Digital Entrepreneurship for Women

<< Background >>The lack of female participation in the EU labour market continues to represent a significant source of untapped potential for EU economies. As outlined by the EU Commission Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, gender stereotypes and male-dominated models and networks continue to prevail to the detriment of women. Women make up 52% of the total EU population, yet only 34% are self-employed and just 30% of start-up entrepreneurs are female (WEgate, European Commission, 2020). Covid-19 has undoubtedly exacerbated the challenges of female entrepreneurship promotion as well as the social challenges of violence against women and discrimination.At the same time, the post-pandemic landscape provides for new opportunities for female entrepreneurship, specifically the unexploited potential of digital entrepreneurship. As well as addressing the existing gaps in relation to female entrepreneurship promotion, there have also been calls for action to address gaps identified in relation to training under the EU ‘Updated Skills Agenda for Europe’. A specific focus on digital skills is also required which would result in a significant boost to GDP of approximately €9bn (Danti, European Commission, 2016). << Objectives >>Digital Entrepreneurship for Women (DEW) is ideally placed to respond to both issues – the under-representation of women in the entrepreneurial space and the need for gender-specific training around digital enterprise. Within this context, DEW wished to achieve the following: 1. Develop innovative, gender-specific training on female entrepreneurship with specific focuses on key areas where female entrepreneurs experience the most challenges e.g. access to finance, digitalisation and accessing networks. 2. Establish an Open Educational Resource which enables access to free resources in 4 languages. 3. Contribute to policy development on the topic of female entrepreneurs and digital enterprise, by specifically applying a gender lens to the ENTRECOMP Framework. DEW harnesses the expertise of seven partners from five countries who represent the various dimensions and aspects of female entrepreneurship with a specific emphasis on digital empowerment. Within the partnership are public and private sector organisations as well as academic, NGO and ICT partners. All of this expertise will combine to successfully deliver on this innovative project.<< Implementation >>The project commenced with a virtual KOM on November 10th 2021 attended by all partners. A project management plan and common methodology was agreed. The timeline for Project Results (PRs) and Gantt chart was also agreed by all partners as per the approved application. To date, the project has held two Transnational Partner Meetings (TPMs):1.Virtual KOM 1.11.20212.TPM Pescara, Italy 23.06.20223. TPM Brussels, Belgium 12.12.20224 TPM Pescara, Italy 23.05.20235 TPM Malaga, Spain, 06.10.2023Monthly online meetings were held as required to ensure the progress of the project was tracked efficiently and that all partners were up to date with the status of PRs and their responsibilities. The consortium has achieved all PRs to date as set out in the approved application and project management plan.Project Results:PR1 - GENDER EFFECT ASSESSMENT - The deadline for completion of PR1 was 31.05.2022 and this was achieved on time. All country reports along with the Executive summary were completed by all partners, translated and uploaded to the DEW website. A survey was developed by all partners and received 206 responses, exceeding the target of 200 respondents. Survey analysis was conducted and a final report completed ahead of the TPM in Italy in June 2022. This report, along with the country reports, were key to informing the development of PR3 - DEW TRAINING TOOLBOXPR2 - DEW OER PLATFORM - the platform was created in February 2022 ahead of the deadline of 30.04.22. It is available at https://dewproject.eu The remainder of the PR2 tasks (ongoing maintenance and activity) will continue until the completion of the project on 31.10.2023PR3 - DEW TRAINING TOOLBOX - Activity for PR3 commenced on 01.07.2022 in accordance with the agreed timeframe on both the application and project management plan. The deadline for completion of the first task (training content) was 31.12.22 and this was achieved along with the testing and validation process. The target for learner testing was 100 learners and testing was conducted with 123 learners, thereby exceeding the target. The training topics aligned with the original application but were enhanced by the PR1 results. Training topics:●Digital Skills●Managing Digital Teams●Entrepreneurship●Communications●Change Management●Financial LiteracyOngoing pedagogical guidance was provided by Academic Partner MUPR4 - GUIDELINES FOR FURTHER UPTAKE AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: A set of guidelines was published on the OER outlining the key learning of the project and also presenting guidelines for uptake of the DEW project by other organisations in the future. A series of policy recommendations were also presented. MULTIPLIER EVENTS - Five multiplier events were held, 4 in person and 1 online. This ensured widespread dissemination of the project and also ensured critical engagement with the target groups in each of the partner countries.DISSEMINATION - A concrete dissemination strategy was devised and implement throughout the project and all targets were exceeded.<< Results >>All PR outlined in the application were achieved:PR1 - GENDER EFFECT ASSESSMENT exceeded its survey target of 200 with 204 respondentsPR2 - DEW OER PLATFORM - www.dewproject.eu exceeded target for unique visits to the OER which was 4,000 and at the project end date, the OER has reached c. 46,000 unique visitsPR3 - DEW TRAINING TOOLBOX - the target for testing and validation was 100 and in total 123 individuals/agencies participated in testing and validation. In total 2,000 users have gone through the training which is available in 4 languages..There is a total of 28 training modules and 68 training materials available in all languages. There are 9 training fiches and 8 case studies/best practice examples in 4 languagesTraining topics:●Digital Skills●Managing Digital Teams●Entrepreneurship●Communications●Change Management●Financial LiteracyA glossary of terms has also been produced to facilitate greater engagement with the topic - 97 terms included and translated into 4 languagesPR4 - GUIDELINES FOR FURTHER UPTAKE AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS - The DEW Policy Paper and Guidelines have been published in 4 languages on the OER.5 Multiplier Events held across five partner countries5 TPMs held (1 virtual)6 press releases issued by 6 partners across all partner countries.9 Associate partnersProject Management PlanCommon Methodology PlanTotal dissemination reach of 1355391