Erasmus+ training course “Wonder Women” (acronym WoW) took place in Kaunas, Lithuania on 27 October-4 November of 2018. The project aimed to create an environment for youth NGOs where they could develop various competences and tools aimed at leadership building, personal branding and entrepreneurial learning as main tools to empower women through youth work.
Inspiration of the project
The positive impact of having women leaders is widely recognised by several researches of the last decades. It’s demonstrated that companies with more women on board are more economically productive, while increasing the women role in politics makes institutions and policies more representative. Despite that, the underrepresentation of women in leading positions is still concerning. Youth organizations from Italy, UK, Spain, Greece, Poland and Lithuania gathered to play important role through awareness campaigns aimed at making the society recognize an equal status to women in the field of work and leadership and targeted initiatives such as workshops, trainings, support services aimed at building women self-confidence, leadership & entrepreneurial skills.
Objectives
To reach the key aim of the project, the following objectives have been set:
– Define the role of youth NGOs and youth workers and enhance their transversal skills in the field of women empowerment;
– Improve the quality of youth work by developing new tools and methods for women personal branding and leadership building;
– Share good practices of women empowerment in Europe and help youth NGOs and youth workers learn from each other;
– Raise public awareness about gender issues and women rights in Europe and promote the idea of women as strong, independent and capable member of the society.
Project’s Participants
30 youth workers from Lithuania, Poland, Italy, Greece, UK and Spain gathered in Kaunas to learn more about women empowerment. The project is designed for youth workers who have experience in working with women empowerment, leadership, gender issues and similar fields related to the project’s topic. The target participants are the ones who are willing to learn and further implement in practice how to empower women through their work with youth.
Project’s Activities
To achieve the goals and objectives of the project, a range of NFE methods created by the involved partner countries were employed. The main activities identified the benefits of youth participation in creating the means of spreading information about the idea to the public. Creativity, involvement and initiative of all the young people who participated were encouraged throughout the activities, which included:
– Info sessions through Treasure Hunt activities,
– World Café discussions and role games;
– Interactive workshops: – “My own attitude towards gender”,
– Case interactive analysis through Theatre of The Oppressed,
– Interactive workshops:
“How to swim with the sharks”,
“How to Empower Women through a social business?”, “Building influence: personal branding for your career”, ”How to create a social business: tips&tricks”,
– Guest Speaker session,
– Panel discussion,
– Country teams interactive workshops,
– Sharing best practices