Project “Train the Gap” to foster entrepreneurship of women in rural areas
The Confederation of Federations and Associations of Families and Women in Rural Areas (AFAMMER) participates in this program along with four other European partners Spain, Ireland, Lithuania and Sweden. Its president, Carmen Quintanilla, presented the project, funded by the Erasmus + program in which this organization is involved as coordinator-promoter of the project in a consortium with four other partners: the Agency for Business Support of Ireland, Agency for promotion of entrepreneurship in Spain, the University of Lithuania and the Agency for Adult Education in Sweden.
As explained Quintanilla, the project, which begins with the working meeting held in mid-December in Ciudad Real (Spain) with experts from the five participating institutions, lasts two years and its main purpose is ” define a European training pathway for rural enterprise aimed at empowering women and thereby increase its representativeness, helping to overcome the gender gap. ”
Likewise, through this project, he added the national president of AFAMMER more specific objectives pursued. Among them, define a training itinerary for rural entrepreneurship model according to the EQF (European model of excellence), develop from the base (manual, training materials, etc …) a course aimed at promoting basic and generic skills to be an entrepreneur, define the training methodology to improve the learning process, promoting teaching skills of trainers to encourage the participation of women, involving trainers and people who are in the process of training and create an environment for learning which also promotes the creation, management and sharing of knowledge and experiences on social-rural entrepreneurship.
AFAMMER National President recalled that the Erasmus + program for 2014-2020, which is located within the project, entered into force on January 1, 2014, after being approved by Parliament and which is part of the Europe 2020 strategy in the Education and Training 2020 strategy and the strategy Rethinking Education.
Carmen Quintanilla noted that the Erasmus + program covers all levels in education: school, vocational training, higher education and adult education. Indeed, he added, “in this level of adult education it is where we are developing the project from the Consortium as part AFAMMER with four other European partners is located.”
Quintanilla has been worth the work being carried AFAMMER in its 33 years of life in order to promote equality for rural women of the peoples of Spain promoting its incorporation into the labor market, encouraging female entrepreneurship and greater presence of women in decision-making in economic, social and cultural level.
“Hence we have us involved in this training project that we will contribute to that women have the necessary training to take that important step is to undertake and create your own job because with it we are empowering women and breaking the gender gap still exists in rural areas, “he said. In this sense, it has been reported that in the Spanish countryside 54% of those are women who undertake an age profile of between 18 and 35 who invest in their business initially between 25,000 and 30,000 euros.
Finally, he said that “to combat aging and depopulation in our villages is needed women as a fundamental pillar of rural development and this should not remain only a phrase but a clear commitment to female entrepreneurship, as has AFAMMER doing for over three decades. ”
Source: AFAMMER
