The Association of Women in Green Economy - AFEV has recently concluded a field project to sensitize 30 women from the municipality of Bouzaréah (Algeria) to entrepreneurship. This project is the result of a previously elaborated diagnosis on the constraints faced by these women upon starting their business, as well as on their motivation to embark on entrepreneurship. 

The goal of the project was to contribute to the economic integration of these women by strengthening their capacities. Thus, from October 2017 to March 2018, AFEV organized several activities such as training courses on business creation, information and communication technologies (ICT), interpersonal communication, financial estimation costs and business plans. These activities consisted mainly in developing the participants’ self-confidence and leadership qualities, and applying these best practices and learnings through group exercises. 

The project ended with the holding of coaching sessions for 20 women on financing schemes to start their business and formalize their activities. 

These trainings were very successful among the participants who were more than expected, and AFEV agreed with the national micro-credit agency (ANGEM) to sign an agreement to duplicate these actions in other wilayas. 

This type of training offers women a way out of their daily lives and it helps them prove to themselves that they can carry out excellent business initiatives. This kind of activity is all the more important given that the labor market is one of the major levers for women’s economic empowerment. 

In addition, several local entities supported the project, such as the Bouzaréah People’s and Communal Assembly (APC), the television program Dzair el Khir, the National Association of Parents of Pupils (ANPE), or the TRIA association, which helps children with Down Syndrome. All these entities can play a decisive role in the local revitalization of women’s entrepreneurship by orienting and sensitizing women. Finally, a Facebook group reserved for women who participated in the project was created to promote networking and mutual aid between women entrepreneurs. 

This initiative is part of the field projects developed by the local clusters of gender equality actors© set up by the Euro-Mediterranean Women’s Foundation in 2015. It is part of the "Strengthening the capacities of equality actors" project funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and coordinated by the European Institute of the Mediterranean - IEMed. This action also falls under the framework of the project "Developing women’s empowerment", labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean - UfM.