For more than a decade, we have been working with young people by giving them opportunities to get involved in activities at our training and leisure park. Here, they can try themselves in different tasks, gain their first work experience, learn responsibility, teamwork, and build self-confidence. Over time, we have accumulated valuable knowledge and experience that helped us better understand the needs and challenges of youth.
Naturally, a question arose – how can we use all this experience in a broader and more systematic way so that it reaches those young people who need it the most? This led to the idea of developing a project that would transform our accumulated knowledge into a structured training program tailored for young people who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET).
Our experience has shown that young people need a real environment where they can grow and develop. At the same time, we noticed that many young people are neither working nor studying, and their future plans are unclear.
This reality encouraged us to search for a solution – how to make better use of our knowledge, experience, and the advantages of the training and leisure park to help young people discover themselves and prepare for life’s challenges.
Since the project requires innovative solutions in youth work, we decided to turn our park into a learning program. Traditional lessons or lectures often remind young people of school, which becomes an obstacle – many of them have lost motivation to study, do not want to return to formal education, or simply do not see its meaning.
Therefore, we chose a different approach – to combine expert consultations, knowledge, and mentoring with engaging outdoor activities. Sports, teamwork, challenges in nature, or creative tasks become tools that naturally involve young people. In such activities, they experience community, gain energy, and at the same time absorb important topics – from recognizing personal strengths to career planning.
This method allows learning to become a process of discovery, where knowledge comes through experience. It also creates a genuine connection with young people who often feel excluded from traditional forms of education.
This is how the European Social Fund+ financed social innovation project “Empower Emerge” (ESF-SI-2023-SKILLS-01-0034) was born, aimed at NEET youth (15–29 years old). The project combines two main approaches:
- Indoor activities – psychological support, self-assessment tests, mentoring, career planning, and life-skills training.
- Outdoor activities – experiential learning in nature, sports, teamwork, and challenges outside the comfort zone.
Our training and leisure park became the place where this idea turned into reality – here, the project takes shape, and young people can grow, discover their strengths, and take their first steps towards the labor market.
During and after the project, we hope to share the experience and good practices we have accumulated with everyone working with young people in Lithuania and abroad.
