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Description
The project addresses the structural transformation of the digital labour market in which there are fewer women employed than men. Without redress, this digital gap will deteriorate, widening the gender inequality gap.
Our main objective is to develop the digital competences of young women who are at risk of exclusion from the labour market, thus improving their employability. Thanks to the multi-stakeholder partnership, we are able to implement the project in 7 EU countries: Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Spain. Our partners from Norway (The European Centre for Women) and Belgium (Digital Europe) use their expertise in the area of women and ICT jobs to support the programme, too.
This initiative focuses on broader community awareness of the importance of inclusion in the labour market, conclude innovative partnerships with employers, develop and make available to those interested a set of online tools for profiling, competence testing, training and placement of candidates on the labour market. Project partners are working together with stakeholders on developing 8 digital job profiles, profiling tool and training roadmaps, to initially train 700 young NEET women in piloting countries ensuring education, training, mentoring and support in job allocation.
So far, we profiled more than 10,000 young women in partner countries using the profiling tool available at digitaljobs.women4it.eu. Building a network of partnerships and alliances all over Europe and engaging businesses, organisations and other stakeholders, we raise awareness about digital skills and the gender gap, and at promoting concrete, innovative partnerships and solutions to increase the numbers of EU vulnerable girls and young women into the digital agenda.
Summary of project results
The Women4T project was built on the idea that generally women and especially those belonging to the NEET group face serious challenges regarding employment. This issue is even more striking in the ICT jobs sector because it has been demonstrated by research that NEET women are subject to gender-based stereotypes and discrimination and usually have lower levels of technical and digital literacy skills, lower confidence, as well as negative perceptions regarding ICTs. The Project addressed the following European-wide challenges:
- Youth unemployment
- ICT specialist gap in Europe
- Low involvement of women and girls in digital jobs and ICT professions.
The project approach included the following elements :
- Research for 8 job profiles
- Employer co-defined skills and digital competencies set
- Online profiling tool
- Personalized employability roadmaps
- Involving employers
- Intensive 160h online training
- 2 Folded Employment Toolkit (NEET women & Employers)
- Recognition of user training, skills and experience
- CV, Job application and onboarding support (mentoring) system
- Career support activities
- Individual & group mentoring
Women4IT has developed and proved the efficiency of a robust and well-built integrated employment pathway for women from NEET groups across 7 countries (Latvia, Spain, Greece, Malta, Lithuania, Ireland, and Romania). The project has reached its initial targets to provide training for a minimum of 900 young NEET women and improve the employability of over 650 women. The impact for young women results in improved education situation, awareness of the ICT sector and digital jobs, raised self-esteem, better employability situation and career change. It has also supported employers by showcasing solutions for the shortage of labour force; social responsibility and development of sustainable HR policies; diversity and gender inequality; awareness of the possibility of preparing employees for entry-level IT positions or digital jobs out of formal education. The innovative tools and solutions of the WOMEN4IT project are sustainable and can be used by other countries, and target groups and applied to different digital jobs profiles. They are available on the Project website: women4it.eu and the online platform digitaljobs.women4it.eu.
Our final thanks for making WOMEN4IT happen go to the Funding Organizations and all the people involved in supporting our journey in a multifaceted way from day one to the end on the 31st of January 2023.
Summary of bilateral results
The project has been very lucky to have ECWT ( European Centre for Women in Technology ) as the donor partner from Norway. ECWT has joined the project with considerable experience in regard to digital literacy and soft skills training of young people (especially women, and immigrants, ethnic minorities) for (re)entering the labour market as well as support to the same target group for enhancing their innovative capacity and starting up their own businesses and strengthening their use of ICT tools.The mission of the ECWT was fully in line with the project objectives. ECWT has been endorsed by the European e-Skills Association in 2009 as the leading European platform for women in ICT and the Digital Economy. ECWT has experience in participating in the annual e-skills for Jobs events, in the annual CodeWeek, and in the work of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition for safeguarding the gender dimension of European initiatives. ECWT was also a member of the Secretariat for the Grand Coalition for Jobs.ECWT has been the Expert Partner in the project with a proven track record of successful EEA and Norway Grants, ERASMUS+ and related HORIZON2020 projects in line with the focus of the Women4IT project.ECWT has supported partners by sharing good examples and being responsible for designing a set of tools, guiding partners in their selection of the tools and consolidating the project´s innovative solutions.ECWT has furthermore utilized its network for communicating and disseminating the project on the European level.ECWT has been suggesting, designing and coordinating the activities like WOMEN4IT Employability Award; Knowledge sharing exploitation seminars and Exploitation Plan, and the Dissemination approach.We believe that the cooperation with Donor Partner will continue after the end of the project. It will be within joint EU networks and initiatives ( CEPIS, Digital Skills and Jobs platform) as well as by designing possible joint projects and activities.