<< Background >>The Junior MBA project is directly responding to the pressing need to harness the potential of young people to drive a new generation of sustainable and inclusive growth as the world begins to look at ways to recover from socio-economic damages of COVID-19. According to G20 Youth Entrepreneurs' Alliance communique from virtual Saudi Summit 2020 following measures will contribute to a quicker recovery of G20 economies and we took these measures as a goal framework of our project:1/ embracing educational programs that connect young people across countries to work remotely and collectively on entrepreneurial projects,2/ bringing efficient tools for skill building and entrepreneurial education of young people,3/ connecting skill development with real labour market needs,4/ making programmes more inclusive and with better outreach to marginalised communities. Our project brings direct support to 2 main target groups:1/ primary target group: young people aged 16 to 21 years2/ secondary target group: youth workers working actively with youth and providing support in development of entrepreneurial skills Our research findings among 1298 young people across all regions of Czechia conducted by NFVAP in 2021 showed that 52% of young people do not have experience in project development, its planning or presentation in formal education which is an alarming finding hindering pro-activity of students, creativity, innovation and thus, also entrepreneurship. Moreover, our preliminary research in all partner countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania) showed important intersections in young people’s needs. The national educational systems are not flexible and real-life oriented enough to foster entrepreneurial and innovative thinking which results in lack of pro-activity and demotivation of young people but also in insufficient preparedness for the world of work, lower competitiveness and higher risk of unemployment. Furthermore, through our own youth work practices confirmed by several studies (such as OECD report, Supporting Youth in Entrepreneurship) we also plan to target needs of youth workers who are in need of more targeted development of training competences directly linked to entrepreneurial skills and competences to connect learning and entrepreneurial education with labour market realities. Our needs analysis results showed gaps in youth entrepreneurial education which is scattered, not inclusive enough, far from real-world challenges and mostly MOOC based which is hindering a real community building. These findings led to creation of the Junior MBA programme idea to help fostering a new generation of youth change makers.<< Objectives >>Our project responds to the above outlined background situation by tackling directly the problem of inefficient entrepreneurial education of young people through our holistic solution called Junior MBA. The project brings together 4 partners with complementing expertise who will design and develop an innovative experiential learning programme. The programme will be implemented through an online learning platform which will present a scalable system that teaches entrepreneurship, responsibility, innovation and critical thinking to young people aged 16-21 years in a collaborative way. There will be several unique features including rooting of the curriculum in real-life challenges (social, environmental, civic, economic, business etc.) and focus on marginalised communities (Roma youth) and regions. The programme will also serve as a tool and resource centre for youth workers who will be provided by a capacity building support. The project expects to bring together 2000 young people and 60 youth workers across 4 countries to pilot the Junior MBA programme within 24 months. Our ultimate objective is to empower young people with entrepreneurial skillset to become confident and proactive change makers and equip youth workers to become skilful facilitators of entrepreneurial education.<< Implementation >>The project activities will be implemented within 5 work packages which will lead to following results:WP1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATIONDuration: 24 months (11/2021-10/2023)Activities: Project and financial management, 4 transnational project meetings (2 days, 2 ppl per partner), CZ (11/2021), SK (4/2022), RO (9/2022), SLO (2/2023)Planned results: this WP will lead to development and proper implementation of PM and communication plan, quality and evaluation plan, interim and final monitoring reports WP2 RESEARCH, CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, LEARNING PATH DESIGN, YOUTH WORKER MANUAL DEVELOPMENTDuration: 6 months (11/2021-4/2022)Activities: Research of innovative elements in existing curricula/methodologies/approaches of all 4 partners and best country practices, development of curriculum and written content for Junior MBA, design of learning path, development of youth worker manual, creation of video scripts.Planned results: this WP will lead to development of the Junior MBA programme and related tools to be implemented into the platform (WP3) WP3 TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLATFORM AND CONTENT IMPLEMENTATIONDuration: 7 months (4/2022-10/2022)Activities: Creation of technology specifications and instructions for learning platform development team, wireframe, UX/UI design, feedback from youth interviewees, platform programming, content implementation into the platform, development of audiovisual community building components, translation from English into 4 national languages (CZ, SK, RO, SLO)Planned results: this WP will lead to creation of a fully functioning Junior MBA online learning platform ready for pilot testing (WP4) WP4 PILOT TESTING, FEEDBACK COLLECTION AND PLATFORM ADJUSTMENTDuration: 12 months (9/2022-8/2023)Activities: Recruitment of participants for pilot testing (youth workers, youth), organising train-the-trainer online workshop for youth workers, implementing the pilot testing of programme prototype 1.0 and 2.0, organising online feedback workshops with representatives of youth and youth workersPlanned results: successful pilots enabling tailor-made improvements of the Junior MBA (in total 2000 youth participants, 60 youth workers), evaluation report 1.0 and 2.0 WP5 DISSEMINATION (PROMOTION AND SHARING OF PROJECT RESULTS)Duration: 22 months (1/2022-10/2023)Activities: ongoing project dissemination, promotion and sharing of project results, ongoing development of stakeholders' network, 4 multiplier events in all partner countriesPlanned results: min. 8 dedicated newsletters, 6 press releases, 1 dedicated website, 80 social media posts (FB, LN, Twitter, IG), 12 direct mailings, 6 online/offline events to share project results next to dedicated multiplier events<< Results >>The Junior MBA programme presents a holistic solution which empowers a specific youth group aged 16-21 with foundations of entrepreneurship, fosters innovation, critical thinking and responsibility in a cross-border collaborative way. The programme will consist of several components:1/ JUNIOR MBA PROGRAMME FOR YOUTH AND ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORM BASED ON MICRO-COMMUNITY APPROACH (target group are young people aged 16-21 from CZ, SK, SLO and RO, non-Roma and Roma in mixed teams). Particular parts are:a/ Innovative curriculum for entrepreneurial inclusive education of young people based on real-life challengesb/ Written content (case studies, worksheets, entrepreneurial challenges)c/ Audiovisual content (20 subtitled motivational videos in national languages)d/ Community building components (mix of national and cross-border teams, Roma & non-Roma, online meet-ups, team challenges, community space etc.) e/ Online learning platform with incorporated content and tools based on micro-community and gamification design2/ JUNIOR MBA TOOLKIT FOR YOUTH WORKERS (target group are youth workers active in youth work and entrepreneurial education)a/ Youth worker programme manual and video instructions on how to navigate through the platformb/ Platform section for youth workers with resources, redaction system, assigned youth teams and tools for collaboration and sharing among youth workers and teams