Reinforcing the competences and the entrepreneurial mindset of young women, contributing to skill a new generation of intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs and business owners operating in sustainable tourism and hospitality in Sub-Saharan African countries (SSA).
Context
Several challenges hinder the contribution of Vocational Education and Training (VET) to learners’ personal and professional development in SSA countries. This is particularly true for women, who often do not receive adequate education and training opportunities to develop the skills needed to succeed as entrepreneurs.
Tourism is a source of business opportunities in SSA but in order to tap this potential, VET trainers need to strengthen their knowledge and methods to design labour market-oriented training programmes. By doing this, the WITH project aims at reinforcing the entrepreneurial skills and mindset of young women in the sector of tourism and hospitality.
Objectives
- Support VET trainers and educators in improving and updating their practices to deliver training more in line with the labour market needs.
- Empower young women with the skills to succeed as intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs and business owners in the tourism and hospitality industry.
- Promote new training pathways and increase experiential learning opportunities through reinforced links between the VET system and the labour market in SSA countries.
- Raise awareness of sustainable tourism and hospitality, helping present and future entrepreneurs to be agents for sustainable development.
Activities
- Design of the WITH Competence Framework containing the skills necessary to succeed as entrepreneurs.
- Knowledge Bootcamp, a virtual peer-learning training aimed at empowering trainers and educators in SSA countries to support young women in their entrepreneurial journey;
- Delivery of the WITH Training Pathway to empower young women in SSA countries to become entrepreneurs in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
Resources
- Training Toolkit, a set of training materials to reinforce the professional development of trainers and educators in SSA countries.
- Handbook for trainers, a document containing instructions and tips for trainers supporting young women in SSA countries in further developing their entrepreneurial skills.
- Knowledge Virtual Centre, a virtual library of Open Educational Resources and training materials for boosting entrepreneurship education in SSA countries.
Impact
- 15 VET trainers enhanced their knowledge and competences in supporting young women to become entrepreneurs in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
- 50 young women from SSA countries improved their entrepreneurial skills and competences.
- Increased alignment of VET system and labour market in SSA countries.
- Strengthened collaboration at international (EU-SSA) level, geared towards the socioeconomic empowerment of young women in SSA.
Partners
- Cámara Oficial de Comercio, Industria, Servicios y Navegación de Sevilla (Spain, coordinator)
- INCOMA – International Consulting and Mobility Agency Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada (Spain)
- CESIE (Italy)
- Equip Consulting Group (Malawi)
- The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nigeria)
- Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (South Africa)
- Gift Women Link Foundation (Uganda)
