One of the major issues facing economic growth within rural areas in Wales is the fact that a high number of young people are leaving to find jobs elsewhere.
Like many, I left the county of Gwynedd to gain employment, and my first academic job was at Centre for Enterprise in Derwentside, County Durham with the aim of producing more enterprising young people who are confident and competent in the life-skills that will afford them a more stable future. With the emphasis by Gwynedd County Council on the development of the young people in the county through its “Llwyddo’n Lleol” (Succeeding Locally) programme, it seemed that this was the ideal project for us to run from Bangor to support enterprise in the local environment. Therefore, working with four local schools in a pilot, we adapted the material developed in Durham and established our own Gwynedd Enterprise Project.
The key to the success of the programme has been the involvement and commitment of teachers at each school. In County Durham, each school involved in the scheme has seconded two or three teachers to act as guides, and to deliver the training, and we have replicated this within our project, involving teachers in the design of the programme and, most importantly, in its delivery to pupils across all four schools.
In its first three years, this programme has achieved its most important goal, namely to stimulate entrepreneurial behaviours, skills and attributes in young people of all abilities. It has certainly begun to make a real contribution to a more enterprising culture throughout the county of Gwynedd and helped schools to realise the impact they can have on developing enterprise within their areas. It has also involved the local community around each school by bringing in local young entrepreneurs to act as mentors and role models for the children, and by providing real-life problem centred challenges in association with local micro-businesses.
Whilst Bangor Business School has now closed down the Centre for Enterprise and Regional Development which I established to run projects in entrepreneurship and small business development, the Gwynedd Enterprise Project is thankfully continuing at the School of Education at UWB and will hopefully expand in the future.
I am also especially proud that this programme was piloted in my home county of Gwynedd and that, through the efforts of a strong partnership between Gwynedd County Council and the university, it has made a real difference to the prospects of young people within the region and opened the eyes of many to the opportunities and challenges of entrepreneurship within our economy.
However, the exodus of young people is not limited to rural counties alone and the same problem is found within industrialised areas such as Blaenau Gwent and Rhondda Cynon Taff. Given this, I hope that other councils will look to co-operate with Gwynedd County Council and help to build on the work already undertaken through this project. In particular, through accessing European funding in the next round of Objective 1 projects, there is an ideal opportunity for local authorities to work together to develop a programme that can make a real difference to the entrepreneurial potential of young people throughout all parts of Wales.
Like many, I left the county of Gwynedd to gain employment, and my first academic job was at Centre for Enterprise in Derwentside, County Durham with the aim of producing more enterprising young people who are confident and competent in the life-skills that will afford them a more stable future. With the emphasis by Gwynedd County Council on the development of the young people in the county through its “Llwyddo’n Lleol” (Succeeding Locally) programme, it seemed that this was the ideal project for us to run from Bangor to support enterprise in the local environment. Therefore, working with four local schools in a pilot, we adapted the material developed in Durham and established our own Gwynedd Enterprise Project.
The key to the success of the programme has been the involvement and commitment of teachers at each school. In County Durham, each school involved in the scheme has seconded two or three teachers to act as guides, and to deliver the training, and we have replicated this within our project, involving teachers in the design of the programme and, most importantly, in its delivery to pupils across all four schools.
In its first three years, this programme has achieved its most important goal, namely to stimulate entrepreneurial behaviours, skills and attributes in young people of all abilities. It has certainly begun to make a real contribution to a more enterprising culture throughout the county of Gwynedd and helped schools to realise the impact they can have on developing enterprise within their areas. It has also involved the local community around each school by bringing in local young entrepreneurs to act as mentors and role models for the children, and by providing real-life problem centred challenges in association with local micro-businesses.
Whilst Bangor Business School has now closed down the Centre for Enterprise and Regional Development which I established to run projects in entrepreneurship and small business development, the Gwynedd Enterprise Project is thankfully continuing at the School of Education at UWB and will hopefully expand in the future.
I am also especially proud that this programme was piloted in my home county of Gwynedd and that, through the efforts of a strong partnership between Gwynedd County Council and the university, it has made a real difference to the prospects of young people within the region and opened the eyes of many to the opportunities and challenges of entrepreneurship within our economy.
However, the exodus of young people is not limited to rural counties alone and the same problem is found within industrialised areas such as Blaenau Gwent and Rhondda Cynon Taff. Given this, I hope that other councils will look to co-operate with Gwynedd County Council and help to build on the work already undertaken through this project. In particular, through accessing European funding in the next round of Objective 1 projects, there is an ideal opportunity for local authorities to work together to develop a programme that can make a real difference to the entrepreneurial potential of young people throughout all parts of Wales.
Comments
The whole purpose of objective one is bring Wales to a level comparable with the economic level of the rest of Europe – we have to create wealth to do this and lets not ignore a real vibrant resource to do this.
http://www.kaospilot.dk/