During summer 2020, the Orange Foundation, ESSOR and its Guinean partner ANADEC began a new partnership in Bissau, in Guinea Bissau, to set up a programme offering professional digital training and social support to the most vulnerable women in the capital at a Women’s Digital Centre.
While 70% of Guinean women are illiterate and live on less than 2 dollars a day, early marriages, domestic violence, and a lack of ID documents significantly hinder their access to education, training and employment.
ESSOR and ANADEC are taking action with the Orange Foundation to help 1,500 women in difficulty, without qualifications or a job, to find work. These women will be welcomed at a Social and Career Information, Guidance and Counselling Centre at the heart of one of the four neighbourhoods far from the city centre. There they will be listened to and directed towards social services that meet their needs. The consideration of these women’s social environment maximises their chances of finding work (ID documents, birth certificates, psychological support, etc.).
Less than 3% of the population in Guinea has internet access, yet the acquisition of digital skills is increasingly essential for lasting integration into the world of work. This project will enable 200 women and girls to attend digital workshops at the Digital Centre focussed on four main topics:
- an introductory course to learn the basics of using IT equipment, online search engines and the Office suite
- computer-based literacy courses, certified with the help of the Ministry of Education (nearly 70% of women in Bissau are illiterate)
- financial education and business management workshops for women who have started their own business
- job search workshops (creating a CV on a computer, cover letters, job search techniques, etc.)