[Translation : EPALE France

Author : Yuliya CHELENOC]

The Erasmus+ Women Get Ready project, implemented between 2022 and 2023, aims to empower women to enter the digital job market by following a flexible and personalised learning pathway.  The project was led by a consortium of eight partners from Belgium (FTU asbl), Portugal (Mindshift), Italy (IDP sas), Ireland (Spectrum Research Centre), Cyprus (CSI), Greece (UNICERT), Poland (DAMNAR Computer) and Spain (Initiativas de Futuro).

Women Get Ready aims to: 

• Support women without digital capabilities in entering the digital world
• Develop self-assessment and tools to boost self-confidence
• Challenge gender stereotypes in the digital economy and boost the confidence of women in digital careers
• Promote effective methods for returning to work after a career break
• Create opportunities for women

The educational tools developed by the consortium are as follows: 

1. A digital readiness competences dictionary: a customised dictionary of 11 multi-tiered competences, enabling women to thrive in the 21st century digital labour market, helping to change gendered ideas about the digital economy and building digital readiness, resilience and capability by enabling the development of specific competences: 1. Learnability, 2. Agility, 3. Curiosity, 4. Drive to succeed, 5. Handling data, 6. Strategic problem solving, 7. Business acumen, 8. Virtual collaboration, 9. Digital communication, 10. Mental endurance, and 11. Coaching mindset. Each competence is described in terms of learning outcomes, i.e. knowledge, competences and attitudes, for intermediate and advanced skill levels. The intermediate level focuses on independence and the advanced level on taking responsibility for decisions made by working with others.
2. Two MOOCs: One for the intermediate level and the other for the advanced level. The content of the MOOCs is designed for microlearning-based training and is structured by competence. The aim is to enable women to enter today’s labour market and give them greater control over defining a personalised and flexible learning pathway. MOOCs with high quality learning resources to enhance women’s skills and an online digital readiness self-assessment tool that offers women the opportunity to rethink their role in the digital economy, recognising their strengths and the need and opportunity to develop their skills, through a personalised training pathway and relevant and engaging learning resources specifically designed to improve women’s digital readiness, resilience and capacity in the digital age.
3. A self-assessment tool for evaluating progress in one of the 11 competences laid out in the digital readiness competences dictionary. The outcome of this assessment will be a guidance report including a training proposal based on the content of the MOOC in question. 
4. Eight avatars of female characters: These avatars are reference models designed to motivate women and help them visualise real-life career profiles and recognise the competences they need in order to improve and succeed. Avatars are used in relevant interactive exercises and additional resources. 

In conclusion, the Women Get Ready project is an example of how training can help to reduce the digital divide between men and women. The project has shown that women can succeed in the digital workplace if they have the right skills and support.

Keep informed

All project deliverables are available free of charge on the website: https://women-get-ready.erasmus.site/. 

If you are interested in the development of the project and digital skills to increase your employment opportunities, visit the page:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/WomenGetReady

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9220390/