Empowering Adult Survivors of domestic violence through Entrepreneurship

<< Background >>Almost one in three women (30% of women aged 15 and older) worldwide has experienced physical and/or sexual violence (WHO, 2013). Covid-19 and related stay-at-home orders led to a global rise in domestic violence, with a 60% increase in emergency calls from women subjected to intimate partner violence in Europe (BMJ, 2020). Abusive relationships impact career development, work activities, professional reputation, and earnings—survivors are often in part-time jobs, earning up to 60% less than women without such experiences (UN Women, 2016b; Vyas, 2013). Abuse affects victims’ health, financial stability, and support networks, shaping long-term career paths. EASE focuses on women survivors of domestic abuse. Financial independence helps break the cycle of abuse, offering control over essentials and fostering autonomy. Entrepreneurship can support this process, helping survivors bypass employment gaps and rebuild self-confidence (Byrne, Shantz & Bullough, 2018). The EASE project assists survivors through an entrepreneurship training program with soft and hard skill components, plus coaching and mentoring.<< Objectives >>The EASE project aimed to develop a training programme specifically designed to facilitate the adoption of this entrepreneurial identity after surviving domestic violence, that could be replicated across Europe. Its objectives were: • Co-creating a tailored programme to answer the specific training needs of adult survivors of domestic violence in 3 European countries; • Making high-quality entrepreneurship training accessible for adults that are no longer in the academic system in higher education institutions; • Empowering survivors of domestic violence through entrepreneurship training with soft and hard skill elements; • Facilitating entrepreneurship for survivors of domestic violence through individual coaching and mentoring components << Implementation >>The EASE project implemented the following activities during the project time: Implemented three co-creation design workshops in France, Czech Republic and Bulgaria to get insights for important elements and specifications of the planed entrepreneurship training. After the workshops all feedback from the participants were translated in English, compiled and analyzed (PR1), so that a tailored entrepreneurship training programme (PR2) including soft and hard skills elements plus mentoring and coaching components could be developed. In parallel, teachers and learners were recruited for the pilots in the 3 different countries (France, Czech Republic and Bulgaria). The 6-month training programme was taught during Q1 and Q2 2023, including coaching and business mentoring sessions and feedback was gathered from the participants afterwards to improve the program. The partners distributed certificates to learners upon completion. The learnings and outcomes of the mentoring part were summarized in a mentoring guide (PR3) and all elements and learnings of the program were included in a replication guide (PR4) so that the EASE approach could be replicated across Europe.<< Results >>The following outputs were developed: a method for co-creation (PR1), a tailored training programme for entrepreneurship (PR2), a method to mentor survivors of domestic violence (PR3) and a replication guide (PR4). Key performance indicators as results (see appendix):•# of learners (target 30): 34 (15 FRA 11 BGR, 8 CZ)•Completion rate (target 80 %): 76 %•Attendance rate (target 80 %): 81 % •# of courses in entrepreneurship developed for the target group (target 5-12): 10•# of good practices developed (target 3): 3 (see above outputs)•# of teachers involved in the programme & sensitized to survivors of domestic violence specific needs (target 5): 19 (14 FRA, 2 BGR, 3 CZ)•% of participants moving to incubation: (target 5 %): 35 % (40 % FRA, 64 % BGR, 0 % CZ)•% of learners who indicate that they feel empowered thanks to the training (target: 70 %): 77 %•% of learners who indicate perceiving an improvement in their business skills (target 70 %): 93 %•% of learners who indicate perceiving an improvement in their soft skills (target 70 %): 97 %•# of multiplier events (target 3): 4•# of participants in all multiplier events (target 180-270): 232•# of media coverage of the project (target 3 or 4): 4•# of website visitors (target 3.000): 5853