loop’ and turning community in sustainable and better organized entities *preparing and testing a program to activate youth in understand the importance of not wasting (any) resources and to provide them the skills needed to contrast it *training the educators and youth workers tasked with supporting them *sharing the results with the local community and informing them on the project, its impact on the young participants and their community.<< Implementation >>Partners took care of the management and dissemination tasks since the beginning of the project. During the project lifetime they: +collected several best practices from all over the world. They have been used as inspiration for preparing the program and provided a starting point for the partners to start analyzing the actual situation. +shaped a e-course (available at https://foodyproject.eu/) to prepare their educators and youth workers to be ready to deliver the program. The e-r have been tested with the partners’ staff and their local stakeholders. +prepared the program for allowing youth to understand their community, the situation of the food waste and find solutions to solve it. The program is available in all languages in the format of a PDF – freely downloadable at https://foodyproject.eu/+organized several local events to promote the program, involve stakeholders and raise awareness on food waste and youth participation is solving such issues. << Results >>R1 e-course aimed at youth workers, youth educators, teachers and trainers active in youth oriented organizations.the FOODY e-course will improve youth workers’ ability to address the NEETs’ needs and the specific challenges they face in the actual society while increasing educators’ knowledge on food waste management and social entrepreneurship to increase their ability to deliver the FOOD-y program efficiently.R2 FOOD-Y EU PROGRAM HANDNOOK AND TOOLKIT a document in the languages of the partners, presenting the program produced and tested by the partners. The program is designed to support young NEETs in learning more about food and how it is produced, processed and disposed of to prepare the scope of possible (social) enterprises that can contribute to solving one real local issue connected to the food industry. The activities proposed in the program offer a new way to build up participants’ motivation for taking action in solving common issues and increase their confidence while enhancing employability skills using the food sector and its industry as an activator for their interest. As a result, participants will increase abilities that are valued in the labour market, such as analytical skills, problem analysis, decision making and other transversal skills widely required by the actual labour market and by the fast-changing requirement brought about in this age of technology and uncertainty.