Project name:

Region of opportunities: entrepreneurship training course for long-term unemployed women with children who represent the largest national minorities in Latvia and Estonia (acronym: Region of opportunities)

Project aim:

The challenge the project will address is the long-term unemployment of women under 29 years old with children, who belong to the largest national minorities in Latvia and Estonia. In both countries, women predominantly bear social responsibilities, such as taking care of children and elderly relatives, and have more domestic duties than men. This makes it difficult to meet the rigid requirements of some employers and withstand demanding working conditions. According to a survey, two-thirds of women with children have faced discriminatory behavior from employers, either directly or implicitly. Moreover, years of unemployment, an inability to realize their potential, and the absence of income negatively impact the self-esteem and self-confidence of representatives from the target group.

The common opportunity lies in involving project participants in entrepreneurship through a tailored practical training course that aligns with the current business environment, challenged by the aftermath of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, as well as personalized consulting and a supportive, safe, and caring ecosystem. Another opportunity is linked to the benefits each participant will gain from collaborating with peers, working together, and learning how to define, pool, and make use of complementary skills, knowledge, and experience, while also elevating each other through shared learning.

The project’s aim is to design and implement an interactive, immersive, and action-packed cross-border training course, which will provide target group representatives with key business information and help develop essential competencies sufficient to launch and run a micro or small company

Project activities:

The complex and dynamic cross-border training course (131 learning hours), will last for 8-9 months and encompass 9 cross-border one-day events and will be conducted twice: in Cycle 1 and Cycle 2. Sequence of events in one cycle is shown below.

MODULE 1 – YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS: Awareness-raising conference, self-analytical and confidence-boosting workshop “Who are you? What are you?”, introduction into mastermind groups “Strengths combat weaknesses” and workshop “Imagine your business”.

MODULE 2 – KEY BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE: Workshops “Sell with confidence”, “Enormous possibilities of the internet”, “Finance fundamentals”, “Branding: make your packaging attractive” and consulting marathon “Clarify it!”.

Methods that will be used are self-awareness and self-analysis techniques, mastermind grouping, people-to-people support, immersive practical tasks linked to business ideas, micro-learning, mind mapping, visual storytelling, foresight sessions, creativity activation techniques. In the first cycle, all events will be held in person in Tallinn and Riga, while in the second cycle, they will take place both in Riga and Tallinn, as well as online.

During the course, each trainee will have the opportunity to apply for personalized consultations from a selection of 12 mentors. The partners will establish a cross-border Help Point to advise trainees on business practicalities, such as company registration, licensing, reporting, banking regulations, etc

Results planned:

Sixty-six women will be enrolled in the training course over two cycles, with 54 individuals expected to be active participants. The project result directly contributes to the Programme result indicator, as involvement in the comprehensive training course will likely enhance the entrepreneurship skills of the trainees. It is anticipated that 30% of active participants (equivalent to 16 individuals) will start their own businesses within one year of completing the course. Trainees will receive a Certificate of Completion signed by the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies, as well as the Estonian Business School.

Project duration:

1st September 2024 – 30th November 2025