Young Women As Job Creators

LAUNCHING OF THE PROJECT

The project Young Women as Job Creators, promoted by AFAEMME and endorsed by the 43 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), was officially launched on the 30th of April 2013 in Barcelona (for more information about the launching conference please click HERE).

It promotes self-employment and entrepreneurship among young women university students who are about to graduate from a university by implementing a series of activities.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT'S FIRST PHASE

In 2013 the project informed and motivated, through a series of "Women Entrepreneurship Days" and the provision of free business advise, at about 800 young women from 32 participating universities to become future successful businesswomen and employers.

Some outcomes of this first project phase have been presented as success stories during the UfM's Conference on Women's Socio-Economic Empowerment which took place in Barcelona on March 26th and 27th 2014.

During the Conference, AFAEMME and the UfM awarded Ms. Luma Sukarieh from Jordan for the best business idea which has been developed during the project's Women Entrepreneurship Days: GREEN GLASS, a glass waste recycling company.

You can read more about the Conference here:

http://ufmsecretariat.org/empowering-women-in-the-euro-mediterranean-reg...
http://arabic.euronews.com/2014/04/09/empresarias-podem-acelerar-a-revolucao-no-mediterraneo/
http://es.euronews.com/2014/04/09/empresarias-revolucionarias-del-mediterraneo/

The report of the first project phase is available here: FINAL REPORT YWAJC.pdf

AGREEMENT FOR THE PROJECT'S SECOND AND THIRD PHASE

On the 15th of January 2014, AFAEMME and the Union for the Mediterranean signed a Global Project Memorandum in order to ensure the project's replication to additional co ntries and universities in the Euro-Mediterranean region in an effort to further promote women entrepreneurship and contribute to the development of sustainable economies based on private initiative, quality education and gender equality.

You can read more about the agreement here: http://ufmsecretariat.org/young-women-as-job-creators-ufm-prepares-the-l...

The second phase of the project, which took place in 2015-2016, was hold in Albania, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia. And the third phase is expected totake place in the countries of the second phase and in Algeria, Croatia, Lebanon and Turkey.

Once the project's three phases will be concluded, a total of 11 countries will have participated in it and more than 2.500 young women will have participated in the programme.

LAUNCHING OF THE SECOND PROJECT PHASE

AFAEMME announced the project's second phase during the UfM Conference on Women's Socio-Economic Empowerment which took place in Barcelona on March 26th and 27th 2014.

http://ufmsecretariat.org/young-women-as-job-creators-project-to-begin-i...

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND PROJECT PHASE

With the financial support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Principality of Monaco, AFAEMME and the partner associations implemented the second project phase which started in March 2015 and concluded in April 2016. 

DISSEMINATION OF THE PROJECT'S SECOND PHASE

AFAEMME presented the project in the UfM "High-level Conference on Fostering Women's Participation in Economic Life" which took place in Barcelona on May 19th to 21st 2015. The Conference brought together regional key actors to identify the opportunities and challenges ahead and formulate strategic recommendations to promote inclusive growth and gender equality as a crucial factor for political, social and economic development. This was therefore a perfect occasion to explain the project to the audience, both from a technical (by AFAEMME's project coordinator) and a practical (by Ms. Soukeina El Bouj, a young beneficiary) point of view.

The project was also used as an example of good practice during the EuroMed Invest Academy Barcelona, an event for BSOs organized by the ANIMA Investment Network, ASCAME and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. Within this Academy, on the 24th of November 2015, AFAEMME organized a seminar on "Stimulating Women Entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean" where it gave some insights to the participating BSOs about possible program approaches to better attract and retain young women entrepreneurs as members and to better support them in their entrepreneurial path through gender sensitized business development services.

A Final Conference on the second project phase took place during the VIII MEDA Women Entrepreneurs Forum (April 28th 2016, Cairo - Egypt). During the Conference, representatives from the partnering businesswomen associations from Egypt (EBWA) and Jordan (JFBPW), representatives from the Helwan University and some young participants from Egypt shared their experience.

You can also follow this project by viewing its Facebook Community at https://www.facebook.com/youngwomenjobcreators.