WOMENBRIDGES
Brief information about the project
Name: WomenBridges – Connecting opportunities for young women
Duration: 12 months (1.03.2022-1.3.2023)
Program: Erasmus + of the European Union
Contract No: 2021 -2-BG01-KA210-YOU-000049145
Funding: 60,000 euros
Coordinator: IMPACT DRIVE Foundation
Partners:
– Soziale Zukunft – Verein zur Förderung der Integration behinderter Menschen (Jamba Austria), Austria
– Women Do Business , Greece
Target groups of the project
– youth workers and NGO teams (including trainers, career counselors, social workers, mediators, etc.) working with girls and women in the age range (18-30) who are interested in working with young people from vulnerable groups, with a focus on girls and women in disadvantaged situations and who have interest in working in the field of equality and human rights, economic empowerment, education and employment of persons from vulnerable groups, effective social inclusion in society, civic participation.
– the teams of the partners’ organizations.
An additional target group are representatives of the education sector and the sector of providing employment in business and the public sphere.
Connecting opportunities for young women
What is the purpose of the project?
The WomenBridges project is part of the big Impact Drive’s initiative momgotajob. It aims to launch our comprehensive approach to achieving economic independence and at the same time a healthy balance between women’s careers and personal lives.
WomenBridges provides a comprehensive approach and concrete methodology to support the career paths of young women, especially those in vulnerable situations to achieving economic independence and employment. At the same time, it develops the competencies of youth workers and NGO teams in implementing this approach. We are validating the process with the pilot implementation of WomenBridges in the three EU partner countries – Bulgaria, Austria and Greece.
The long-term goal of WomenBridges is the effective inclusion of young women in public life by providing quality and balanced employment as entrepreneurs, self-employed or employees.
What activities are planned?
1: Exchange of expert and practical experience between the partners Impact Drive, Jamba Austria & Women Do Business. Joint analysis and search for sustainable models and forms for effective social inclusion and economic empowerment of young women
2: Thematic “Training of Trainers” for a pilot group of youth workers from partner countries to implement the WomenBridges program and disseminate it to their colleagues
3: Pilot program Local Bidges, which will provide and validate the WomenBridges program to final beneficiaries with specific initiatives at local level in Bulgaria, Austria and Greece
4: Development of a handbook with tools for implementing the WomenBridges program and sharing it with a wide range of professionals and youth workers.
What results do we expect?
Shared knowledge and resources between partners and accumulated common knowledge about approaches and models for economic empowerment and career support of young women, with a focus on women in vulnerable situations
Developed methodology for the WomenBridges program
Training of trainers for 18 youth workers from Bulgaria, Austria and Greece
Pilot activities of the WomenBridges program through Local Bridges
Involvement of education experts and employers
Evaluation and validation of WomenBridges
Development of a manual with tools for program implementation and promotion
Supporting career paths and work-life balance of women - Methodology Guide
The WomenBridges program provides:
Combined support (training, counseling, and mentoring) for women, in and out of the workplace to achieve work-life balance.
Support to women’s careers and bridge opportunities for better/quality employment in a work environment and life more rewarding and positive.
A human centered program to support women in developing their careers whether they want to enter or re-enter employment, or to do a professional change, be entrepreneurs, transform their hobby or idea into a business, or take their job to the next level to a senior role. All this in balance with the personal life.
The WomenBridges Methodology Guide explains how the WomenBridges program works and how it can help organizations and specialists to develop an exhaustive support system for the women they are working with in their communities, at the workplace or in the circle of family and friends.
Within this document the partners in the WomenBridges project provide a framework of methodological guidelines, practical tools, and resources for combined support (training, counseling and mentoring) to the target groups of women, in some cases directly at the workplace.
This guide provides process and recommendations, criteria and instruments to be directly used for enabling a network of Buddies (or the mentors) and starting providing services for the women in need. In this guide you will find how to:
Process the work
Select and enable buddies
Welcome and assess the needs of a mentee
Match the buddy with the women in need
Use support instruments and tools
Monitor, evaluate and support the process
Provide resources & network
Give case-sudies and recommendations
Women Bridges Methology Guide
Work-life balance Women Bridges event
