From AÇEV: Digital Support for Women's Empowerment

AÇEV, which focuses on women's empowerment for an equitable society, has signed on to a new project, converting its Full-of-Life Meetings training into a free digital platform. The goal is to empower more women by providing them opportunities to receive education, develop skills, gain awareness, and participate more actively in work and social life.

For many years, AÇEV has been conducting programmes targeting women who have left formal education early, need to develop literacy skills, and are not employed. Since 2016, AÇEV's in-person Full-of-Life Meetings empowerment training, developed for young women who are neither in employment nor in education (NEET), has reached 12,000 young women. Many of the women who participated in the training have entered the workforce or resumed their education where they left off.

AÇEV's social enterprise Value for Equality aims to take a holistic approach to women's empowerment, developing women's access to education tools, increasing the use of technology for self-development, and thereby reaching more women. For this purpose, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Aydın Y. Durgunoğlu, the Full-of-Life Meetings training has been transformed into a free digital platform that women can access anytime and anywhere they wish. The Full-of-Life Meetings E-Learning Platform was opened to access at www.hayatdolubulusmalar.org on 19 September, when its online launch event took place.

AÇEV's First Digital Training Programme for Women

AÇEV General Director Senem Başyurt opened the online launch event. Emphasizing that AÇEV is taking a women's empowerment training programme to digital format for the first time, she said: "Since our organization's earliest years, we have developed and implemented training programmes for women who have left formal education early, need to develop literacy skills, and are not employed. Since 2016, we have been connecting women who are neither in employment nor in education with our Full-of-Life Meetings programme. And now, as AÇEV Value for Equality, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Aydın Yücesan Durgunoğlu, we are delighted to bring our Full-of-Life Meetings training to digital format and present it as a free e-learning platform that women can access anytime and anywhere they wish. We believe that every woman empowered through education takes a step towards a brighter future in building an equitable society. We are confident that our Full-of-Life Meetings E-Learning Platform will offer a great opportunity for women to develop themselves, enhance their skills, and move closer to their dreams."

AÇEV General Director Senem Başyurt

Başyurt also made a call for support in publicizing the platform in her closing remarks, "The more women we can make aware of this free training, the closer we will be to our dream of an equitable society where women are empowered" she said.

"Women hold up half the sky"

Prof. Dr. Aydın Yücesan Durgunoğlu spoke on women's empowerment and technology. Pointing out that the world is experiencing an information economy era, he provided the following information: "The information economy is an economic model based on intellectual power. Here, continuous learning, self-renewal, and keeping up with changing technologies are very important. Scientific thinking and creativity are required, and good communication is also very important. For this reason, strengthening the entire society, especially women, is very valuable. A Chinese proverb says 'women hold up half the sky.' You cannot develop only half of a society's intellectual power while leaving the other half behind. Women who participate in Full-of-Life Meetings training have a positive impact on families and future generations. They communicate better with their children, support their daughters' education, and take steps to continue their own education or find employment."

Prof. Dr. Aydın Yücesan Durgunoğlu

Education Accessible to Women at All Times

AÇEV Value for Equality Director Meltem Cantürk, pointing out that according to 2023 data there are 5 million women in Turkey with middle school education as their highest qualification, emphasized that they aim to reach 3.5 million young women aged 18-29 who are neither in employment nor in education with the Full-of-Life Meetings E-Learning Platform. "According to data, one in every two women in the 18-29 age group can neither continue their education nor work" said Cantürk, and detailed the content of the platform made available free of charge: "Our aim is to ensure that all women who cannot attend in-person training due to various responsibilities but have internet access benefit from this valuable training. We designed the platform so that any woman can easily register. Our platform was prepared as an empowerment training that all women can complete at a time and place that suits them. Participants can reopen sections they have not completed and continue, or repeat completed sections. We provide an online certificate at the end of the 11-section training. We also made sure that our training content is engaging and colorful. Interactive content supported with exercises, videos, and visuals was prepared. I believe every woman will find something for herself."

Meltem Cantürk

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What are the training topics on the e-learning platform?

The training titles on the platform are as follows:

• The importance of self-care and self-development
• Continuing education and exploring professions
• Safe technology use
• Establishing good and effective communication
• Knowing children's rights and how to protect them
• Understanding the importance and harms of preventing child, early, and forced marriages
• Knowing how to ensure equal division of household labour
• Recognizing the importance of all family members' participation in decisions
• Knowing women's human rights
• Learning about types of violence and responses to violence
• Gaining information about lifelong health and regular medical check-ups
• Developing knowledge and skills on economic matters such as budgeting, debt, and household labour
• Refreshing mathematical thinking knowledge and skills