Projects in Brazil - Mulheres Mil

Education and Empowerment for 1000 Women

What do you get when you combine 8 Canadian colleges, 13 Brazilian colleges, the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) and the Brazilian Ministry of Education? A powerhouse team focused on empowering and training one thousand disadvantaged Brazilian women in personal, professional and social development.

Listen to their stories

Since 2007, Niagara College and several other Canadian colleges have partnered to transfer their combined knowledge, educational best practices and skill training methodologies to improve the Brazilian college system. Mulheres Mil (“Empower 1000 Women” in English) is the Brazilian project designed to transform not only their educational system, but Brazilian society itself.  The project focuses on gender equity in access to education and the workforce with the ultimate result being improvements to family life, regional and national economic development and greater participation from disadvantaged women in the political process.

Hospitality and Tourism Expertise

By sharing expertise in the hospitality and tourism industry with Brazilian colleges, Niagara College is providing unemployed women with programs that will link them to educational and workplace opportunities. Many women in the north and north-east portions of Brazil face numerous challenges including:

• Grade 4 or 5 education
• Low self esteem, based on past educational and life experiences
• An employment history of low wage jobs
• Low literacy levels and possible learning disabilities
• Poverty
• A need for access to childcare, transportation, and other family supports
• A lack of awareness of programs and services available to them

By improving their skills, these women will improve not only their own lives, but the lives of their families and communities as well.

Successes

Success has already begun. These dedicated women have just graduated from the first phase of the project and have learned  how to create resumes, interview for jobs and conduct themselves in the workplace. About to transition from an informal economy to the formal workplace, they need to continue building confidence and skills in order to work in hotels, hospitals and other service companies.

Obstacles

In spite of their hard work and newly learned skills, these women may still face resistance and prejudice from employers due to their domestic origins. Niagara College’s goal is to not only equip women for the workplace, but to follow up and ensure their long term success. Hoping that Brazilian society will evolve along with the newly empowered women, the Mulheres Mil project is actively seeking socially conscious employers to offer these women employment and coaching until they are confident and competent.

Short Term Training Courses

In May 2009, Niagara College's Cindy Andrews took her expertise in designing and delivering short term (3-4 week) training programs for "women with barriers" to the project. Click here for more details.

Want to Get Involved?

To learn more about this exciting project and how you might get involved, send an email to projects@niagaracollege.ca. Who knows? You too could play a role in empowering one thousand women!

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