Bulgaria

Reach for Change launched the eight edition of the Game Changers contest (called locally PROMYANATA) together with NOVA Broadcasting Group. 111 early-stage social entreprenerus applied after an extensive campaign in July and August. They will go through 7 stages of selection, including an online voting from the public, until in December one winner and 4 finalists are selected. They will each get seed funding, media support and an add campaing on NOVA's national TV, and will enter into a 6-month Accelerator program to help them develop their solution and business model.

Lithuania

MaMaDu has launched the podcast "Brain Architects" with the first two episodes beeing successfully aired. Marija Dautartaitė, co-founder of MaMaDu in the first episode spoke with Rūta Grigiene, an expert in the pathology of speech disorders, who has acquired knowledge and practice in the USA - they discussed the importance of a child's early development, timely assistance, and American and Lithuanian achievements in these areas. The second episode focused on a complex but highly relevant topic - postpartum depression and the emotional difficulties faced by mothers who have a baby. The conversation was held with Nida Vildžiūnaitė, the creator of the initiative “We care about mom”, the creator and publisher of the “Pregnancy Calendar” and the “Baby Diary”.

Latvia

Baltic Program and Partnership Manager Kristine Verpeja was invited to lead the session "Social impact measurement practically: experience of Reach for Change" and shared the insights of the social impact measurement and management processes in the organization. The session was part of the "Baltic: Impact: Youth" Erasmus+ project organized by Social Entrepreneurship Association in Latvia together with partners Stories for Impact (Estonia) and Geri Norai (Lithuania) with the goal to improve the skills, knowledge, know-how and motivation of youth workers regarding social impact management by sharing existing best practices in Baltic States. 

Our alumni - Bowl of happiness - offer children and youth development activities in warm natural material. They have recently received a wonderful feedback from one of their beneficiaries: "Mother of girl named Loretta: "We were with Loretta yesterday [at CLs place - KV] - grain is a miracle! Usually in kindergarten she was silent all day, but today she started talking to the educator. I can't believe the results are so fast. Glad and thank you! We will come again." Watch the video from the activity lesson here. 

Sweden 

In Sweden we started working on our latest project funded by Delmos as a part of implementing our strategy to increase collaboration between municipalities, the private sector and social entrepreneurs. This is a project in collaboration with the Swedish NGO Inkludera and we are using insights and knowledge gathered during the recently completed European Social Fund with a similar focus.

Ethiopia

In July we organized a Learning visit for Assosa Polytechnic College and different institutions in the ecosystem to create exposure and facilitate potential partnerships with institutions in Addis Ababa. Participants in the Innovation Lab and Business Readiness programs were also part of the learning visit. We managed to bring more than 50 individuals and visited different institutions, businesses and academies.

Student Entrepreneurship Boot Camp Training was organized in July in partnership with GIZ Ethiopia for 100 graduates of Assosa Polytechnic College to help students transform themselves into entrepreneurs instead of job seekers and to alleviate unemployment in Assosa. 

Ghana

In July and August we had advocacy trainings for women and vulnerable groups on how they can access their economic rights while shaping and impacting their social enterprises to better livelihoods. These trainings are part of an 18 month long program in partnership with Forum CIV designed to help equip target groups groups with the necessary information to empower their access to economic rights from government institutions.