Why 

Young people across Central and Eastern Europe are facing limited access to opportunities for social and economic development.

The world has entered a period of significant and unpredictable changes, including conflict, health crises (such as the ongoing pandemic), energy scarcity, and economic instability.

Eastern and Central Europe is not immune to global trends and changes that have brought about both opportunity and uncertainty, particularly for youth. Now they have to adapt to political, economic, and technological shifts, as well as navigate the complexities of intensified competition due to globalization and higher requirements for education.

While these changes have brought new possibilities, they have also underscored the importance of adaptability and innovation for young people in the region to thrive and contribute to their societies.

How 

There is a new generation of impact leaders paving the way for a more just and sustainable future.

These leaders are characterized by their courage, creativity, and a strong commitment to addressing the pressing issues of our time. They recognize the urgent need for innovative solutions and are dedicated to making a positive impact in their communities and beyond. They are pioneering change across various sectors, such as education, healthcare, environment, and social justice, while their approaches often leverage technology, social entrepreneurship, and community engagement to address complex challenges.

However, despite their dedication and innovative spirit, these leaders still face significant obstacles in their journey. One of them is the lack of necessary support which includes funding, mentorship, and access to networks. These resources are essential for them to scale up their initiatives, expand their reach, and achieve sustainable impact.

What 

Future Forward is here to empower the next generation of impact leaders in Central and Eastern Europe.

Within the project, two international organizations Social Impact Award and Reach for Change will join forces in providing capacity building and scaling support to impact entrepreneurs across Central and Eastern Europe, while at the same time mainstreaming the topic amongst young people,

The main focus of the project will be the scaling readiness program focused on providing support for social entrepreneurs at an early growth stage and high ambition to scale. It aims to enable them to identify a viable model to scale their impact, and to develop a plan for a scaling pilot.

The Scaling Readiness program implemented under this project is specifically targeting existing social innovations that support youth needs in the context of green and digital transition.

In the context of rising inflation, renewed geopolitical instability, the recovery from Covid-19 and the global climate crisis, it is very important to continue to strengthen individual and societal resilience in the Baltic Sea region. Its central element is ensuring that all members of society have equal access to a sustainable, dignified livelihood and the tools, training and support needed to achieve it.

The EU has recently recognized social entrepreneurship as an essential tool for strengthening the resilience of European societies and has particularly emphasized the sector's suitability for younger generations, who are unlikely to see a conflict between making a profit and creating social impact. However, the industry's visibility remains low, especially outside the region's major cities.

Therefore, the goal of this project is to unleash the power of social entrepreneurship as a mean to support the self-development and self-sufficiency of disadvantaged young people (up to 25 years old) in Finland and Latvia. The goal of the program is to develop an entrepreneurial mindset for participants, transferable cross-industry skills, and most importantly, to create a clear understanding of how to start their own socially oriented business.

Within the framework of the program, two training cycles will be implemented, i.e. bootcamp and leadership camp for 120 young people from Latvia and Finland, followed by optional participation in the Innovation Lab, which will provide access to online training sessions (coaching) to continue the individual training program and improve the prototypes. After completing the program, the young social entrepreneurs will be supported in their further development in the long term by inviting them to join the network of social entrepreneurs.

The approach of the project is based on cross-border exchange of experience between NGOs, in-depth evaluation of results also at intermediate stages, optimization of adaptability and possible repeatability. The project will end with several information dissemination events and experience exchange.

Planned results: 120 disadvantaged young people from Latvia and Finland are involved in the project activities.

Project partners: Reach for Change Latvia association (leading partner), Lahti Diaconia Foundation (Finland), South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and Radošās idejas association.

The project is implemented from April 1, 2023 to September 30, 2025. 

The total funding of the project is 741,734.26 euros. Co-financing of the Central Baltic 2021-2027 program in the amount of 80% has been allocated for the implementation of the project.

The project is co-financed by the Society Integration Foundation from the state budget of Latvia allocated by the Ministry of Culture. 

While most NGOs and CSOs are aware of the importance of impact measurement, the barrier to creating replicable and sustainable structures/toolkits or hiring consultants to accomplish this is much too high and/or expensive. Other priorities, such as the needs of their beneficiaries or finding funding, often take a higher priority within the organization, making it difficult to sustain quality impact measuring. This is problematic because not only does it keep an NGO from developing better and more relevant programs for their beneficiaries, but it also becomes increasingly more difficult to scale their programs without proof that the solutions themselves work. Keeping many vital solutions from scaling and reaching more beneficiaries in their target groups, as well as attracting more and larger investments. 

In the project “Strengthening Impact Measurement within Civil Society Organisations”, Reach for Change works together with the independent civil society organizations; Civic Alliance Latvia (CAL), and Social Economy Ukraine (SEU) to strengthen the ecosystem's ability to measure and manage their impact. The project is funded by the Nordic Council and will be ongoing until February 2024.

The project will consist of two modules; Module 1 will focus on training CAL and SEU in impact measurement tools and toolkits. The first module will focus on; Problem analysis using: The Problem Tree Method, solution description, and mapping of the target group. This is followed by developing an impact results chain, indicator selection, developing a plan for data collection, and qualitative and quantitative tools for impact measurement. In Module 2, we will focus on a “train the trainers” approach and capacity-build CAL and SEU on how to train their member organizations to use the toolkits and share knowledge. The activities will explore ways to hold training for their members in impact measurement, and timelines, as well as, how NGOs can communicate their impact to their beneficiaries, partners, funders, and the public.

Why
Sweden struggles with many challenges in areas of segregation, criminality, educational and social exclusion. Our social entrepreneurs address several of these challenges and offer innovative solutions to some of our society’s greatest problems. Their work results in inclusion, empowerment and the opportunity for a better life among children and youth.

How
Our social entrepreneurs often come from the target group themselves and have the experience, knowledge and understanding of what works and gives the best results. By supporting them with the development of their organizations and businesses their solutions can reach and make a difference in the lives of more children and youth.

What
With the support of Kinnevik, Kivra & Hogia we are able to provide capacity development to an entrepreneur working with Ukrainian refugees in Sweden as well as nine other entrepreneurs supporting Swedish children and youth in the areas of inclusion, empowerment, education and other areas.

Why
Ethiopia has an ambitious strategy to transition to a green economy but there is currently not a strong pipeline of new green businesses to tap into existing opportunities or help accelerate this strategy. At the same time, young people lack the right skills for existing jobs and are disconnected from entrepreneurship opportunities within the country’s rapidly growing economy. 

How 

Providing entrepreneurship and marketable skills for TVET and university graduates has therefore become a key priority as they seek to improve the transition from school to work. While entrepreneurship training is a mandatory part of all TVET courses, the national curriculum is primarily theoretical, which results in students not being equipped with key skills and knowledge on access to finance, market availability, tax support, etc which are critical to start and sustain businesses. 

What

We will run a Green Entrepreneurship  Bootcamp to help 360 young people nurture an entrepreneurial mindset, develop an interest in the green business sector, and generate ideas for starting their own business. Its Green Innovation Lab will help 60 people test their ideas and build viable enterprises that protect the planet and  offer employment to others.

Why 

Over 32% of the population in Bulgaria live at risk of poverty and social exclusion. This is the highest percentage in all countries in the EU. We know that via social entrepreneurs we can provide a perspective and an opportunity for development in order to help people avoid the risk of poverty and social exclusion and remain fully functional members of society. 

How 

Later stage social organizations, who provide employment opportunities for people at risk of social exclusion, have the capacity to fight this issue by scaling their positive impact and expanding their activities to reach even more people at risk.  If we help them to grow further we can contribute to lowering the percentage and generate long-term positive societal effects.

What

In partnership with ING Bulgaria we have supported two later stage social entrepreneurs, who provide employment positions and improve the financial status of families at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The program aimed at helping them improve their business models and thus scale their positive impact to a significant number of vulnerable members of our society. They were supported with tailor-made capacity development consultations, mentoring sessions with external experts and ING employees, funding and communication campaigns dedicated to improving the awareness about their work.

Why

Despite significant progress in recent decades, the Ghanaian educational system continues to face several challenges. Many children still have poor educational outcomes due to overcrowded classrooms, lack of access to school materials and a shortage of well-trained teachers. Over half a million children are not enrolled in primary school - a problem which disproportionately affects girls and children with disabilities. Assessments have further shown notable disparities in educational outcomes and completion rates between urban and rural areas and between the highest and lowest income quartiles.  

How 

There are many social entrepreneurs in Ghana with innovative solutions to develop and contribute to a more effective educational system. Though, many don’t have access to tools, network, funding and knowledge in order to scale their solutions. This project will target social entrepreneurs in an early growth stage, and help them to prepare to scale their solutions through capacity building, networking and seed funding. 

What

Reach for Change have developed a 18 month Scaling Readiness program to support 10 early growth social entrepreneurs working within education. In the selection of individuals to support, we are specifically looking for social entrepreneurs that have been active for at least three years and are targeting children between the ages of 2-12 years. The goal is to improve educational outcomes with the intention to create social change for children.

Why

Many women in Ethiopia still experience a relatively restricted role in society.

Gender equality has been a problem in Ethiopia for decades, with glaring disparities particularly found between urban and rural areas. Ethiopian girls and women's struggles and problems are mostly associated with access to education, early marriages and social acceptance. These in turn limit later opportunities in life to seek sustainable and well-paying livelihoods, meaning that women are as a result generally over-represented among lower-skilled jobs and unpaid care work. 

How

Provide a platform to inspire and increase knowledge about gender equality through storytelling 

Despite the gender equality pushback, there are powerful stories of successful female trailblazers in business and social sector in Ethiopia. By offering a place for them to share their stories to a wider audience we want to challenge the perspectives and preexisting assumptions about gender equality and future possibilities for women in Ethiopia. We want to bring hope that change is happening, and these stories is a great starting point of showing this and transforming the situation forward. 

What

A radio series to raise the voices and stories of impactful women making a change

Together with Erq Ma’ed, founder of the award-winning Ethiopian radio show Reach for Change will produce a radio series consisting of five interviews with notable women who started their professional careers in Ethiopia. Despite different challenges and limited access to education and opportunities they were able to become change agents and opinion leaders committed to work and strive for a sustainable and brighter future. 

Visit the main webpage of the project

Why

In Bulgaria there is no specifically developed financial instrument for social entrepreneurs at any stage. At the same time, the interest of investors in social enterprises or the interest of social enterprises in available financial tools is relatively low. To boost the development of the social entrepreneurial market, help early-growth SEs overcome the “valley of death'' and ënahnce the ecosystem in the country, we need a financial instrument that matches the needs of the Bulgarian (early-growth) social entrepreneurs and is relevant for the potential investors. 

How

We believe in collective impact. Through cross-sectoral partnership with various stakeholders engaged - business sector, financial experts, institutions and media, non-governmental sector - we aim at developing the most suitable financial instrument for early-growth social entrepreneurs in Bulgaria as well as enhancing the ecosystem in the country. 

What

Together with UniCredit Bulbank, Forbes Bulgaria, The Business Institute, ING Bank and the Sofia Municipal Guarantee Fund for SMEs we conduct thorough research on the ecosystem, financial and non-financial needs of (early-growth) social entrepreneurs, the regulatory framework in the country, the key driving forces in the sector and the best practices from around both Europe and Bulgaria. The research enables us to proceed and form the most suitable investment strategy and framework for a new financial instrument for Bulgarian SEs. We are launching a pilot capacity building program preparing early-growth social entrepreneurs how to pitch their business and receive an investment. Furthermore, we are building an impact community to exchange experience and enable connections between social entrepreneurs, investors, public institutions and experts.

Why 

There is a need to work cross sectoral and cross border in European countries in order to effectively develop the social innovation sector. This EU funded project is a key for us to be part of in order to share our knowledge and expertise with other ecosystem players.    

How

We are taking part in a EU competency center in both Bulgaria and Sweden together with a total of six other countries. The two year project aims to support social innovation stakeholders through capacity building, knowledge transfer, networking and synergies. 

What

The projects includes: 

• Mapping strengths and weaknesses within the social innovation sector 

• Scaling of one-two social innovation projects 

• Development of tools and methods for capacity building social innovation projects 

• Development of national strategies and activity plans