Project profile — A Thousand women: I am a woman, I exist, I participate

• Senegal (100.00%)

• Education policy and administrative management:
Education policy and administrative management (11110) (20.00%)
Teacher training (11130) (5.00%)
• Secondary Education: Vocational training (11330) (20.00%)
• Post-Secondary Education: Higher education (11420) (5.00%)
• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (50.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (significant objective)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project seeks to empower some of Senegal’s most vulnerable and marginalized women by increasing their active participation in the economy and in their community’s development. The project adopts the Validation of Acquired Experience (VAE) approach, which recognizes the knowledge and skills that women have acquired throughout their life and in their everyday work, to make it easier for them to access training programs tailored to their needs. Project activities include: (1) developing and delivering technical and vocational training programs in growing sectors, based on the VAE approach and tailored to the needs of some of the most vulnerable and marginalized women; (2) supporting the selected women as they develop their businesses, market their products and join the workforce; (3) training the instructors, directors and officers of ministries involved in gender equality so they can provide more effective support to the selected women; (4) conducting outreach, advocacy and promotion activities related to the role of women in the economic and social development of communities; and (5) supporting collaboration and networking with economic associations to promote women’s participation. The project expects to benefit 1,000 vulnerable women trained in a trade and supported as agents of change in their community. Also, 500 people working in the structures of partner ministries will receive training in gender equality and VAE methodology. In addition, 200,000 people will be engaged and educated on the importance of the economic, social and civic inclusion of some of the most vulnerable women.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased inclusion of women as social and economic development actors; and (2) increased influence of women as active citizens in their communities.

Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) selected 23 one-stop shops in the employment and entrepreneurship centres for women and young people following the recruitment of 7 gender focal points in the 7 regions of intervention. This supported to build a service offering that considers the specific needs of vulnerable women; (2) trained gender focal points and technical coordinators of one-stop shops. This brought together 32 participants (8 women and 24 men) on the gender approach and the tree of life. Workshops to harmonize the guide to assisting those involved in implementing the validation of acquired experience in Senegal and the toolkit for the validation of acquired experience in Senegal involved 12 people (1 woman and 11 men). The harmonization of these tools helped to facilitate their scaling-up at national level in a sustainable way, by generating greater buy-in from the various parties involved. The availability of harmonized working tools for the implementation of the validation of acquired experience is a conclusive result recorded by the project during the year 2023-2024; and (3) completed the selection of 713 women beneficiaries and stakeholders for certification in 22 promising sectors.

• Proactive disclosure
• Related activities: A Thousand women: I am a woman, I exist, I participate (WEP) - Monitoring