Employment and Women on the 21st century in Europe: From Household economy to SME (Small and Medium enterprises) like economy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Employment and Women on the 21st century in Europe: From Household economy to SME (Small and Medium enterprises) like economy

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits); Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Access for disadvantaged

Project Summary

Women accustomed to managing the home, commonly called “housewives”, have acquired skills and abilities that can be applied in business management, but are not always aware of that potential. The MUPYME project, through innovative approaches, analyzes the type and scope of these capacities, promotes awareness of the phenomenon and defines the transition from the home economy to the SME type economy. The research that supports the MUPYME proposal has been developed in a heterogeneous set of European countries.

The project MUPYME attempts at raising awareness about the abilities of housewives that can be transferred to enterprises economy and finding out which is the best way to enhance them. This project tries to take into account the social reality of this collective in a wide range of countries, to share the best practices regarding working promotion and to purpose common solutions applicable to these realities.

The general objectives of MUPYME are: (1) facilitating that housewives can move from being managers of households to be managers or promoters of new SMEs or Micro SMEs, building a professional qualification for this collective, focused on reflection and knowledge of their own abilities and capacities, reinforced and maximized with an entrepreneurial approach and (2) raising the qualification of instructors of the different organisms in charge of training adults, generating a training program adapted to the target collective having a greater impact on the possibilities of getting incorporated into the labor world and focused on personal motivation and on the enhancement of competences.
The participant entities are 8: FEUP and ARIEMA (Spain), DVV (Germany), ADAE (Macedonia), DAFNI KEK (Greece), KERIGMA (Portugal), UPF (Italy) and CAEA (Cyprus). All of them work in the field of adults training, social integration of disadvantaged groups and social conflicts resolution, among others, excepting ARIEMA, entity experienced in R+D+I projects, training, events organization and dissemination tasks.

Project implementation goes through phases: (1) General Coordination (2) Analysis and research (3) Projection of gender categorizations and powers strengthened in the domestic economy (4) Application of the prospects of the project (5) Monitoring activities and (6) Dissemination and communication of results.
The methodology used in the project consists on the analysis and research of the skills of the target group, posterior sharing between trainers in the partner institutions of the consortium through workshops and meetings for collaboration. Educational materials will be developed with contributions from trainers involved in the project, from the target group and from the external experts committee that will also contribute with their objective input about the quality and professionalism of the work done.

The results of MUPYME will be:
1- Characterization of housework under professiographic profile and recognition of skills developed at home.
2- Analysis of the skills acquired at home, and previously acquired, with option to be provided with an entrepreneurial approach.
3- Generation of a training strategy tailored to the target group.
4- Generation of dissemination materials adapted to new technologies.
5- Offering a training model aimed at facilitating the incorporation of women into the workplace and promoting entrepreneurship.

Two types of impacts are foreseen: Qualitative impact, related with the achievement that housewives, who tend to see themselves as disqualified subjects for taking part in the economic management of SME type, break with this false consciousness and develop self-esteem mechanisms that drive them into the progress of their training process aimed at generating entrepreneurial activities (new SMEs) or participating/managing existing mycropymes; and quantitative impact, related with the deployment of the activities developed in the project and the achievement of the objectives. Since the consortium is international, but designed to be executed by Popular Universities and other specialized agencies in adult education rooted in very specific areas of the geographies of each of the countries, this enables the impact generated by the results of the project to have local, regional, national and European character.

So, the project MUPYME, apart from raising awareness about the need for customized training and using new technologies that make training more friendly and flexible, it also has direct benefit in generating employment and social inclusion of disadvantaged groups.

At the same time, the methodologies and instructional materials generated in the project may be fed back while being taught in different schools, improving if possible and adjusting everything to the target group. MUPYME will generate alive and useful resources intended to be permanent in time.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 236845 Eur

Project Coordinator

Spanish Federation of Popular Universities (FEUP) & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Università Popolare di Firenze
• SYNDESMOS EKPEDEFSIS ENILIKON KYPROU
• ARIEMA ENERGIA Y MEDIOAMBIENTE SL
• KERIGMA – INSTITUTO DE INOVACAO E DESENVOLVIMENTO SOCIAL DE BARCELOS
• Association Alliance for Development of Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
• DAFNI KENTRO EPAGGELMATIKIS KATARTISIS
• DEUTSCHER VOLKSHOCHSCHUL-VERBAND EV