VIRAGO – empowered Women

"<< Background >>We applied for this project to address the urgent needs of youth workers and female volunteers (18–29) from rural, remote, or war-affected communities, including Ukrainian refugees. These groups face significant barriers due to geographical isolation, ethnic diversity, environmental degradation, and conflict. Many are disconnected from training, networks, and opportunities to develop key life and civic competences.Our goal is to empower them through the VIRAGO model, focusing on EU citizenship, intercultural understanding, resilience, leadership, green thinking, digital skills, and problem-solving to foster solidarity and mutual learning.We also aim to support Ukrainian women in exile by offering skills training and promoting them as role models of strength and leadership, challenging negative stereotypes and encouraging inclusive local communities.A critical need we identified is the lack of access to training, resources, and networks that would enable these young women and youth workers to acquire key life and professional competencies, especially in times of crisis. The war in Ukraine has further deepen these inequalities, they face the need to be supported and prepared for their future return and reintegration. << Objectives >>In addressing the target group needs, we aimed to:•Empower young women and youth workers with fewer opportunities through structured training and mentoring;•Build a transnational support network to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and solidarity;•Enhance their eight key EU competences through the VIRAGO framework: European citizenship, intercultural understanding, personal and social learning, activism, environmental sustainability, digital literacy, and problem-solving;•Promote gender equality and the inclusion of vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities and Ukrainian refugees;•Challenge digital narratives by presenting refugee women as role models of resilience, leadership, and community contribution.Another key aim was to enhance the visibility and public perception of Ukrainian refugee women, highlighting their strength and potential as role models in order to challenge stereotypes and promote more inclusive and cohesive societies.For our NGOs we wanted to1.Greater reach and impact on our target groups locally2.Strengthen Transborder Collaboration 3.Foster Cultural Exchange and Human Rights Awareness 4.Promote Best Practices and Diversity Education 5.Sharing best practices, and improved competences:<< Implementation >>We implemented all planned activites. The supporting docs are in the Annexes, while results and ouputs –on the the RESULTS platform as described.1) Project Launch and Kick-off: Set up management and steering committees, approved management & supporting docs - ANNEX A1.2) Project Evaluation Procedures and Final Meeting: The meeting supporting docs are in the ANNEX A2 and publications on the RESULTS platform.3) Online Networking and Platform Actions: The website -t https://paralel-silistra.net/view/; the 'ViragoWiki' platform - https://paralel-silistra.net/view/wiki/;ANNEX 34) Joint Face-to-Face Training for Experience Sharing – the meeting supporting docs in ANNEX 4 and outputs on the RESULTS platform.5) Joint Training of Youth Volunteers - supporting docs and list of participants in ANNEX 5 and the outputs on RESULTS platform.6) National Actions: Lists of participants in ANNEX 6 and Report on National actions on the RESULTS platform, digital stories - https://paralel-silistra.net/view/wiki/.7) Communication and Publicity - VIEW Communucation plan and report on the RESULTS platform, publications - https://paralel-silistra.net/view/publications/,8) Project Management Procedures: Management documents - ANNEX 8.<< Results >>The VIEW project produced measurable concrete outputs and results (in the RESULTS platform), meeting key project indicators (KPIs):1. Shared Practices and Digital Resources: Developed a training toolkit and cooperative digital portfolio, including 8 cross-sectoral practices. ViragoWikiplatform with uploaded educational resources.2. Competence Building: Trained 8 female youth workers through transnational training sessions, improving their communication, civic, and digital skills.Conducted 1 international face-to-face training and 1 online workshop for 16 female volunteers, enhancing their competencies.3. Inclusive National Campaigns: 4 campaigns, ""We Can Do It!"", involving 200 young women(including Ukrainian refugees) face-to-face and 500 onlinefollowers to advocate for equality, inclusion, and sustainable practices.4. Transnational Cooperation and Management: Strengthened partnerships among 4 NGOs . 90% satisfaction rate for improved transnationalmanagement, collaboration, and capacity to address gender issues.5. Impact on Participants: 90% of participants acknowledged improved communication, linguistic skills, leadership readiness, and an increased sense of European citizenship and initiative for social inclusion."