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.