Empowerment of the Young Women of Ouagadougou and Guédiawaye

The project aims to increase the social and economic empowerment of young women in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Guédiawaye in Senegal. This is done by increasing their entrepreneurial potential and their community’s commitment to women’s entrepreneurship and valuable work for young women. The project works to strengthen young women’s entrepreneurial skills and reduce socio-cultural barriers to their participation in the labour force. Project activities include: (1) developing and deploying an entrepreneurship awareness training program in schools and communities; (2) conducting reinforcement training and workshops for stakeholders; (3) implementing an awareness program on sexual and reproductive health and education rights (gender equality) for young women; (4) implementing a psychosocial support and guidance program for vulnerable young women; (5) providing technical and financial support for the start-up and development of individual and collective social economy projects and/or businesses; (6) implementing an awareness program for men and women; and (7) creating a community consultation process. The project is expected to directly benefit 510 young women and 35 young men as well as 8 928 indirect beneficiaries.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) increased young women's confidence in their entrepreneurial potential in Ouagadougou and Guédiawaye; and (2) increased commitment (positive attitude) of community actors to women’s entrepreneurship and valuable work for young women in Ouagadougou and Guédiawaye.