With the amount raised through two fundraising campaigns, the “The Greek Crowdfund” (2016-2017) and Greece Works! (2017-2018), along with the support of The Hellenic Initiative US and VISA for a second year, Desmos aims to tackle youth unemployment, which now reaches up to 46% in Greece, while simultaneously supporting charitable organizations which lack human resources by creating impactful positions for qualified youths. Within 2 years, 26 unemployed youths, were selected through a demanding procedure designed by Desmos and are supported for one year working in charitable organizations of their choice, gaining significant professional experience while aiding, through their work, more than 100,000 beneficiaries.
In the second year of implementation of the ”Desmos for Youth II” programme, 11 youths have begun working since July 2017 at 11 charitable organizations in Athens, Crete, Thessaloniki and Komotini. We are extremely proud to be covering, yet again, a wide geographical area as well as a wide range of specialties and areas of impact. The multiple advantages of this program were evident from the very first months of its implementation. These initial months served mostly as a period of training, integration and organizing for most participants of the program, but each and every one of them reports great progress already in their new roles and can present this with tangible results and social impact.
The social issues addressed through this year’s program are equally as diverse as the first year of implementation. Through their work the participants of the “Desmos for Youth II” program support:
- Refugees / immigrants
- Women and children
- LGBTQ+ community
- People with special needs (children, adolescents and adults) and their families
- Homeless people
- Patients (people with chronic illnesses and/or mental health issues, people deprived of basic health services and medication etc)
- Long-term unemployed individuals
- Drug addicts, prisoners and socially excluded groups trying to re-integrate into society, as well as their families
- Students in impoverished and/or remote areas
- Young people entering the job market and/or trying out their entrepreneurial ideas
- Environment conservation, wild animal protection and support of residents of rural areas
The youths employed through the program covered a wide range of beneficiaries’ needs such as psychological support, special education, social integration support, job search counselling, human rights advocating, awareness raising etc. They also supported the organizations they work at with business development activities, including volunteer training and engagement, fundraising, partnership management, program coordination, events management, outreach activities and administrative support.
Up to now, the program has supported over 1,000 beneficiaries out of which 500 individuals have received personalized support and one-to-one help exclusively by the participants of the program. The total number of beneficiaries of all organizations participating in the program the past 4 months exceeds 11,000 people. Moreover, through the work of the youths of the program, more than 25 small- and large-scale events were organized, new partnerships were established, making the communities around them more aware and raising funds, ensuring the sustainability and growth of organizations. Furthermore, organizations were able to reach important milestones in terms of internal organization, management and outreach to their respective groups of interest.
