After a first pilot training programme was implemented in Soacha in 2017, the “Tu, yo, nosotros. Jovenes emprendedores” project has been forging ahead and been offering, since late summer 2018, a training programme for 21 young female entrepreneurs.
The RES Mesa Colombiais working with Soacha Municipality and several governmental, civil society and international stakeholders to build a regional development platform to strengthen the abilities of local actors and create an economic and institutional environment favourable to social and solidarity enterprises.
The new course, launched in August 2018, aims to empower vulnerable populations by developing social and solidary entrepreneurship among young people. It was offered to a group of 21 young women. The course is structured around four modules:
· Improving living conditions using the “Kaizen” method, a process of continuous improvement
· Comprehensive social welfare with a focus on healthcare
· Associative solidary dynamic entrepreneurship and mutualist intelligence
· Mutual and cooperative networks
A Social Contact Centre, a system for supporting the set up of solidarity projects, will be launched at the end of the course and will make it possible to support the young female entrepreneurs over the long term. The aim is to maximise the impact of the participants’ entrepreneurship projects at the individual and community levels.
To ensure project follow-up, two groups of academics will carry out action-research, which will be part of academic work entitled: « Female views on the regions: a meeting with the strength of dynamic solidary associative entrepreneurship”.
