PEEP has a rich portfolio of projects that showcase our approach and impact. We focus on projects that align with our core themes: education & skills, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and innovation.
Below are some of our key projects and initiatives from Europe and around the world:
The Youth Start – Entrepreneurial Challenges project was the largest policy experimentation ever undertaken in Europe in the field of entrepreneurship education. Coordinated internationally by PEEP, it was implemented with the Ministries of Education in Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Slovenia, with Bulgaria joining as a scale-up partner. The project’s evaluation design was led by the Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship, ensuring scientific rigor through Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs).
The project tested how challenge-based, experiential learning programmes could be integrated into compulsory education to promote entrepreneurial competences, school engagement, and transferable life skills. Youth Start was built to be flexible, scalable, and interdisciplinary, adaptable across school levels, curricula, and countries.
RCT evaluation demonstrated that Youth Start had a significant positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial skills, school engagement, and innovation mindsets. Key findings:
Inclusive Digital Entrepreneurship Training. Entrepreneurship4All is a cutting-edge project co-funded by the EU that PEEP helped design and ensure quality to make entrepreneurship support more inclusive and effective. E4All is an innovative digital learning ecosystem that supports entrepreneurs in developing essential skills, navigating digital and green transitions, and building financial resilience. With a learner-centred approach, E4All offers tailored resources for diverse audiences – from young startup founders to women entrepreneurs and aspiring social entrepreneurs. (site: https://entrepreneurship4all.eu)
Key features of E4All include:
PEEP’s involvement in Entrepreneurship4All spans content development, platform design input, and quality assurance. We ensure the curriculum is evidence-based and aligned with frameworks like the EntreComp (Entrepreneurship Competence Framework).
This project exemplifies how we drive the digital transition in entrepreneurship training. Call to Action: Are you an aspiring entrepreneur or work with entrepreneurs?
Check out the Entrepreneurship4All portal (www.entrepreneurship4all.eu) for free resources and training opportunities.
Empowering Future Leaders Through Digital and Sustainability Education.
Girls Go STEM is a Europe-wide initiative led by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Community, coordinated by EIT RawMaterials, and supported by the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport, and Culture of the European Commission. The initiative equips students, particularly young women, with digital and entrepreneurial skills through the Circular Learning Space, fostering sustainability awareness and preparing them for future careers.
The project targets students aged 14–19 in secondary schools across Europe and uses an online learning platform with interactive courses on topics like recycling, sustainable innovation, and technology.
The ambitious goal: Helping students build confidence in STEM and entrepreneurship. By focusing on young women, this project addresses the underrepresentation of women in tech and science fields, fostering a new generation of female innovators who are passionate about sustainability.
PEEP's role in Girls Go STEM involves outreach and educational expertise in Portugal and other countries where we have networks. We help adapt content to different languages and contexts, engage schools to enrol students in the programme, and ensure the learning experiences are high-quality. Already, the project has made great strides – over 80,000 students have participated in over 1,000 schools across over 30 countries. Participants complete fun, challenge-based modules and then often take part in hackathons and innovation competitions where they apply their new knowledge. The initiative not only increases digital skills but has side benefits: teachers report that it has improved students' confidence and interest in STEM classes, and many have gone on to win science fair prizes or start coding clubs.
Impact Highlight: The platform has programmes available in 24+ languages. PEEP is excited to continue supporting this effort, ensuring that geography or gender is no barrier to benefiting from the digital transition.
Check out the Girls Go STEM website (https://eit-girlsgostem.eu/) to join this movement in Europe with lots of free resources and educational opportunities.
Building a European Entrepreneurial Learning Community. EntreComp Synergies (2021–2023) ( https://entrecomp.com/synergies/ ) was an initiative of the European Union aimed at creating synergies among different projects and stakeholders working on entrepreneurial learning and the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) (https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/entrecomp-entrepreneurship-competence-framework_en).
As a project partner in EntreComp Synergies, PEEP worked alongside organisations like Bantani Education and ALL Digital to connect the dots between various entrepreneurship education efforts across Europe. This project was about collaboration and scale: breaking silos, sharing best practices, and championing successful approaches so that entrepreneurial education can reach more people in more effective ways.
In EntreComp Synergies, PEEP contributed our on-the-ground experience from programmes like YouthStart and Entrepreneurship4All to the wider community. We helped organise workshops, webinars, and “communities of practice” that brought together educators, policymakers, and trainers from across sectors (schools, universities, vocational training, youth organisations, etc.).
Key outcomes of EntreComp Synergies included: a series of online communities of practice focused on themes (like digital skills, green economy, women and girls in entrepreneurship), an EntreComp Champions awards scheme to recognise and network exemplary projects, and a published EntreComp Guide to Action for systemic impact.
PEEP co-authored parts of this guide, offering insights on how to implement policy experiments and evaluations in the field of entrepreneurship education.
By the end of the project, a sustainable community network was established, which PEEP remains a part of. This means that even beyond the project’s official end, we continue to collaborate with peers to drive forward entrepreneurial skills development Europe-wide.
Boosting Blue Economy & Entrepreneurship in Southern Africa. ProFishBlue stands for Programme for Improving Fisheries Governance and Blue Economy Trade Corridors in the SADC Region. It is a major development initiative sponsored by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Development Bank and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). PEEP was proud to serve as a key implementing partner – specifically as UNIDO’s Master Trainer for the entrepreneurship and capacity-building components.
Scope: ProFishBlue spanned 6 countries in Southern Africa – Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Madagascar, and Tanzania – to strengthen the “blue economy” (sustainable use of ocean and aquatic resources) and improve trade along fisheries value chains. The project recognised that, alongside infrastructure and policy support, building human and institutional capacity was critical. This is where PEEP’s expertise came in.
PEEP’s Role: We designed and delivered a series of Masterclasses, coaching sessions, and workshops aimed at two main groups: local Business Development Institutions (BDIs) (such as government agencies, fisheries institutes, and entrepreneur support centres) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. Using the HP Foundation’s HP LIFE entrepreneurship training platform as a tool, our team provided training on entrepreneurship, business planning, digital skills, and sustainable aquaculture practices. We trained BDI officers to become better advisors and trainers for small businesses, and we directly mentored many SME owners on improving and scaling their ventures.
Impact: Through ProFishBlue, PEEP helped to strengthen entrepreneurial and digital capacity among dozens of institutions and hundreds of entrepreneurs across the SADC region. Participants learned how to draft business plans for fish farming, how to use digital tools for marketing and accounting, and ways to innovate in producing fish products sustainably. The project also had a strong focus on inclusion: we promoted engagement of women and youth-led enterprises in the fisheries sector, ensuring they received training and support.
A concrete success story from ProFishBlue is Chicoa Fish Farm in Mozambique. Chicoa, a commercial aquaculture farm on Lake Cahora Bassa, became a hub for training and supporting local small-scale fish farmers. With PEEP’s assistance, Chicoa and similar enterprises in Zimbabwe and Zambia formed the Mvuvi Network – a regional model linking fish farmers, improving access to inputs like fingerlings and feed, and facilitating cross-border knowledge exchange.
This network has started to enhance regional trade in the fish sector (for example, Mozambican farmers selling to Zambian markets, etc.), fulfilling the “trade corridor” vision of the project. Additionally, by boosting local fish production, the initiative contributes to food security and nutrition in a region where protein is much needed.
ProFishBlue’s legacy is seen in stronger local institutions (BDIs now have new training curricula and ongoing programmes for entrepreneurs), sustainable businesses that continue to grow (some fish farms expanded production by 50% after implementing business improvements from our trainings), and ongoing regional cooperation (the stakeholders we connected continue to meet and collaborate).
For PEEP, this project exemplifies how we apply our model outside Europe – adapting to the development context, working closely with international agencies, and leaving behind empowered communities. It also highlights our commitment to the green transition: supporting sustainable aquaculture means protecting the environment while creating jobs.
Building the first continent-wide evidence base on savings groups.
SG4Africa is a pioneering research consortium co-coordinated by PEEP and the University of Johannesburg. It is the first continent-wide collaborative study of savings groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, involving research teams in 26 countries.
The initiative connects local researchers, institutions, and communities to produce the first comparable, comprehensive statistics on savings groups across Africa – creating an “encyclopaedia” of savings group practices by country.
PEEP’s Role: As an accredited NGO for Development (ONG-D), PEEP served as international coordinator, providing methodological guidance, quality assurance, and evaluation support. PEEP also ensured capacity building by training local country coordinators and research teams, embedding sustainable research skills for future monitoring.
Research Dimensions: The project studied savings groups through five critical lenses:
Impact: SG4Africa produced the first comparable continent-wide dataset on savings groups, filling a major evidence gap in development policy. It strengthened networks of African researchers and provided insights for governments, donors, and NGOs to design policies that better support women, youth, and entrepreneurs engaged in community finance. Dissemination events were planned with partners such as the African Development Bank, African Union, and regional universities.
Why It Matters: Savings groups are a cornerstone of financial inclusion and community development in Africa, particularly for women and low-income households. SG4Africa demonstrated how policy experimentation and research coordination can elevate local practices to the continental stage, influencing both African and international development strategies.
Bringing clean, reliable water to a rural community in Guinea-Bissau through evidence-based development and local partnership.
The Tabanca Dana Water Project is a comprehensive water infrastructure initiative serving a rural agricultural community in Guinea-Bissau's interior. Phase 1 will construct three strategically positioned wells to provide year-round access to clean water for approximately 75 people across 15 families, addressing critical challenges in health, education, and economic productivity.
PEEP's Role: As project lead and funding coordinator, PEEP applies its core methodology of evidence-based policy experimentation with rigorous monitoring and evaluation. Drawing on experience in community-led development across Lusophone Africa since 2010, PEEP conducted multi-year needs assessments, built authentic community relationships, and designed interventions specifically calibrated to Tabanca Dana's needs and capacities. PEEP partnered with TESE—Associação para o Desenvolvimento for technical implementation, leveraging their proven expertise in Guinea-Bissau water infrastructure.
Project Components:
Impact: The €5,000 Phase 1 investment addresses the foundational constraint limiting all other development progress in Tabanca Dana. Reliable clean water access will reduce waterborne illness, enable consistent school attendance (especially for girls), free women's time for economic activities, support agricultural productivity, and create the enabling infrastructure for future improvements. Construction scheduled for April-May 2026 ensures optimal conditions for safe excavation and long-term functionality.
Why It Matters: Water infrastructure represents the most fundamental development intervention—the prerequisite for progress in health, education, gender equity, and economic opportunity. This project exemplifies people-to-people solidarity translating development principles into concrete action, proving that rigorous methodology and authentic community partnership can deliver measurable impact in resource-constrained environments.
Learn more: Full project story and details
(Beyond the above, PEEP has engaged in various other projects and partnerships, such as policy advisory for government programmes, research studies, and smaller pilots. For brevity, we have highlighted the most prominent projects. We invite you to contact us for a full list or to discuss how our experience can be applied to new challenges.)
In All Our Projects: PEEP plays flexible roles – from coordinator to evaluator to technical expert – but in each, we ensure that innovation is coupled with evaluation. We deliver not just activities but learning and evidence that remain long after the project.
Our projects often become templates for larger programmes or are replicated by others, magnifying their impact. Each success also adds to PEEP’s toolbox of proven approaches, which we can customise and deploy for new partners.
