Mobilidees+ project summary (application) For more than ten years, the Leonardo project "MOBILIDEES" - mobility to combine knowledge, opening and alternation in social economy enterprise - helps students at the end of schools of technical and vocational secondary education of the Province of Liège, to have a theoretical overview and a practical approach of the social economy by a work experience placement with a European dimension. Originally proposed in the metal trades, the draft has gradually expanded to the is now open to all students from qualifying and professional sections of the Province. The «MOBILIDEES» project has thus two main objectives: • Strengthen the practical skills and theoretical knowledge of students of education organized by the Province of Liège. This objective is met by the immersion of students in cooperatives’ workplace and by the practical of their profession they engage in. The training improve their employability, their flexibility and their mobility ; • Increase student's awareness to the social economy. Introduce them through their participation in the life of the cooperative to another way to undertake, to another mode of organization of enterprises where other values are highlighted: management autonomy; democratic participation of workers; service purpose; and, the primacy of work over capital. The project responds to a need for practical training of students. Young people from the technical and vocational education sections have unfortunately too little opportunity to be immersed in a work context and real-world economic life. This immersion in the business realities allows them to put into practice all the knowledge acquired during their education and to consolidate it. For 13 weeks, they will have the opportunity to practice their future profession. They will be able to benefit from the advice of people with practical experience who have great experience in the business. For every trainee, the experience is complemented by the acquisition of new skills, new methods of work and by learning a new way of work organization more respectuous of human values and of environment. Before their departure, the students follow a six-day training provided by the teaching team of IDEES. It involves a preparation to stay and a social economy training. This internship allows students to discover an alternative to the traditional mode of organization of enterprises, to the capitalist model of the organization's work. Every trainee will realized his training in a cooperative society member of social economy. This project is the result of a partnership based on an agreement with the General Directorate of education of the Province of Liège. Throughout the project, schools under the Provincial authority are in permanent collaboration with IDEES ASBL. At the end of the work experience placement, each head teacher will provide final evaluation of the trainee that will certify or not of the successful completion of the company internship, and possibly the certificate of success. This act reflects the integration of the training course in the students’ curriculum. In partnership with the General Confederacy of French cooperative and participatory societies, the Regional Union of Nord Pas de Calais and the Regional Chamber of social and solidarity economy, we seek cooperatives to welcome our trainees from July 1, 2015, to September 30, 2015. Within cooperatives, trainees will be introduced to the specificities of the social economy. In particular during the internship, they will have the opportunity to attend management board between workers/cooperators and thus to participate in the time dedicated to the management of the business. It is for them the opportunity to be aware of the challenges and the problems to which the company is exposed daily. This exercise is all the more important that educates young people about entrepreneurship. This international experience is particularly important because it allows students to assert their European citizenship and to awaken to some form of mobility At the end of the internship, students return personally and professionally better armed, and with a more defined career plan. This experience sets their future and allows them to make an objective choice between continuing their studies at the graduate level or direct entry into the world of work. For those who will make the choice latter, it is clear that the experience gained in the cooperative will be a key criterion for hiring that even shorten the waiting time before starting to work. The discovery and adaptation to a new environment, a new culture, the obligation to cope alone are all elements that will allow the trainee to better prepare its entry in its adult and working life. This internship allows them to acquire more maturity, autonomy and be more accountable.