The “Connected Women” Project Empowers Earthquake-Affected Women to Embrace Digital Life

15 TRAINING CONTAINERS WERE SET UP IN THE EARTHQUAKE ZONE AS PART OF THE “CONNECTED WOMEN” PROJECT

As part of the “Connected Women” project initiated three years ago by the General Directorate of Lifelong Learning under the Ministry of National Education, and Vodafone Turkey Foundation, 15 training containers have been set up in disaster areas. In the container classrooms located in Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, and Adıyaman, women trainees will have the opportunity to receive training in both traditional handicrafts and digital technologies.

The “Connected Women”project, which aims to combine women’s potential with the power of technology, is entering a new phase. The project, carried out by the General Directorate for Lifelong Learning under the Ministry of Education, and the Vodafone Turkey Foundation, will focus on women affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. As part of the project, 15 training containers were set in Kahramanmaraş , Hatay, and Adıyaman to help women over 18 improve their digital abilities. Women affected by the earthquake will have the opportunity take traditional handicraft courses and create their hand-made products in the container classrooms, while also improving their digital skills through specially designed courses that introduce them to the digital world. They will be able to sell traditional products through digital platforms. By the end of this year, the “Connected Women” project aims to reach 15 thousand women in 20 cities, including the earthquake zone.

As part of the new phase of the “Connected Women” project, the work conducted in the disaster area was shared at a meeting held in Kahramanmaraş EXPO Container City. Following the meeting attended by Cengiz Mete, General Director for Lifelong Learning under the Ministry of National Education , and Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone TurkeyFoundation, a visit to the training container was made.

Cengiz Mete, General Director for Lifelong Learning under the Ministry of National Education, made the following remarks:

“As of today, the third phase of the ‘Connected Women’ project has started. Our aim with this project is to improve women’s digital skills. To this end, we offer two different training programs to women, namely Digital Literacy and Digital Marketing. Participants receive 30 hours of Digital Literacy and 44 hours of Digital Marketing training at public training centers. While some of the trainings are provided face-to-face, some of the trainings are online. In the new phase of the project, approximately 400 trainers will deliver the trainings in more than 180 public training centers in 20 cities, including Adıyaman, Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kastamonu, Manisa, Mersin, Samsun, Sivas, Tekirdağ, Trabzon and Van. The trainings are expected to reach 15,000 women this year. In 20 cities, trainees will be provided with Digital Literacy and Digital Marketing courses at our public training centers, and they will receive ‘Introduction to the Digital World’ trainings in the earthquake zone.”

Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, expressed his views as follows:

“As Vodafone Turkey Foundation, in the ‘Connected Women’ project, which we implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education, General Directorate for Lifelong Learning, our goal is to ensure women's inclusion in the digital society and increase their participation in economic life by improving their digital skills through technology-oriented trainings. For the third phase of our project, we designed an inclusive model that will both support women in the earthquake zone and continue our Digital Marketing and Digital Literacy trainings in 17 project cities other than the earthquake zone. So, we have set up training containers in the region. By taking part in our trainings, women in the region will be empowered to engagein both social and economic life, producinglocal products and selling themthrough digital platforms. Furthermore, they will be able to gain digital skills with the ‘Introduction to the Digital World’ that we have developed tailored according to the needs of the region. We believe that our project will address an important social need in the region. We invite all women in the region to join our trainings and start a new chapter in their lives. We, as Vodafone Turkey Foundation, will be here as long as container cities exist.”

Over 15 thousand women reached in 20 cities

The “Connected Women” project has so far reached more than 15 thousand women in 20 cities . This year, 15 thousand new trainees will be included in the project and the total number of trainees will increase to 30 thousand in 3 years. Moreover, 2 social media competitions have been organized now. In these competitions held among the trainees participating in Digital Marketing trainings, the participants were asked to manage the social media accounts of their businesses or a business of their choice for 1 month. Then, the successful competitors were provided with lifeline funds.

Each TL 1 investment brought a social return of TL 5

The project also regularly conducts social impact measurement. The project does not only enhance women’s digital knowledge and skills but alsoincreases their self-confidence and motivation, raises awareness for the importance of the digital world, and helps them build empowering relationships. The project increased women’s digital literacy rate by 24% and their digital marketing knowledge by 29% . Based on the same study, the project generated a social value of 5 million TL, while every 1 TL investment in the project yielded a social return of 5 TL.

Applications for the “Connected Women” project can be made at https://turkiyevodafonevakfi.org.tr/projeler/dijital-benim-isim/dijital-benim-isim-basvuru-formu