By the EU Programme for UWC Short Courses in Cyprus
Dates: Wednesday June 23 - Friday July 9, 2021
Location: Online
Course Theme and Objectives
The theme of this online short course was social entrepreneurship. The course focused on action and innovation for social responsibility with special attention for initiatives in the Mediterranean region. The course aimed:
- To instil leadership values of cooperation, sustainability and entrepreneurship in young people from all communities in Cyprus as well as the broader region
- To empower young people and develop their resilience and ethical leadership skills
- To discover, develop and share passions and skills and gain a mind-set and tools to undertake action for positive change and community service
- To promote local impact initiatives among the participants
- To promote and instil UWC values
- To introduce participants to experiential learning and online problem-based learning
- To familiarise participants with the socio-political context of Cyprus and discuss shared experiences and common themes among young people in the Mediterranean
The curriculum aligned with the European Youth Goals and specifically supported the following three main areas:
- Engage: Fostering youth participation in democratic life
- Connect: Bringing young people together across the EU and beyond to foster voluntary engagement, learning mobility, solidarity and intercultural understanding
- Empower: Supporting youth empowerment through quality, innovation and recognition of youth work
Participants joined approx. 4 hours of live sessions each day. After a lunch break, there was an additional social activity in the late afternoon.
Overview
During the course, participants were equipped with the toolkit to become young changemakers in their respective communities. In interactive workshops, they were introduced to concepts as well as practice the skills they need as social entrepreneurs, and meet guest speakers who have established their own social enterprises.
Throughout the course, participants worked together in small groups to create their own hypothetical social enterprise. Together with the support of a facilitator/mentor, they focused on a specific social theme, based on their interests, and presented back their eventual proposal at the end of the course. Participants learned about and used the Design Thinking Method during their project.
Participants who completed the course successfully are awarded a certificate.
This course is funded by the European Union and implemented by UWC.
Please also take a look at the concept paper below for a summary of the UWC Online Short Course "Social Entrepreneurship".