Project profile — Supporting Economic Prosperity for Women and IDPs (SEW Ukraine)

• Ukraine (100.00%)

• Secondary Education: Vocational training (11330) (11.00%)
• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (11.00%)
• Other Social Infrastructure And Services: Employment policy and administrative management (16020) (16.00%)
• Banking And Financial Services: Formal sector financial intermediaries (24030) (9.00%)
• Industry: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development (32130) (37.00%)
• Trade Policy And Regulations And Trade-Related Adjustment: Trade policy and administrative management (33110) (16.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• 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)

The project aims to enhance the economic prosperity of women in Ukraine, particularly those internally displaced and living in target regions. The project focuses on women with disabilities and women living in rural or peri-urban areas struggling with economic survival, meeting basic needs for their families, and facing increased vulnerability to poverty. It works to assist beneficiaries in finding employment within existing garment production enterprises. The project also supports them in creating sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families through entrepreneurship in the garment sector. The garment sector is a key sector that identifies employment gaps and opportunities for women’s leadership. In response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, certain project activities were adapted to address new immediate needs and protect previous development gains. Canada’s development partners in Ukraine pivoted project activities to respond to the evolving context in several ways, such as providing emergency supplies, equipment and services, mental health, transportation and accommodation. The beneficiaries, scope, expected results and geographic location of project activities may changed from the original description. Project activities include: (1) delivering access to employment training activities, including vocational and workplace integration training; (2) providing tailored capacity-building support to women looking to establish new micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and women who own or manage existing MSMEs in the garment industry; (3) establishing a loan fund to be used by primary credit unions in the target regions to provide loans to cooperatives and MSMEs members; and (4) supporting garment co-operatives through strategic planning workshops, business plan development, and identifying sustainable and environmentally responsible growth opportunities

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) enhanced employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in the garment industries for vulnerable and internally displaced women living in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts; and (2) enhanced competitive, innovative, and environmentally sustainable micro, small, and medium-sized garment manufacturing enterprises for women in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

Results achieved as of March 2023 include: (1) 400 women employed by the garment sector received practical training and mentoring support on labour rights and occupational health and safety; (2) 65% of women trained are confident in applying knowledge gained in workshops related to employment in the garment industry or sewing business; (3) 29 out of 50 women affected by the war received basic sewing equipment (portable sewing machines) and supplies for their home-based micro-businesses. This enabled them to generate much-needed income and support their families; (4) trained 906 women through 8 operational technical and vocational education and training sites, and hybrid seamstress training. This totals to 1,598 trained women since the project’s inception; (5) supported 2 officially registered garment co-operatives through strategic planning workshops on identifying vision and key objectives, business plan development, and identifying strengths and opportunities; and (6) established partnerships with government and business stakeholders in 5 new target regions. 95% of 121 project-supported businesses have successfully integrated environmentally sustainable practices. This indicates a firm commitment from the businesses towards promoting environmental responsibility and aligning their businesses with sustainable principles.

• Proactive disclosure