It is empirical experience that while the young generation (called “digital natives”) uses digital tools on daily basis, most of them have had neither the confidence nor the initiative to upgrade their passive user skills into "active" digital skills that could have a value on the labour market. Both employment and job search increasingly requires the use of e-skills, and the lack of “digital confidence” may put particular groups of young people at an important disadvantage. Girls are in a worse situation than boys. Whether this is due to the lack of digital role models or just the general and hard-to-specify stereotype that "programming in not for girls' brains", the reality is that women do not fully participate in the digital sector.Digital Girls project concept is built upon the understanding that actions on local and regional level, if they have a joint interface to showcase and promote their results on EU level, can successfully contribute to changing stereotypes. The perception that tech is a ‘job for the boys’ is something that can only be broken down in time, and through leading by example – by providing role models and case studies, by showcasing young women and girls with similar socio-economic backgrounds doing well in the industry. Digital Girls project addresses girls and young women, aged 16 -24 - NEETs (unemployed, with lower level of education, or currently not attending any vocational, higher or continuing education), or involved in the last phase of the general secondary education, incl. such with migrant background, with the aim to contribute to cultivate and enhance girls’ digital confidence, employability, entrepreneurial mindset and startup potential. The project aims at "breaking the ice": mapping the process for developing of digital skills suitable for the labour market to those girls and young women who need support and encouragement to fight the prejudices against women and make a first step in entering the digital world, or even recognizing that their passive IT-user skills can be transferred into valuable competencies for the labour market. It raises awareness of needs of changing the attitudes towards digital learning and showing girls clear pathways to excellence. The project applies "confidence-building" measures and effective methodology for youth work in the field, based on combination of role models and digital storytelling.The project activities include:- selecting and promoting digital role models of women and girls and developing short film series "The world of successful Digital Girls";- developing Digital career roadmap series for different digital jobs and professions; - creating and reinforcing an online platform for girl’s meaningful information about opportunities with digital market, that facilitates and improves the capture and sharing of good practices, and highlights role models;- organising tailored events: Open days in companies, Inspiration days, web events for girls “Web tea and cupcakes”- large dissemination and exploitation campaign.The main project results (both during the project lifetime and after its end) are the following:- Improved motivation for girls to consider careers in the digital technology market;- Increased sense of initiative and entrepreneurship;- Increased opportunities for professional development;- Mapped process for developing of digital skills, aligned to the needs of and opportunities offered by the labour market;- Exchange of good practices and lessons learned on women and technology within and across nations; - Proven methodology for high-quality youth work in 5 European countries (The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Greece, Czech Republic and Ireland) and beyond;- Knowledge and experience gained by partner organisations in the field of transnational cooperation, project management, innovative practices to inspire and involve more girls and young women into digital career; - Exchange of best practices on the integration of gender perspectives in ICT and digital education; - Continuous intercultural dialogue providing girls with meaningful information on the opportunities on the digital arena.Digital Girls outcomes will be designed and available as free on line resources so that, in practical terms, they are open for use at any level - local, regional, national, European and international, which is prerequisite for sustainability.
Digital Girls project concept is built upon the understanding that changing young women’s attitudes towards digital jobs and learning by showing clear pathways to excellence is vital for making the study and career in the digital sector relevant to young women. Digital Girls project addresses girls and young women, aged 16-25 - NEETs (unemployed, with lower level of education, or currently not attending any vocational, higher or continuing education), or involved in the last phase of the general secondary education, with the aim to contribute to cultivating and enhancing their digital confidence, to support and encourage them in making their first steps in entering the digital world, or to help them recognize that their passive IT-user skills can be transferred into valuable competencies for the labour market. The project applies "confidence-building" measures and effective methodology for youth work in the field, based on combination of role models and digital storytelling. The project objectives included: - Identifying, encouraging and showcasing women in digital jobs - mapping the process for developing of digital skills suitable for the labour market - fostering an atmosphere conducive to digital confidence - changing the attitude towards digital learning through effective methods for high-quality youth work Project activities have been implemented by a consortium of 8 partners from 5 EU countries (NL, BG, CZ, GR, IE) and an European network all having significant and complementary expertise in development and promotion of high quality outputs and their mainstreaming in the partner countries and beyond. The objectives were achieved through: - Performing research for identifying different job profiles in the digital sector; 53 digital professions have been identified and described - Selecting, interviewing and describing role models – active women and girls in the digital sector, resulted in 19 role models profiles - Developing “The Role Models’ Guide to the Digital Galaxy” containing 11 films with the inspiring stories of women working in the digital sector and 19 role models digital profiles - Developing career roadmaps of 5 digital jobs/professions respectively for The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Ireland, Greece and Czech Republic. - Developing and launching the Digital girls platform (www.digital-girls.eu), providing a place and tools for introducing girls to the world of IT and digital professions. - Performing web campaign tailored for girls, reaching over 25.000 people. - Organising and conducting Girls web events "Web tea and cupcake”, Girls only Open days in companies active in the digital market, Girls Inspiration days – national exploitation events, and Final International conference The project fostered stronger links between youth associations and informal groups, educational institutions, VET providers, job orientation agencies, and cultural and emancipation centres in the partner countries and in countries beyond the partnership to achieve the expected results and ensure the desired impact and sustainability of the initiative. The main goal was to contribute to change of cultural traditions and stereotypes about women’s role in digital sector and to cultivate and enhance girls’ digital confidence and employability. This has been reached through the continuous involvement of the target groups and stakeholders. 150 practitioners and employers in the digital sector and digital training providers have been interviewed at the research stage, 19 role models have been identifies and described, 11 of them filmed, 324 young women and youth workers attended the web events, Digital Girls online platform registered over 14.300 visits. Girls, employers, youth organizations and schools, cultural and emancipation centers, policy makers have been introduced to Digital girls products in the various multiplier events in partner countries (total 328 participants) and were involved in mutual activities and fruitful discussions and planned exploitation activities of the project products. Additionally, the project was disseminated at 179 events with different stakeholders reaching thousands of people. Digital Girls products have been designed and available as free online resources so that, in practical terms, they are open for use at any level - local, regional, national, European and international, which is prerequisite for sustainability and future application.