Empowerment of women in Cuba: Experiences of the SOFIA mentor programme.

Abstract

For many years the Socio-Economic Institute (SEIN) of Limburg University in Belgium has organized different mentor programmes. The programmes are highly valued by the different stakeholders: the mentees (participants), the mentors, the companies and the promotors (Ministries, European Social Fund). The project has been selected as “best practice” in Flanders in a research study by the European Commission. Nowadays international cooperation is more focused on technical assistance and capacity building. As mentoring is an important tool for empowerment and as women in developing countries are looking for capacity building systems, it was interesting to explore and exchange our programmes with a university in the South. SEIN therefore developed a mentor programme to promote the empowerment of women in the labour market in Cuba. The University of Pinar del Río is the partner in this project. The project consists of developing the programme, foreseeing logistical support and working out a manual, so that afterwards the local university can continue the project by itself. The cooperation will be part of sustainable development within the empowerment of women. In the following sections, the background of this project, the methods and the objectives are given. This information can be used by other organizations to exploit their activities around mentor programmes for women, as a way of empowerment. Janneke Jellema is Project Manager at the Socio Economic Institute (SEIN) in the Limburg University, Belgium. Magdalena Mazon Hernandez is Project Manager at the Universidad de Pinar del Río in Cuba.