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YOUNG SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

A VEHICLE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

UNLTD RECOMMENDS

November 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper presents policy recommendations based on the findings of a youth-led research project overseen by UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, see ‘Young Social Entrepreneurs: Learning by Doing’ 1. We found that young social entrepreneurs are using their passions and creativity to address social problems which affect the way in which they live. In the process they are learning new skills which are valuable to the marketplace as well as for life-long active citizenship. Because education is crucial in shaping how young people participate in society, we looked at the role of educational contexts, both formal and informal, in nurturing and enabling young social entrepreneurship. Our recommendations call for increased recognition from decision-makers in government, education, youth and business sectors of the value of young social entrepreneurs in co-creating strong and healthy communities and individuals. We invite actors from a range of sectors to work with us in collaborative partnerships to increase opportunities for young people to become social entrepreneurs.

INTRODUCTION: CONTEXT AND IMPORTANCE OF OUR RESEARCH FINDINGS Social entrepreneurship is one of the ways in which young people can contribute to their communities yet it differs from other routes as it enables young people to plan and run their own social project to address a problem they are passionate about. In the process of running a social venture, young people learn skills which they are less likely to learn in formal education such as persistence, team building and management, communication, networking and project planning. This is welcome news at a time when the economic climate is impacting young people and our communities in ways which threaten to have long-lasting negative effects. Just as for the UK population overall, times are currently hard for young people: •

The number of NEETs (young people Not in Education, Employment or Training) has grown considerably since the economic downturn started.



Competition for jobs has increased and employers claim that the skills and aptitudes of school and university leavers fall short of those needed in the workplace.



The demand for higher education is fast exceeding the opportunities, and the cost of taking up these opportunities is growing.



Government spending cuts, particularly at the community level, will leave gaps in local services.

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We believe that young social entrepreneurship can bring new solutions and direction to these social realities. Our research demonstrates that young social entrepreneurs fruitfully bring their passions and creativity to design and run social projects which address the community problems which affect their own lives, and that in the process they gain transferable skills which prepare them for both employment and a future as active and responsible citizens. Despite these benefits, formal educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities seldom promote and support young social entrepreneurs. It is informal education and civil society organisations such as youth groups, sports clubs, charities and faith groups which offer ‘learning by doing’ opportunities which both motivate and nurture young social entrepreneurs. In this paper we outline the need for: 1. Increased recognition by policy makers and employers of the

value of young social entrepreneurship.

2. An increase in the number of opportunities for young people to participate in social entrepreneurship and social action projects. 3. Partnerships between UnLtd and the youth sector to promote social entrepreneurship to young people in interactive ways. The following section unpacks these three recommendations using our research findings to illustrate how social entrepreneurship offers a space and structure in which young people can contribute to society and the economy.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Social entrepreneurship offers young people an opportunity to take responsibility for an activity they are passionate about, learning skills which are directly transferable to the marketplace. Our research found these skills to include: persistence, team building and management negotiation and communication, networking, organisation, business skills, time management, self confidence, project planning, leadership, project budgeting, all of which are valued by employers. The REC’s Youth Unemployment Taskforce reporting on their recent consultation with employers5 found that the current ‘expectations gap’ between young job seekers and employers is considerable and to address this calls for an increase in internships and work placements, a call which we echo with respect to social entrepreneurship (see below). We urge the business community to recognise that young social entrepreneurship is a credible route by which young people gain not only valuable general skills for employment, but also an understanding of entrepreneurship not gained within formal education.

1. INCREASED RECOGNITION BY POLICY MAKERS AND EMPLOYERS OF THE VALUE OF YOUNG SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP The current economic downturn has had three key impacts on young people and their communities which young social entrepreneurship is particularly good at addressing. These are: cuts in public spending, a rise in youth unemployment and increased competition for places in higher education (including universities and vocational institutions). •



The Coalition Government elected in May 2010 is cutting government spending in order to decrease the national deficit. Departments affected by these cuts include those addressing communities and local government, business innovation and skills, education, justice and welfare and benefits more generally, all of which shape our day-to-day provision at the household and community levels. The Coalition Government asserts that we are all in this together, and is investing £470 million over the next four years to building voluntary sector capacity so that it can deliver the government’s Big Society agenda and plug the gaps in service provision. We found that young social entrepreneurs volunteer their skills, creativity and time to bring real solutions to the problems directly affecting their communities, and therefore believe they can and should be an important part of the Big Society as it unfolds. We call for government actors and civil society organisations to recognise the positive impact young social entrepreneurs can have in their communities and actively seek means of supporting and further promoting young social entrepreneurship.



Recent research by the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Private Equity Foundation reveals that whilst the risk of young people without qualifications becoming NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training) remains at the consistently high level it did prior to the onset of the recession, the risk for those with higher qualifications has increased dramatically over the last two years. For those with A-levels the risk has increased by over 40%, and for graduates the risk has grown by over 50% since the onset of the recession2. New ILO research3 also demonstrates that young British unemployed are the least likely to seek work when compared to many of their European counterparts, suggesting apathy amongst British NEETs. These trends have provoked public fear of a second lost generation of jobless young people and the long-term damaging effects this might have on their future job prospects4.

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In August 2010 competition for places in higher education was unusually high, with more young people choosing to stay in education whilst the jobs market is weak, a trend which looks likely to continue with a 4% rise in total applications for 2011 reported by UCAS6. Government cuts to higher education have already reduced places for 20107 and further cuts announced in October 2010 can only be expected to restrict them further. At the same time volunteering is increasingly recognised as a means of enhancing young people’s CVs.8 We know that young social entrepreneurs have transferable skills which complement the knowledge gained by purely academic education and assessment by exam results. The contribution that young social entrepreneurs can make to school, college and university life should be recognised by education institutions and valued alongside academic achievements. Students also need schools universities and colleges to allow time to participate in social entrepreneurship, in the same way they do other extra-curricular activities such as sport. One possible way in which schools might integrate social entrepreneurship into student life is through uptake of the Social Enterprise Qualification, which is currently being piloted by RIO (realideas.org) and hopes to gain formal accreditation, and linking to the National Qualifications Credit Framework in the UK.9

2. INCREASE THE NUMBER OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL ACTION PROJECTS Our findings demonstrate that participation in voluntary civil and extra-curricular activities is a stepping stone to young social entrepreneurship. Young social entrepreneurs also explained how the social action and extra-curricular activities they undertook had shaped their project ideas and had given them initial contacts and networks to help them get started. Social entrepreneurship is learned through doing the project rather than through learning about it in a classroom context and therefore increased opportunities in these contexts will best nurture the growth of young social entrepreneurship.

More internships and work placements with social enterprises and within the Third Sector

Although all opportunities which engage young people in their communities can inspire them to become social entrepreneurs, based on our findings, we call particularly for increased opportunities in the form of work placements and internships. Both these structures provide young people with a temporary position in an organisation with agreed goals and responsibilities offering an excellent opportunity for young people to learn about social entrepreneurship in an experiential way. It is especially important for the social entrepreneurship sector to take the initiative in cultivating the next generation of social entrepreneurs by actively placing young people in social enterprises and other social action projects and by providing the support and training needed to develop in these positions. We suggest these opportunities should offer some payment in order that young people who cannot afford to volunteer their time may not be excluded.

programme are yet to emerge, the current plan is that graduates will be encouraged to continue in voluntary work post-NCS. We support this, but also believe that encouragement into social entrepreneurship opportunities specifically will serve the NCS aim for young people to create social action projects in their local communities. At its heart, social entrepreneurship serves the community but also teaches young people about social responsibility and entrepreneurial thinking. We see an opportunity for those organisations which deliver the NCS to work in partnership with the social entrepreneurship sector to support NCS graduates in becoming social entrepreneurs.

3. CREATE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE YOUTH SECTOR FOR YOUNG PEOPLE TO INTERACT AND LEARN ABOUT SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP One of the best ways young people are motivated to become social entrepreneurs is from being inspired by others who are doing the same in their schools and communities. Youth organisations work both inside and outside of formal educational contexts, their activities include many which are experiential rather than academic, and they already encourage and promote young people’s participation in social action projects. This means they are ideally placed to co-ordinate and organise opportunities for young people to interact with social entrepreneurs and social action projects both inside and outside of education institutions.

As well as identifying work placements as a preferred means of learning about social entrepreneurship, our survey respondents also felt that interactive workshops and events which explain the processes and activities of social entrepreneurship would be another good way of sharing knowledge within educational and community contexts. Well-organised events which provide a Promote young social entrepreneurship platform for young social entrepreneurs to share their passion and as a post-National Citizen Service activity experience would provide a structure through which young social Our findings demonstrate that young people want more entrepreneurs can reach and inspire young people. A number of opportunities to get involved in social projects than are youth organisations are proactive in promoting opportunities for currently offered by educational institutions, and also feel that participation in social action projects for young people (e.g The secondary school is the best time for them to get involved. National Youth Agency Engagement Network and Live UnLtd’s Successive governments have promoted youth volunteering work with a range of partners). As a first step, experience-sharing through a range of programmes and schemes, the most current being the National Citizen Service (NCS). The NCS will engage events for young social entrepreneurs could be integrated into 16 year-old school leavers in a range of residential and community current work in a similar area. This would offer young people from a activities over a 7-8 week period and will be piloted in summer 2011. range of backgrounds an informal way to learn about social It will act as the gateway to the Big Society for many young people entrepreneurship without committing to a project as well as in the coming years and one of its explicit aims is to ‘promote a more the opportunity to meet like-minded people who will inspire and engaged society by enabling young people to work together support them. We welcome partnership opportunities with to create social action projects in their local communities’10. This organisations in the education and youth sector which will aim exemplifies the characteristics of young social entrepreneurship. enable us to collaboratively scale up the reach of young social entrepreneurship to the many young people who would use it to develop themselves and their communities. We see the NCS programme as offering a fantastic stepping stone to social entrepreneurship. Whilst the particulars of the NCS

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CONCLUSION Both the reduction in service provision at the community level and the reduction in education and employment opportunities which result from the current economic context present a threat to the wellbeing of our young people and communities. However, we believe this vacuum also offers the prospect of looking afresh at how young people can contribute positively to their communities and steer clear of apathy. We urge those in government and the voluntary sector who are active in shaping the Big Society and inclusion of young people in social action to recognise the value of young social entrepreneurship as a vehicle for social change and skills development. The Big Society agenda opens up spaces for new initiatives in both the public and voluntary sector and we at UnLtd are eager to partner with others to ensure that young people with passion, drive and a knowledge of their community are part of the evolving landscape.

END NOTES 1

McDowall, H. and Micinski, N. (2010) Young Social Entrepreneurs: Learning by Doing. UnLtd: London

2

Ippr and Private Equity Foundation, August 2010, Prospect of Becoming NEET Rises by 40 per cent for Those With A-levels, available at http://www.privateequityfoundation.org/press/press-releases/prospect-of-becoming-neet-rises-by-40-per-cent-for-those-with-a-levels/ accessed 20/10/2010.

3

ILO (2010) Global Employment Trends for Youth, ILO: Geneva.

4

REC, July 5th 2010, REC Youth Employment Taskforce report Calls for Urgent Action to Avoid a ‘Lost Generation’, available at http://www.rec.uk.com/press/news/1140 accessed 12/09/2010

5

ibid

6

UCAS, October 18th 2010, 2011 Application Figures – October, available at http://www.ucas.ac.uk/about_us/media_enquiries/media_releases/ 2010/20111025 accessed 23/10/2010

7

BBC News, October 21st 2010, Record Numbers Fail to get University Place, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11595655?utm_ source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter accessed 21/10/2010

8

Vasagar, J., August 19th 2010, A-level Results 2010: No Degree Course? Then Try Volunteering Says Minister, Guardian, available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/19/a-level-results-2010-willetts accessed 20/08/2010

9

RIO (2010) Social Enterprise Qualification (SEQ), available at http://socialenterprisequalification.realideas.org/ accessed 18/10/2010.

10

Cabinet Office, August 2nd 2010, National Citizen Service, Cabinet Office: London

Authors: Hannah McDowall and Nick Micinski

CONTACT US

Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 7566 1100 Visit: www.UnLtd.org.uk/Research PUBLISHED: November 2010

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