EUnlocking project comes to an end, having helped young social entrepreneurs in Moldova and Ukraine to launch social start-ups
July 29, 2022

EUnlocking project comes to an end, having helped young social entrepreneurs in Moldova and Ukraine to launch social start-ups


On 21 July, the EU4Youth project for ‘Unlocking the potential of young social entrepreneurs in Moldova and Ukraine’ (EUnlocking), funded by the European Union, held its closing event in the Moldovan capital Chisinau.

The closing conference, held in hybrid format around the theme ‘Running the project through crises’ provided an excellent opportunity to present the results of the project, the stories of young social entrepreneurs who launched social businesses with EU support, as well as to discuss the prospects for the development of social entrepreneurship in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. A total of 150 participants, including 50 onsite and 100 online, attended the event.

During the implementation of the project, between February 2020 and July 2022, the project team fostered the social entrepreneurial potential of young people in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine by establishing an ecosystem for social enterprises, as well as by supporting young social entrepreneurs to develop and sustain their innovative solutions for the promotion of social inclusion and environmental sustainability across both countries.

Over two and a half years, the EUnlocking project supported 13 young people in launching their own social enterprises, which have created new jobs for vulnerable people and contributed to solving community problems. In addition, four awareness-raising campaigns and communication activities were conducted on social entrepreneurship and its positive impact on society. Subsequently, social entrepreneurship has become a popular trend in the two targeted countries.“This project is part of a wider regional initiative that demonstrates our efforts to create and provide opportunities and a stronger voice for young people in the Eastern Partnership countries. We have had a challenging time, the project started only a few months before the pandemic, with all the restrictions that were imposed. All these restrictions were also challenges for the young people in this project, who had to adapt to find ways of working together. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 intensified issues such as employment and the creation of decent jobs for vulnerable groups, which are also priorities for us,” said Jochen Schmidt from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations.

Moreover, the project supported young people in launching social start-ups; encouraged access to information and exchange of best practices on social entrepreneurship; strengthened the capacities of young social entrepreneurs through online training courses on related topics such as business modelling, fundraising, market analysis, financial management, marketing and promotion, etc.

In addition,  the best social start-up initiatives focused on the promotion of social inclusion and environmental sustainability benefitted from funding and mentoring.

“The development of social entrepreneurship is very important for local communities, as their main goal is to have a social impact and create opportunities and services for the community in which they live. The European Union has provided continuous support to social enterprises and will continue to support this sector by developing additional tools to provide advice and support to enterprises to expand and develop. New funding opportunities will also be launched for the creation of new enterprises and the development of existing ones,” said Aurica Butnari, Programme manager at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova.

To create sustainable impacts and long-lasting knowledge, the EUnlocking project has recently launched 10 online training courses, with the support of the European Union, on various topics of social entrepreneurship in both countries. These courses will still be available after the project ends.

In the Republic of Moldova, the EUnlocking project has contributed to attracting government funding for social enterprises in Moldova, focusing on job creation, especially for people with special needs and other disadvantaged groups. As a result, vulnerable people had access to state subsidies since the beginning of 2021.

In Ukraine, the parliament confirmed social entrepreneurship would be one of their top priorities, thanks to the project’s continuous efforts with various advocacy campaigns.

Furthermore, the project has established the first regional network of social entrepreneurs, following a resolution at the International Networking Forum organised in Kyiv on 27-28 January 2022. Altogether, 12 Ukrainian educational institutions have integrated various courses on social entrepreneurship topics into their curricula. The Eco-Hub and 6 Labs provided support and assistance to more than 2,500 young people from vulnerable groups in Ukraine, also delivered during the war.

Some of the results achieved by the partners in the Republic of Moldova, may be viewed in the following video, while results produced by the partners in Ukraine can be seen here.

The EUnlocking project is implemented by the Gustav Stresemann Institute e.V. (GSI) (Germany), Egalite International (Ukraine), AXA Management Consulting (Moldova), ECO-RAZENI Association (Moldova), the National Assistance and Information Centre for NGOs in Moldova “CONTACT” (Moldova), and “Pro NGO! e.V” (Germany).



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