Work in Progress 507847 Hanze Hogeschool The Work in Progress! Alliance is focused on unlocking the economic potential of young women and men in Egypt, Nigeria and Somalia.The project aims to enable them to generate sustainable and reasonable incomes  by finding regular employment or by them starting an enterprise.
The project has a holistic approach because a job alone does not guarantee a successful life in ones own country: 1)It is gender sensitive and inclusive: the programme aims to have 50% of the actively engaged youths be women. Forthe other 50% the programme focuses on the specific needs and participation of young men. 2) It focuses both on the supply and the demand in the labourmarket, and tries to link enterprises and job-seeking youths. 3) And it aims to change policies and develop an enabling environment: advocacy for enabling policies and having role models advocate for youth participation in decision making and at the labour market.

The most important goal of "Work in Progress!" is to improve the skills of young people and their economic prospects by creating jobs and stimulating entrepreneurship. The three major outcomes are as followed: 1) More young men and women have found paid jobs orare running their own enterprises. By improving their employability skills, improvetheir access to information, to exchange platforms to link them to business, accelerators and incubators, and financial investments. 2) Local SMEs see business grow resulting in newly created positions for youth. The project will improve the access to networks, knowledge and credit for Small and Medium Enterprises. 3) Policy measures adopted and implemented that are able to improve labor participation of youth (women in particular), and to promote a business environment. The project will involve influential people in public and private sectors to take a lead in stimulating youth employment and business environment.

Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen is the oldest multi-sectoral college in the Netherlands and the largest college in the North. Students, teachers, researchers and professionals from the field work together on innovations for professional practice and on solving issues from society. At Hanze University you learn to look beyond the boundaries of your own field and environment. The main themes are: energy, healthy aging and entrepreneurship, and the focus is also on honors and art education.

Loes Damhof is a college teacher and responsible for the 21st Century Skills learning line for the Communication, Multimedia <(>&<)> Design course: the skills, knowledge and attitude that you as a student need to sustain you in an uncertain future. After years of teaching in China, Russia and the US, she now shares her experiences with students in the InterculturalCommunication classes. Global citizenship and empathy are focal points within this. She is also involved as a coach and teacher at Hanze Honors College. Recently she received the title Teacher of the Year 2016 and the first Comenius grant. With this grant she developed a Future Literacy KnowLab in collaboration with UNESCO. Within this expertise, Hanze University of Applied Sciences joined the Work in progress! Project for 2019 and hopefully in the years to come.