Questions/Answers

The Entrepreneurial Woman Program aims to socioeconomically empower women in the District of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, especially those who have suffered domestic violence, aiming at financial, personal, professional, and social independence. The Program contains three activity areas: (i) offering professional courses; (ii) promoting entrepreneurship guidance; and (iii) facilitating product commercialization, made by these women. Gender inequality is present all over the world. Women have historically suffered from fewer opportunities for qualification and employment. In 2020, only 47% of women at an active age were part of the work market compared with 74% of men - a range that has been constant since 1995, according to report The World's Women 2020: Trends and Statistics, prepared by the UN. In Jaboatão dos Guararapes this reality is no different. About 38% of formal employment consists of women and 62% of men, according to 2019 data from the Department of Economy. It is also a concern the growing number of women victims of domestic violence which increased 16% in the District from 2017 to 2019. According to reports obtained over the past 10 years at the Marista Just Reference Center, which supports women coming from violent situations by providing psychological, legal and social services in the District. The main reason why remain in this domestic abuse cycle, is the financial dependence from the aggressor, who in general is the partner and father of their children. Planning public policies to economically empower women and help those who suffer gender violence to get out of social vulnerability situation, the City Hall of Jaboatão dos Guararapes implemented in 2017 the Entrepreneurial Woman Program which offers courses in various areas, entrepreneurship guidance and enables commercialization of products made through the promotion of open markets and the Collaborative Store, aimed at generating income for women in the District.

It promotes gender equality by offering training courses, exclusive to women and especially those who were victims of domestic violence, who often remain in this situation because they are financially bound to their aggressors. It provides entrepreneurship guidance for starting their own business. It focuses on learning low investment activities so that women are able to produce and/or offer services in the community itself. It provides commercialization of what has been produced to generate income. It reduces inequalities and boosts women's empowerment and self-esteem.

The Program provides the access to professional education and support for productive activities, entrepreneurship, work, and income for women, aiming at increasing self-esteem and financial independence. It enables women to enter the business world by developing skills and abilities for small business elaboration and the solidarity economy, contributing to the achievement of SDG 4, especially for goals 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5. It works to empower, promote social inclusion and eliminate violence against women, prioritizing spots in courses for those referred by the Maristela Just Reference Center, which supports women in situations of violence in the District, strongly contributing to SDG 5 and goals 5.1, 5.2 and 5.5. In 2017, the participation of these women in courses was 26% and in 2020, until September it has increased to 40%. The initiative not only trains women, but also makes it possible to sell manufactured products through handicrafts and gastronomy shows and the Collaborative Shop, a shared space for marketing their products, located in the largest shopping center in the City, leading to the achievement of SDG 8 with targets 8.3 and 8.5 and 10 with targets 10.2 and 10.3.

The program is socially sustainable because the existing wide gender inequality in the region and the women’s social vulnerability, victims of domestic violence, are notorious and they require professional training, work and income as drivers to get out of this violence situation. It is economically sustainable because it has low cost (representing 2% of the District’s Secretariat total budget) and all expenses are paid with District resources. It is environmentally sustainable because it prioritizes the production of handicrafts with recyclable and biodegradable materials. All material disposal happens in an appropriate place and is sent for waste segregation in the District.

According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE, in 2019, 43% of women were employed with formal or informal work, against 57% men in Pernambuco. When it comes to formal employment, the gap is even greater. According to data from the Department of Labor, in 2019, 62% of formal jobs were held by men and only 38% by women in Jaboatão dos Guararapes. It is acknowledged that women study more but earn less and, are the majority lives below the poverty line. There is also concern about domestic violence, which grew 16% in the District from 2017 to 2019. Women who are victims of domestic violence are in a high social vulnerability degree and are often financially dependent on their partners, which is why the majority claims they are unable to break free from the violence cycle in which they live. To guarantee equal opportunities for women, independence and empowerment that lead to the end of cycle of violence, the District implemented the Entrepreneurial Woman Program, which provides women, primarily those who are victims of domestic violence, with professional training courses to enter the work market, thus obtaining dignity, citizenship, respect, raising self-esteem and financial independence.

The Program is exclusive for women from Jaboatão dos Guararapes and prioritizes those victims of domestic violence, referred by the Maristela Just Reference Center, which assists women in situations of domestic violence by offering psychological, legal and social services in the District. In addition, the program also offers exclusive spots for transsexual and black women, guaranteeing opportunity for this segment that suffers from such unequal treatment in Brazil and worldwide.

The Program's target audience are women from the District, prioritizing those in situations of violence and referred by the Maristela Just Reference Center, who, in general, have low education, are unemployed and lack professional qualification. They are women who are responsible for the care of their children, their home and who need to balance family, study and work, being, for the most part, dependent on their partners, who are often their aggressors. Women with low self-esteem and who do not feel able to break free from the cycle of violence in which they live, due to financial dependence with the Entrepreneurial Woman Program, women are able to develop skills related to the work world, increase self-esteem, confidence, start to produce goods and services at low cost and commercialize them, becoming entrepreneurs of their own lives. They start to feel well by balancing social, emotional, and mental state and realizing they are capable of being productive and autonomous, breaking the patriarchal model still very rooted in the Brazilian society. The program provides opportunities for social and economic transformation for women by reducing latent gender inequality in the region, in Brazil and in the world.

The Program was implemented in 2017 by the Women's Executive Secretariat of Jaboatão dos Guararapes. Through surveys it was observed that women in the District, mostly heads of household and poor, lacked opportunities for qualification and income. It was also observed that most women from the Maristela Just Center justified their permanence in the violence situation because they depended financially on their partners. Based on this diagnosis, a team was structured to plan, coordinate, and guarantee the execution of professional qualification courses and entrepreneurship guidance. Sales points were also planned, through fairs and the collaborative space for marketing products. Throughout 2017, the first courses were held in adapted public buildings, giving priority to women victims of violence from the Maristela Just Center. All enrolled women attend lectures on entrepreneurship, which are given by women employees of the Women's Secretariat and its partners, in addition to commercial banks which talks about how to obtain bank credit to fund small businesses. Also, in 2017, a weekly mobile fair was organized to circulate production, which circulates through the main commercial points of the City. Any woman from Jaboatão can participate, but 55% of them comes from professional courses offered by the program. In 2018, the Secretariat implemented the collaborative store, which operates from Monday to Friday on the largest commercial axis in the District. Aiming at the expansion and regularity in the offer of professional courses, in January 2020, the Secretariat implemented the Espaço Mulher Empreendedora (Entrepreneurial Woman Place), with rooms equipped and appropriate to concentrate these courses. The monitoring of these activities is carried out by the Secretariat's team by monitoring the registration and participation in the courses and fairs. The evaluation is carried out annually by the same Secretariat.

One of the obstacles faced was the location for the courses, but in 2017 the coordination of the program made them possible inside District schools. Another difficulty encountered was the lack of resources on the part of women to transport them to the course location. This problem, as well as the place for the courses, was solved through a partnership with the National Service for Commercial Learning - SENAC, which provided a school cart, taking the courses to the main neighborhoods of the city. In 2020 the Espaço Mulher Empreendedora was opened, located in a central area of the City.

The program innovated by structuring and implementing the Espaço Mulher Empreendedora (Entrepreneurial Woman Place), a large qualification center reserved for courses, exclusively for women. Located in a central area of the city and with easy access, the Place is pioneer and unique in the State of Pernambuco. It has rooms equipped with items and machinery for each type of course. Another innovation was the implementation of a collaborative store, a shared space for women to exhibit and sell their products. The enrollment in these courses is carried out electronically facilitating access to vacancies.

The Entrepreneurial Woman Program, with its own equipped space for the women qualification, is a pioneer in the State of Pernambuco and was developed entirely by the team of the Women's Executive Secretariat. The professional courses available on the market in general are expensive and most women in the District earn a low income and cannot take them. The City Hall, through the program, offers free professional qualification to women and enables them to enter the work world by empowering them and reducing gender inequality.

All course enrollments can be done online and widely disseminated to women in the District via digital media, social media and on the City Hall website (https://jaboatao.pe.gov.br/espaco-mulher-empreendedora). Based on the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, the service via WhatsApp was implemented to provide assistance and guidance to women victims of domestic violence, who had been only supported in person at the Maristela Just Center. This service will be maintained and expanded, providing them with information about the professional courses available.

The initiative is a pioneer in the State of Pernambuco and, therefore, got the attention of the Women's State Secretariat team to learn about the program and plan future implementation, especially regarding the Entrepreneurial Woman Place, which was created to offer social qualification courses and professional training. The place is spacious with several rooms equipped with machinery and equipment for each course type. Social entities and representatives of the legislative branch also look at the program up close. However, there is still no news about its implementation in other locations, such as this one in the District of Jaboatão dos Guararapes.

The program is easy to implement and perform as it requires the structuring of: (a) its own technical team, formed by city officials, to coordinate and implement. The team in Jaboatão is made up of 6 technicians and 1 manager who are subordinate to the Women's Executive Secretariat; (b) Physical space equipped to carry out the courses, which can be in existing public buildings that are adaptable, or even the structuring of a specific and fixed space for that purpose; (c) Partnerships with professional education organizations to carry out courses and/or hire them and specialized companies; (d) The feasibility of sale spots for products made by these women. The resource for implementation is low, equivalent to 2% of the budget of the District's Secretariat of Social Assistance where the Women's Executive Secretariat located, as well as maintenance costs, and these can be reduced via partnerships with other Secretariats (for the feasibility of places for courses) and non-profit or civil society entities to apply the courses.

The funds used to implement the program in 2017 belonged to the District's Treasury, in the total amount of R$ 688,000.00 - equivalent to U$ 137,600.00, considering the exchange rate of R$ 5.00 per U$ 1.00. This amount represents 2% of the total budget of the District's Social Assistance Secretariat in the same year. The resource was used to fund the equipment, machinery and supplies for the courses, hiring institutions with trained professional and structuring stalls for the fairs. The program's management team was already part of the District's City Hall.

The program is financially sustainable because it is low cost, representing 2% of total budget of the District's Secretariat and is guaranteed by the Annual Budget Law - LOA, which is a formal and mandatory document according to Brazilian tax laws. Institutionally, it is guaranteed through the strategic objective of strengthening and expanding social public policies in women's defense, contained in the Pluriannual Plan, which is a formal and mandatory part of planning in District management. It also involves the society and partner institutions that fights for gender equality and for greater opportunities for women, promoting their sustainability and empowerment.

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The program is internally evaluated by the team of the Women's Executive Secretariat through monthly attendance monitoring of women enrolled in the courses, in their participation in handicraft and in gastronomy fairs and also the number of women referred by the Centro Maristela Just. At the end of each year, the Women's Secretariat evaluates the program through an annual report with performance indicators and qualitative evaluation. The District Council for Women's Rights also monitors the program's activities and monitors the actions offered to women in Jaboatão dos Guararapes.

The program is evaluated via an annual evaluation report where the following indicators are analyzed: (a) number of qualified women; (b) number of qualified women victims of domestic violence; (c) proportion of qualified women who started to have their own income; (d) satisfaction survey; (e) number of fairs held; (f) number of women participating in the fairs. These indicators make up the annual evaluation report internal results that consolidates the data and presents a complete evaluation of the program for District management.

The program qualified, between July 2017 and September 2020, 1,393 women, achieving a 424% growth in 2020 when compared to 2017. This growth was mainly due to the implementation of the Entrepreneurial Woman Place and the partnership entered into between the Women's Secretariat and the District's Housing Secretariat, which provided qualification courses to low-income women living in housing delivered by the City. There was also a 729% increase in the number of women victims of violence participating in the courses, from 41 women in 2017 to 340 by September 2020, demonstrating the priority and reach of these vulnerable women. The initiative held 253 free fairs, offering the opportunity to sell products, with a 115% growth in the number of women participating, another indicator of the program's effectiveness. In 2020, a survey was made with 500 women and it was found that 23% of them are performing professional activities and are earning their own income, even on pandemic times. These data demonstrate the program's success and the importance of reducing gender inequality, as it promotes a relevant impact on the lives of the most vulnerable women in Jaboatão dos Guararapes.

The program relates horizontally with the support of the Department of Education by providing spaces in schools to carry out the courses; Social Assistance that offers social protection services to poor women who are referred and that during the pandemic received a basic food kit for the artisans of the program; Public order, identifying women who need the support from the District's Guard due to violence situations; Maristela Just Reference Center, both prioritizing women from the program and also referring those seeking help due to domestic violence. In addition to the District's secretariats, there are other partners such as professional education institutions and entities that work socially to reduce gender inequality in the District. Women are great partners and protagonists because they actively participate in the courses, give improvement suggestions and, despite all the difficulties, 100% of them complete the courses. Many become multiplying artisans at the Entrepreneurial Women Place or in community associations to teach other women what they have learned. Vertically, the Women's Secretariat plead for an appeal to the Federal Government, which signed an agreement to transfer the amount through the Women's Department to carry out courses on cutting and sewing.

To implement the program, the Women's Secretariat involved civil servants such as social workers, psychologists, technical staff and manager of the departments of Education, Social Assistance, Public Order and Maristela Just Center so together they could plan the program, as well as the necessary duties and actions that each party should do to start activities. The District Council of Women’s Rights also participated by promoting and supporting the initiative. The women supported by the Maristela Just Center reported that in addition to emotional fragility, financial dependence is largely responsible for their permanence in a domestic violence situation. They gave their opinion on which courses they would like to take. The District’s artisans also helped in the planning and implementation, especially in fairs for commercialization and collaborative store, helping to survey the necessary structure and helping the craft beginners. They also became multipliers in their communities, helping other women to learn a new occupation. The Women's Secretariat, seeks for partners to apply courses and evaluate it through indicators related to the number of women trained, women victims of violence, participation in fairs, in addition to the number of women who have had their own income with the craft learned.

There were many lessons learned, but the women's role can be highlighted when they are helped and see the great potential they have for work and life change. It is motivating to see how much the Government, as an articulator, along with the community and partner entities, can do to reduce gender inequality and provide more empowerment, dignity, citizenship, employment, and income for women. The dedication to courses, care, and zeal in organizing fairs and collaborative store, deliveries, and the transformation of the women's lives and their families is another precious lesson. Although many seek the Program, the women who participate report difficulties with the cost of daily transportation to the Entrepreneurial Woman Place and the lack of a place to leave their children while studying and participating in fairs. To solve these issues, the Women's Secretariat plans a transportation aid for women in the program, as well as the installation of an adapted room at the Women's Place with toys, bathroom, equipment and auxiliary technician to take care of the children while they wait for their mothers. In addition, they plan to partner with the Department of Education to provide nearby daycare centers, for the same purpose.