WHY EYE?

Ever since its creation, the EU has always been a work in progress, evolving constantly as time passes by. Moving into the 21st century, we are faced with new obstacles and challenges to overcome and the decisions taken at the EU level today will have a profound impact on the opportunities available to Europeans tomorrow. Therefore it´s crucial that politicians and institutions are not only open to the demands of the younger generations, but actively seek to understand them.

With ca 5000 young people (aged 16-30) from all over Europe, the European Youth Event in Strasbourg (EYE 2014) 9-11 May, was a great opportunity to promote Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme (incidentally called EYE) as well as entrepreneurship overall as a rewarding career option. Ca 600 people took part in our Entrepreneurship related workshops and many more passed by the Erasmus stand where it was possible to register for the programme on the spot.

An important quality of the workshops which was very much appreciated by young and older alike – was the ‘participatory leadership’ approach. This innovative way of running the sessions was used to make all the sessions as interactive as possible. Different methodologies allowed large numbers of young people to talk and discovertogether in structured and purposeful way.

These methods allow both: the speakers and the audience to be actively involved in the sessions. They harness collective knowledge and experience, help to network, mix and match while informing themselves in a practical manner.