Femina - Inclusion of Women in the Cultural and Creative Sector

<< Background >>The main motivation for applying for this project was that the two partner organisations experienced certain problems when it comes to hiring or collaborating with women. The project partnership actively works with freelancers and self-employed young people who are active in the cultural and creative sector (CCS). In 2022, 73% of the freelancers who collaborate with us are male which leads to a conclusion that there is a wide gender gap in the CCS. Therefore, all project activities were designed to narrow the gender gap by encouraging women to enhance their key competences and to make significant progress in the field of entrepreneurship and creativity.Particular attention was given to address differences in relation to the access to digital technologies by underrepresented groups - especially of women who are located in some remote and lagging regions across Luxembourg and Bulgaria to take advantage of having an effective and sustainable online presence. Our organisations’ analysis suggested gender inequality as being one of the leading reasons for experiencing lack of economic growth as well as embracing some more innovative creative approaches.<< Objectives >>By implementing the “Femina” project, our consortium aimed to achieve the following concrete outcomes:Learners’ perceptions of their own performance, including involvement during program, application of their learning, and having confidence in the practical implementation (at least 80% of satisfaction).Provide our staff and target audience with cutting-edge digital and entrepreneurial skills which refer to the CCS. These skills include, but are not limited to, building digital portfolios, utilising various digital creative tools, effectively pitching their creative artworks, evaluating the quality of their digital outputs, efficiently boosting the digital networking in the CCS which will help the target groups become equal part of the workforce. Raise the self-confidence of our target audience when it comes to applying for a job or promoting their creative concepts.In order to achieve the above-mentioned outcomes, the main project objective was to create a digital educational resource training program.<< Implementation >>Four main activities were implemented in the ‘Femina’ project as following:Action 1: ’Project Management and administration - it started with the elaboration of documents that ensure the adequate development and division of management tasks and monitoring of the progress of the planned activities.Action 2: Develop Diversity-Centred Learning ObjectivesBefore developing the training program, our consortium had to specify precisely its learning objectives. During this activity - 8 specific statements in the form of learning objectives were defined. The main purpose of the learning objectives was to inform our learners what they will be able to do at the completion of their learning experience.Action 3: Development of Blended Training Program and Training.The specific objectives of this activity was to boost the creative entrepreneurship skills and knowledge among our target audience.Moreover, the focus of this blended training program was placed on supporting our learners in establishing and successfully leading an entity in the CCS. Action 4: Training Program Evaluation This activity supported our consortium to better understand and identify skills gaps of the desired outcomes of the delivered training.<< Results >>The following concrete results were produced during the course of the project: 1. During Action 1:Quality Assurance PlanBudgetary Control Overview Dissemination Plan2. During Action 2, the following outputs were produced:Focus-group interview and data analysis“Gender Balance in the Cultural and Creative Sectors: Training Needs”.“Gender Balance in the Cultural and Creative Sectors: Learning Objectives”3. The outcomes produced during Action 3 referred to:Blended training program “Inclusion and Diversity within CCS”.A public training session was conducted.4. In Action 4, the consortium produced the following results:Survey that is intended to examine the quality of the blended training programAnalysis of the focus group interviewsOverall analysis of the evaluation of the training programThe finalised version of the training programAll training modules were translated into French and Bulgarian language.In 2022, a majority of 73% were male, whereas in 2023, after the implementation of the 'Femina' project, the gender balance has improved considerably. The proportion of male freelancers has decreased to 59%, while the representation of female freelancers has increased to 41%.