Strengthening women’s capacities as an alternative to poverty in Ecuador

6 May, 2019

In April, the project “Strengthening the professional skills of women to get out of poverty” has finalized in Ecuador, which has been financed by the Italian Episcopal Conference, and which Social Promotion has executed in consortium with its partner Comercio para el Desarrollo (COPADE).

Initiated in December 2017, the project’s actions have sought to offer work alternatives to low-income women without professional perspective in rural areas and marginal urban areas of Tumbaco, Quito and to improve the quality of hospitality services through accurate professional training in this sector.

In order to achieve this, 150 young women have been provided with the necessary elements for their insertion in the labor market in the services field or for the creation of micro-enterprises once their education is completed. In addition, another 100 women, mothers of families, have been trained in the management of the microenterprise and/or in at least 2 skills such as baking and confectionary, cooking, customer service or food processing.

All this is rooted in the conviction that proper education and training endows women with greater economic independence, self-esteem and the capacity for social relationships. It also allows an approach to participation in the public and political life of the country, areas usually far from the reality of Ecuadorian women and of which it does not feel an integral part.

Likewise, indirectly, the empowerment of women allows them to improve the living conditions of their families and generate income through their insertion in the labor market or the generation of work at home through the creation of personal companies.