SocEntYwD (Capacity Building in Youth Work for Social Entrepreneurship of Youngsters with Disabilities) is an Erasmus+ funded project bringing together youth organisations from Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina to strengthen how youth work supports young people with disabilities on their path to social entrepreneurship.

Why this project

Young people with disabilities continue to face significant barriers to employment and economic independence, despite their potential to contribute meaningfully to their communities. Employers often hesitate to hire due to misconceptions about productivity, the cost of workplace accommodations, and a lack of inclusive policies, a challenge that is even more pronounced outside the EU, where structured support for the employment and entrepreneurship of young people with disabilities remains limited.

Social entrepreneurship offers a powerful alternative path: it allows young people with disabilities to build their own careers, develop self-sustaining ventures, and drive change in their communities. Yet access to entrepreneurship education, funding, and mentorship remains scarce, and youth organisations themselves often lack the tools and expertise needed to guide young people with disabilities through this journey.

A regional needs assessment carried out by the consortium, involving 57 youth workers, 88 young people with disabilities, and 8 social entrepreneurs, confirmed the scale of the gap: while most youth workers had run entrepreneurship activities, only a small share had ever focused specifically on young people with disabilities, and the vast majority said they would benefit from further training on inclusive entrepreneurship.

What the project aims to achieve

The main goal of SocEntYwD is to raise the capacity of youth workers and youth organisations to provide quality, tailored support that empowers young people with disabilities in social entrepreneurship, fostering their economic independence and social inclusion.

To get there, the project works toward four specific objectives:

1. Building the capacity of youth work organisations and youth workers, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, to support and empower young people with disabilities toward quality social entrepreneurship and self-employability.
2. Equipping young people with disabilities with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to launch and sustain social enterprises of their own.
3. Improving access to financial, digital, and physical resources by building the capacity of young people with disabilities, youth workers, and organisations to advocate for inclusive policies and entrepreneurship-friendly environments.
4. Creating sustainable support networks, mentorships, and partnerships among youth workers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and disability-focused organisations to ensure long-term impact.