W20 Series: Digital Equity for Women’s Economic Agency in the EU – Volume 2

A Successful Footprint for Increasing Digital Skills and Tech Entrepreneurship Among Women

By Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, Head of W20 EU Delegation 

(Originally published on the Sasakawa Peace Foundation website in English and Japanese)

W20 Series – Special Feature on Digital and Reskilling
The G20’s official engagement group Women 20 (W20) has identified the gender digital divide as one of its key challenges and has included it in its policy recommendations to G20 countries. While there are concerns that the accelerating pace of technological advancement in recent years will further widen the gender digital divide, initiatives to close the gender digital divide have started around the world by utilizing digital technologies and reskilling. As a spin-off of the feature articles of W20 Series which introduce works and activities of the W20 and its delegates, this series will showcase the case studies of empowering women through digital technologies and reskilling women in the G20 countries. 
 (W20 India Website: https://w20india.org/)

Following on from the previous article, “W20 Series: Digital Equity for Women’s Economic Agency in the European Union Vol. 1“, this article introduces specific initiatives being organised in the European Union to improve women’s digital skills.

The Digital Leadership Institute, a Brussels-based nonprofit I founded in 2014 with the mission of promoting inclusive digital transformation, has benefitted from such EU funding schemes in order to deliver innovative and award-winning programs that increase participation of girls and women in “ESTEAM”—or “entrepreneurship and arts powered by STEM”—and that contribute to women’s economic agency as professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders across the board. 代替テキストを入力 / Enter alternate text

We4Change aims to connect girls and women for environemntal change with digital and innovation (Source: DLI)Over the past ten years, DLI programs have positively impacted tens of thousands of girls and women across Europe and beyond, and have advanced the state of the art for practices that are successful at promoting digital entrepreneurship and leadership by women, many that DLI was first to identify. These initiatives include the Ada Awards, international awards recognising outstanding girls and women in digital research and careers and their supporting people and organisations; We4Change, a project that aims to contribute to the EU Youth Strategy by empowering young girls and women with digital and innovation skills, to have an active role in addressing the challenges posed by climate change; inQube, a global network promoting women-led, digitally-driven and digitally-enabled enterprises with the “Move It Forward” flagship female digital starter events; Digital Muse, a European network promoting ‘STEM-powered entrepreneurship and the arts’ for girls (Digital Muse); Digital Brusselles, Europe’s first female tech incubator; and Cypro, a cyber professional training and career placement program for women.  Of those noted, Move It Forward and Cypro especially embody best practices to attract girls and women to digital fields.代替テキストを入力 / Enter alternate text

Move It Forward (MIF) supports female entrepreneurs (Source: DLI)Move It Forward (“MIF”) is the flagship event of DLI’s inQube platform promoting women tech starters. It is a two-day project-driven entrepreneurship event for teen and adult women of all skill levels with the aim of supporting them to become technology entrepreneurs. MIF provides beneficiaries the mission, tools, community, resources and know-how to deliver tech and tech-enabled solutions for challenges that disproportionately impact girls and women and their communities.  Each MIF event includes digital skills trainings, project work and pitching, networking with community members and partners, and recognition and awards that take the form of mentorship and long-term support for projects launched.

In 2020, Move It Forward was the subject of a European Commission-funded program that also delivered an open-source “MIF+ Toolkit” in order to permit other organisations around the world to benefit from the approach, materials and best-practices assembled over a decade of successfully deploying the MIF initiative. By 2023, Move It Forward had been delivered in twenty-five countries, reaching over twelve-hundred participants and launching more than two hundred women-led tech startups, about fifty of which are ongoing.代替テキストを入力 / Enter alternate text

Cypro Nurtures Professional Women in IT (Source: DLI)In addition, in 2017, DLI piloted the Cypro (“Cyber Professional”) training and career placement program whose mission is to educate and matriculate women with five or more years of non-technical work experience into expert roles within IT organisations. After completing a preliminary training period, Cypro beneficiaries join a company as paid IT associates through an on-the-job training/apprenticeship program that lasts up to three years. During this time, participants also spend a percentage of their workweek pursuing IT certification programs through DLI and its partners, AWS, Cisco, Oracle et al., in emerging technology fields that align with their job role, including software development, cybersecurity, cloud computing, IoT, big data, machine learning, AI, etc.  Over the course of the Cypro program, DLI also delivers mentorship and community activities for beneficiaries, as well as staffing, evaluation, advancement and DEI support toward client IT organisations. 

In its first year, ninety women of diverse backgrounds took part in the Brussels Cypro pilot and completed a Cisco IT Fundamentals bootcamp and AWS Associate trainings. Half were awarded IT certifications, twenty-five percent became Trainer certified, and to date, five percent have become full-time employed with IT organisations. During Covid, Cypro was put on hold and is now being relaunched in collaboration with Amazon Web Services as an official part of their European re/Start program.

Initiatives like Move It Forward and Cypro are successful because they embody best practices to attract and retain girls and women in technology fields. Like all DLI programs, MIF and Cypro explicitly target girls and women as beneficiaries, addressing an underlying negative attitude girls and women sometimes harbour toward STEM, especially Technology, and entrepreneurship.  These programs also deliver gender-responsive digital skills trainings, meaning that program design and delivery address factors that specifically ensure success for girl and women program participants. In addition, Cypro delivers skills in deep and emerging tech fields, while MIF teaches key digital skills that are usable in startup and workplace environments.

Move It Forward Team-building (Source: DLI)

Gathering at Digital Muse Event (Source: DLI)

For long-term sustainability, we focus on building community around all DLI activities, which is perhaps the single-most important factor in achieving a more inclusive digital transformation over the long-term. MIF and Cypro also focus on providing access to mentorship and resources, including financing and startup advice, which connects program participants to a larger ecosystem.  Finally, a major barrier to women making the transition into tech fields is that they cannot necessarily undertake effort that either involves a financial outlay and/or represents unpaid work—thus reflecting in their lower participation in tech bootcamps, startup weekends, skills trainings, etc.  DLI programs therefore offer scholarships to participants, prioritise remunerated training and apprenticeship opportunities, and support job placement and/or business launch and scaling in order to shorten the path toward financial independence for program participants. This also represents a critical success factor in getting women into and keeping them in technology fields.

Unfortunately, work like the foregoing is difficult and successes far too few. Despite an increase in European programs that support work that tackles underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM at ecosystem, capacity-building and grass roots levels, negative trends have not reversed over the past decade. DLI’s own successes especially have been limited, most notably by a lack of sustained funding to support continued effort on our critical path, and by an inability for us to scale successes across broader geographies. In the case of Cypro, the very barriers to entry that keep women out of the tech sector are also those that DLI has encountered in sustaining the program and followup action to ensure participant success.

Replicating and scaling innovative initiatives, like those that DLI leads, is not an unusual challenge in Europe, a geography of 550 million people speaking dozens of languages across almost thirty sovereign countries.  At the same time, a persistent lack of funding for programs promoting gender equity, including in STEM, is a symptom of institutionalised discrimination across all fields that also manifests as a lack of policy priority-setting on such issues. Public sector leadership in this context is critical, however, because it also stimulates private sector uptake of approaches to promote gender parity, and thereby engenders a virtuous circle of action tackling problems like the gender digital divide.代替テキストを入力 / Enter alternate text

Gender digital divide addressed at W20 summit (Source: W20 India)

In her 2023 State of the European Union speech, European Commission President Von der Leyen highlighted EU policies that support greater participation of girls and women in STEM sectors, especially tech, which include broad-sweeping digital skilling, some that targeted underserved demographics, as well as programs promoting women entrepreneurs.
 

These actions, along with global leadership like the W20’a ongoing work to close the Digital Gender Divide and recent W20 India breakthrough to institutionalise a Women’s Empowerment Working Group at the G20 level, give us room to be optimistic about what the future will bring on this critical subject.

Author’s Profile

Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck is Director of the Brussels-based Digital Leadership Institute, Head of EU Delegation to the G20 Women20, and Chair of the Education, Skills Development and Labour Force Participation Task Force, 2023 G20 India Women20.

W20 Series: Digital Equity for Women’s Economic Agency in the EU – Volume 1

Lessons from the EU on Closing the Digital Gender Divide

By Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, Head of W20 EU Delegation 

(Originally published on the Sasakawa Peace Foundation website in English and Japanese)


W20 Series – Special Feature on Digital and Reskilling
The G20’s official engagement group Women 20 (W20) has identified the gender digital divide as one of its key challenges and has included it in its policy recommendations to G20 countries. While there are concerns that the accelerating pace of technological advancement in recent years will further widen the gender digital divide, initiatives to close the gender digital divide have started around the world by utilizing digital technologies and reskilling. As a spin-off of the feature articles of W20 Series which introduce works and activities of the W20 and its delegates, this series will showcase the case studies of empowering women through digital technologies and reskilling women in the G20 countries. 
 (W20 India Website: https://w20india.org/)

In this article, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, Head of W20 EU Delegation and Director of the Brussels-based Digital Leadership Institute that promotes women’s empowerment using digital technologies, will introduce EU initiatives in two parts. In Vol. 1, the importance of bridging the digital divide and the EU government policies are discussed, which is followed by Vol. 2, which will feature the specific initiatives for digital reskilling being conducted in the EU.

A Worldwide Phenomenon of the Digital Disruption

Anywhere in the world today, a woman is:
  • Less likely to be online;
  • More likely to have low or no digital skills;
  • Much less likely to be an IT professional; and
  • Far less likely to launch a technology-driven startup.

As a result of the foregoing, women are at greater risk of being excluded by the digital disruption that has transformed society—a situation exacerbated by climate change, pandemics, geopolitical disruption, and economic uncertainty. This reality poses a great risk to women’s financial independence, economic resilience more generally, and to sustainable development.

Percentage of female and male population using the Internet, 2020 (Source: ITU)

A key characteristic of the digital disruption which cuts across geographic locations and socio-economic conditions is that, no matter where she is in the world, a woman is less likely to be online than a man. Of the Earth’s 7.8 billion human population as of 2020, women make up fifty-seven percent and men sixty-two percent of people who are online, reflecting 234 million fewer women online overallDespite a surge in online participation during the COVID pandemic, the rate at which women go online continues to lag behind.  This ubiquitous and persistent trend represents the digital divide compounded by the gender gap which, without focused effort to address it, risks deepening. This global phenomenon is recognised as the gender digital divide.

In countries where digitalisation has a firmer hold, women are still less likely to have digital skills, take up formal computer science and other STEM studies, or hold technical and leadership roles in IT organizations. Globally, the founder of a technology-driven enterprise is five times more likely to be a man than a woman, and in many places, the ratio is closer to ten-to-one. In addition to the yawing social divide this reality reflects, it also represents a loss for the global economy and for women themselves who are unable to fully realise their potential as economic agents in an increasingly digital society.代替テキストを入力 / Enter alternate text

The UN reported that bringing women and girls online could boost global GDP. (Source: ITU)

In 2013, the UN reported that bringing 600 million women and girls online could boost global GDP by up to $18B. A European study in 2018 suggests that greater participation of women in the ICT sector would contribute as much as €16B annually to the European economy alone. Especially as a response to the COVID-induced “She-cession,” action to tackle the gender digital divide presents an opportunity to improve women’s economic agency, address the digital skills and job gap, and promote sustainable development.

As a path out of economic adversity, women everywhere turn to entrepreneurship, making women-led enterprise one of the most dynamic facets of the global economy, although it is not a consistent policy priority. GEM research in 2019 indicates that $5T would be added to the world’s economy if women participated in entrepreneurship at the same rate as men. The COVID pandemic disproportionately impacted women—forcing millions out of the workplace, many permanently. In response, entrepreneurship is and will continue to be a key factor in sustaining financial independence for women and supporting economic recovery.

In the digital society, economic participation is increasingly linked to skills that support both digitally-enabled and digitally-driven entrepreneurship, where women face a de facto disadvantage in both areas. A lack of digital skills to build, launch and manage enterprises, including in online marketplaces and supply chains, creates a persistent barrier to entry for women seeking to participate as entrepreneurs in the digital economy. A lack of specialised digital skills, including as experts in academia and industry, further limits the ability of women to contribute as innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs and leaders in the digital society. The uptake of artificial intelligence, and the inherent risk it poses to intensifying social inequities, can further amplify this problem.

The Policy and Measures of the EU to Bridge the Digital Gap

On March 5, 2020, Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman President of the European Commission, launched the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 whose key objectives include closing gender gaps in the labour market and achieving equal participation between women and men across all sectors of the economy. In January 2023, the Digital Decade for Europe 2030 policy went into force which explicitly aims to close the gender gap among IT specialists as a key driver for achieving the twin digital and green transitions in Europe.

President Ursula von der Leyen launced the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025. (Source: The European Union)

Increasing participation of women in digital fields is thus prioritised as a contributor to achieving the European Green Deal which, among other things, aims to make Europe a net-zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050.  This priority has also set off a cascading set of programming and policy actions in Europe to tackle inequalities related to skills, care and other issues that might otherwise constrain women from enjoying full economic agency and fairly contributing to the digital society.

In this context, during her recently concluded mission as EU Commissioner for Research, Mariya Gabriel instituted several ground-breaking changes to the €95.5B Horizon Europe funding scheme which aim to increase gender equality across the European Research Area (ERA), and thus in STEM fields and startup.  These include a focus on gender balance among Horizon Europe research program evaluators, advisory bodies and researchers; and targets for women-led companies and advisory structures within entrepreneurship programs, a dedicated initiative to support women-led startups, and a women innovators prize.

EU Commissioner for Research, Mariya Gabriel initiated to increase gender equality across the European Research Area. (Source: The European Union)

Leadership like the foregoing is essential to achieving digital equity and improved economic agency for women in Europe because EU multi-annual financial framework (MFF) funding schemes, like Horizon Europe, underwrite countless EU member state activities that contribute to increased participation of women in STEM and startup.  MFF and other funding programs such as ERASMUS+, which specifically supports the European entrepreneurship ecosystem, contribute critical funding for EU civil society-led digital skills and startup programs, many of which aim to increase gender equality in technology fields, including entrepreneurship.

All together, the policy, funding and program-delivery ecosystem in the European Union has become increasingly successful at programming like the foregoing which promotes digital equity for women’s economic agency, contributes to financial independence for women, and makes inroads on the sustainable development goals and other global challenges.  This approach deserves replication, all or in part, because it contributes to:

  •     Reducing the risk of marginalisation posed to women by digital disruption;

  •     Addressing the global digital skills and job gaps;

  •     Supporting a pathway to increased workforce participation and entrepreneurship by women;

  •     Harnessing the creative capacity of women for sustainable economic development; and

  •     Promoting women’s full economic, social and political agency.

In the following article, “W20 Series: Digital Equity for Women’s Economic Agency in the European Union Vol. 2” will feature the specific initiatives of digital reskilling in the EU. 

Author’s Profile

Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck is Director of the Brussels-based Digital Leadership Institute, Head of EU Delegation to the G20 Women20, and Chair of the Education, Skills Development and Labour Force Participation Task Force, 2023 G20 India Women20.

SAVE THE DATE: Awareness raising on sexually related online risks

In an era where digital interactions play a significant role in our lives, it’s crucial to be informed and understand potential online threats. Join us 15th December for a 2h engaging and informative online workshop on sexting, sextortion and non consensual intimate image abuse, where we will elaborate on the nature of these trends, identify their consequences on the victims and propose measures to deal with them.

What you will get out of this workshop:

  • Become aware of different online threat types
  • Understand how a harassments case is set in order to recognise its signs early on
  • Learn the coping mechanises and responding strategies

The workshop is organised in the framework of the Erasmus + OnSafe project which focuses at equipping young people and teenagers with the necessary knowledge, skills and tools to prevent being exposed to sexually related online risks and threats, through the development, piloting and implementation of a series of interactive workshops.

First Women STEM UP Newsletter

The Women STEM UP project, which started in November 2022, aims at tackling a key challenge related to the persistent gender gap in STEM higher education i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; and consequently, in the labour market. STEM graduates are in high demand in the labour market and STEM jobs are among the most highly paid. The project has just published its first newsletter portraying the work done so far.

Check out the the project’s work done to understand students’ and teachers’ experiences regarding gender in STEM and the development of the first training prototype!

Enhancing Online Safety for Young People: Join the Onsafe Project

Join the OnSafe Project by DLI to address sexually related online risks. We invite young people aged 13-35 to participate in our anonymous survey, helping us to identify training needs and enhance online safety.

Why Participate?

1. Identify training needs: Assess your knowledge and help tailor educational programs for specific needs.

2. Anonymity and confidentiality: Your identity will remain anonymous, and data will be securely stored for the project’s purposes.

3. Make a difference: Contribute to a safer digital space, foster responsible digital citizenship, and empower future generations.

How to Get Involved:

1. Visit the survey link and choose your language: Take the survey in English or in French.

2. Spread the word: Encourage others aged 13-35 to participate and help gather valuable insights.

Your participation in the Onsafe Project survey contributes to a safer online environment. Join us today to empower young individuals and promote responsible digital behavior. Together, we can create a safer digital space for all.

Unleashing Digital Potential: DLI Embarks on a Thrilling Journey as a Founding Member of GLIDES!

We are thrilled to announce that the Digital Leadership Institute (DLI) has become a founding member of GLIDES (Global Internet Governance, Digital Empowerment, and Security Alliance). This partnership, launched May 13th, 2023, marks an exciting milestone in our ongoing commitment to shaping the future of the digital world.

GLIDES is a collaborative initiative that brings together Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from various sectors to address critical issues in internet governance, digital empowerment, and cybersecurity. As a founding member of GLIDES, DLI joins forces with renowned industry leaders, advocacy groups, academic institutions, and governmental bodies. Together, we will work towards the development of inclusive policies, innovative solutions, and robust frameworks that ensure the security, accessibility, and empowerment of individuals and communities in the digital age.

The core focus areas of GLIDES include:

  1. Internet Governance: GLIDES will actively contribute to shaping policies and frameworks that govern the internet, ensuring openness, transparency, and accountability.
  2. Digital Empowerment: GLIDES aims to bridge the digital divide by promoting digital literacy, skills development, and inclusion, particularly among underserved communities.
  3. Cybersecurity: GLIDES will advocate for robust cybersecurity measures, promote best practices, and raise awareness about the importance of digital security for individuals, organizations, and nations.

DLI’s participation in GLIDES underscores our commitment to driving positive change in the digital ecosystem. We are excited to collaborate with other like-minded organizations and leverage our collective expertise to shape the digital future. Together, we can build a more inclusive, secure, and empowered digital world for all.

Stay tuned for updates on our collaborative initiatives with GLIDES and the impactful work we undertake together. 

To learn more about GLIDES and its founding members, please visit https://c20.amma.org/tst-wg/global-internet-governance-digital-empowerment-and-security-alliance-glides/.

Join us in celebrating this significant milestone and let us work together to shape the digital world we want to see!

#GLIDES #DigitalEmpowerment #InternetGovernance #Cybersecurity #DLI

DLI President Represents EU at G20 Women20 Summit

Today in Mahabalipuram, India, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, DLI President in her ex officio role as Head of EU Delegation to the G20 Women20 (W20) official engagement group, joined the Women20 Summit concluding event of the 2023 W20 India Presidency.

In her third on-site mission to India in 2023, Ms Miller Van Dÿck joined hundreds of international W20 delegates in celebrating release of official W20 India recommendations delivered to G20 leadership on behalf of the world’s girls and women.  In this context, the W20 India Communiqué 2023 was officially handed over by Dr. Sandhya Purecha, Chair of India W20 2023, to Shri Amitabh Kant, G20 India Sherpa, in the presence of Smt. Smriti Z. Irani, India Minister of Women and Child Development, Dr. Shamika Ravi, Member, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, and Mr. Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator for India. 

In addition to representing EU feminist civil society toward the W20 for the sixth consecutive year, over the course of 2023, Ms. Miller Van Dÿck also had the honour of chairing the W20 India Taskforce on Education, Skills Development and Labourforce Participation. In this capacity, she led global W20 delegates to contribute expertise on these issues critical to the world’s girls and women, resulting in inclusion of the following language in the 2023 India W20 Communique:

Education is a human right. For peaceful, equitable, and prosperous societies, it is necessary to educate girls and women. The economic contributions of women must be appropriately recognized, rewarded and supported through measures that promote decent and predictable work, gender-equitable sharing of care responsibilities, strengthening public social infrastructures, and a guarantee of freedom from gender-based violence everywhere.

Specific Recommendations from the Skills Taskforce, as well as those for all five W20 India Priorities, may be found in the 2023 W20 Communiqué

Join our Women in AI workshop aiming to reduce the tech gap!

Are you passionate about AI and technology? Don’t miss out on an incredible opportunity to enhance your knowledge, network with industry professionals, and empower yourself at our upcoming Women in AI workshop in collaboration with CollectiveUp! This interactive event is designed for anyone seeking to reduce the gender gap in the tech industry, and for women seeking to thrive in the fast-paced world of AI and technology. We encourage you to learn from accomplished women leaders in AI and technology as they share their insights, experiences, and career advice.

Event Details:
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Time: 5:30 – 9pm CEST
Location: FARI AI for the Common Good Institute 16 Cantersteen 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

Our Women in AI workshop is an evening filled with inspiring talks, engaging panel discussions, and demonstrations that will equip you with the knowledge and resources to excel in your AI and tech journey, and more!

Join us and let’s bridge the tech gap together!

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/633230378107/

ATHENA Project Final Conference : Entrepreneurship as a path to socio-economic inclusion of migrant women

On the 16th of March 2023 Athena project partners organize the final project conference on the topic of “Entrepreneurship as a path to socio-economic inclusion of migrant women” to present and discuss with European stakeholders and policy makers the project results including the policy recommendations and actions plans to be implemented to support and improve the inclusion of migrant women entrepreneurs.

The event will hybrid (in presence and online) and simultaneously translated to German and Spanish.

Agenda

The event will be moderated by Ms Katja Legisa, Entrepreneurship Director at the Digital Leadership Institute

9:30h – 10:00h Registration

10:00h – 10:15h Introduction & Welcome

  • Mr Stefano Mallia, President of the Employers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee
  • Mr Pablo Morales, Coordinator of the Athena project, Chamber of Commerce of Seville

10:15h – 11:00h – Athena Project outcomes and findings:

11:00h – 11:30h Coffee break

11:30h – 12:30h – Expert panel discussion 1: Policy priorities for the inclusion of migrant women entrepreneurs

What actions should the EU take to facilitate the integration of migrant women entrepreneurs? Policy recommendations from the experts and ATHENA project

Moderated by Ms Cheryl Novak, Research Associate at the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy

  • Ms Maria-Helena De Felipe, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee and Spokesperson of the SMEs category

12:30h – 14:00h – Networking lunch

14:00h – 14:45h – Expert panel discussion 2: Opportunities or obstacles? Recommendations addressing the challenges faced by migrant women entrepreneurs

What steps should be taken and by which stakeholders in order to facilitate the financial and legal integration of new migrant women entrepreneurs?

  • Ms Mamen Soria, Entrepreneurship expert at the Chamber of Commerce of Seville
  • Ms Loubna Azghoud, Expert in digital economy, gender equality and entrepreneurship strategy
  • Ms Siham Zarkan, Project Manager at SheDIDIT
  • Ms Tina Marquart, consultant at Jumpp Ihr Sprungbrett in die Selbständigkeit, Frauenbetriebe e. V.
  • Ms Rosy Cascella, Camera di Commercio Bari – Progetto Futurae

14:45h – 15:30h – Success stories of women entrepreneurs

Moderated by Ms Loredana Bucseneanu, Development Director at the Digital Leadership Institute

  • Ms Sofiia Shevchuk, Founder of VONA, Consultant, Researcher and Project Manager in Climate, Gender and Security
  • Ms Magna Solange Dos Santos , Entrepreneur in the hospitality sector
  • Ms Albina Savciuc, Entrepreneur in the sustainable jewellery sector
  • Ms Viviana Santana, Entrepreneur in external services to hotels
  • Blessing Ayomonsuru, Entrepreneur in trading ethnic food products

15:30h – 16:00h – AMIF future opportunities Focus group

Moderated by Mr Pablo Morales, Coordinator of the Athena project, Chamber of Commerce of Seville

  • Mr Juan Guerrero Caballero – General Manager and Head of the Department of International R& D Projects at INCOMA
  • Ms Ursula Hoenich – Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission
  • Ms Carmela Cotrone – Policy Expert

16:00 – 16:15 Closing of the conference

Please note that registration is mandatory for attending the event: https://www.eventbrite.be/e/entrepreneurship-as-a-path-to-socio-economic-inclusion-of-migrant-women-tickets-535756521177. Your personal data will be shared with the European Economic and Social Committee Visitors Office in order to grant you access to the building on the day of the event.

The event is organized with the support of the Employers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee .

For more info about the project visit www.athenaproject.net and the Facebook and Instagram page.

Thank you to the We4Change partners and community!

Copyright: Empow’Her France

28th of February 2023 marked the official closure of the project “We4Change: Girls and Women Connecting for Environmental Change” aimed at engaging, connecting and empowering young girls and women with digital and innovation skills, increase civic engagement and unlock their changemaking potential to engage in society and have an active role in addressing the challenges posed by climate change.

Over the past two years, partners Digital Leadership Institute (BE), Stimmuli for Social Change (GR), Empow’Her (FR), TEKEDU (MD) and ZERO (PT) have worked together to achieve this mission and had the following results:

  • The We4Change Changemakers Event Curriculum: a series of educational materials to serve as examples of workshops that can be organized during a We4Change Changemakers Event to develop the skills promoted by the project: digital, social innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership and environmental awareness skills. It includes the specific methodology to prepare each workshop, but also other elements that can be used when organizing a Changemakers Event, such as working with mentors and coaches, and information on the practicalities of organizing the events. The curriculum can be downloaded for free in five languages: English, French, Greek, Portuguese and Romanian.
  • Handbook for Trainers and Youth Workers on Running a Successful We4Change Changemakers Event: complementing the curriculum, this handbook aims to support trainers and youth workers – including those that may have never applied before gender mainstreaming tools – to organize effectively a We4Change Changemakers Event, to drive active citizenship and empower girls and young women with digital and environmental awareness skills to become the future changemakers of their community. It introduces the guiding principles of the We4Change concept, values and philosophy, describes the competences that trainers and youth workers, as well as participants will apply for the different activities, and includes all practical information needed to organize a successful We4Change Changemakers Event. The handbook can be downloaded for free in five languages: English, French, Greek, Portuguese and Romanian.
  • Partners organized a We4Change “Train the Trainers” workshop in March 2022 training over 30 youth workers to apply the We4Change principles and methodology to run a successful Changemakers Event in their communities.
  • Partners organized a total of 14 We4Change Changemakers Events in their countries, with more than 100 girls and young women participating, to inspire them to ideate and design collectively solutions to problems encountered in their environments with the support of other stakeholders from the local communities.
  • Each partner organized a dissemination event to share about the results of the project and discuss how other stakeholders can use them to achieve the project’s objective.

All the results can be found and downloaded for free on the project website: http://we4change.eu/.

Thank you to the partners, stakeholders, girls and young women for participating to the project activities during the past two years, and supporting us to be changemakers for a sustainable future! Thank you also to the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for the support to make this international collaboration possible!